TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Talaysia Cooper scored 16 points, Janiah Barker added 10 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in her third double-double performance of the season, and the 20th-ranked Tennessee women’s basketball team overcame a sluggish start to defeat No. 21 Alabama 70-59 in a Southeastern Conference matchup Sunday at Coleman Coliseum.
It’s the sixth straight win for coach Kim Caldwell’s Lady Volunteers and their eighth in the past nine games. The team has won five straight SEC games and four road games in a row for the first time in Caldwell’s two seasons leading the program.
Mia Pauldo added 13 points and Alyssa Latham and Zee Spearman had 12 each for Tennessee (13-3, 5-0 SEC), which overcame an early 10-point deficit, marking the biggest comeback of the season for the Lady Vols.
“It really just looked like we settled in and started hitting shots,” Caldwell said in a postgame news conference. “That’s what I’m most proud of.
“A month and half ago, we would have quit at the beginning of the game, and we would have melted and we would have been fighting, and we didn’t blink. We still had tight huddles, we still had great body language, and that is so much maturity for this team. I’m really proud of that.”