KNOXVILLE - Tennessee women's basketball coach Holly Warlick found a lineup that worked Thursday night, and she wasn't going to go away from it unless she had to.
It seems she made a good choice.
After trailing Auburn by five at halftime, the Lady Volunteers regained the lead with a 14-3 run to start the third quarter and stifled the Tigers' attack from that point forward to win 73-62 in front of 7,547 at Thompson-Boling Arena.
The Lady Vols (16-8, 5-6 Southeastern Conference), who have won four of their past five after a six-game losing streak, return to competition Sunday at Missouri. They completed a sweep of the season series against Auburn (18-7, 6-6), having beaten the Tigers 78-69 in the SEC opener for both on Jan. 3.
Warlick used her starters - Rennia Davis, Cheridene Green, Zaay Green, Meme Jackson and Evina Westbrook - almost exclusively in the second half, with only freshman guard Jazmine Massengill briefly spelling Jackson for an 86-second stretch in the fourth quarter. Jackson returned when Tennessee's 13-point lead was cut to eight with 2:47 to play.
"They were playing solid, playing very well together, very well on the defensive end," Warlick said. "I didn't feel the game was safe even when we were up 10.
"That main group out there was getting the job done. I didn't see opportunities to play a lot more people. We've got to win ballgames. That group in was getting us ahead, getting it done. The group not playing, they were into it on the bench and I appreciate it."
Tennessee was 21 points better than Auburn in the second half with that starting unit.
Zaay Green shot 12-for-16 as she scored 25 points, her most as a Lady Vol, with 19 coming on 9-of-10 shooting in the second half. Cheridene Green added 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Davis had 15 and 10. Westbrook - back after serving a one-game suspension for a violation of team rules - scored nine points while going 1-for-11 from the field, but she had 10 assists and five rebounds. Jackson knocked down a pair of 3s for her only points.
Tennessee shot 3-for-15 from the field in the second quarter and had three turnovers in the period. The Lady Vols trailed 32-27 at the break, and Warlick lit into her team in a very short speech in the locker room.
"She came in, went off for 30 seconds, and we just left," Davis said. "That was that."
Said Warlick: "I didn't draw up anything on the board. I just challenged them in a pretty strong way. That wasn't Tennessee basketball in the first two quarters, and I wasn't going to watch it. It was a pretty simple halftime speech and they probably had a record time to warm up in the second half. I challenged them, and they stepped up."
Regarding her fiery speech, Warlick said, "I hope they didn't repeat it."
The Lady Vols responded by limiting Auburn to 29 percent shooting in the decisive third quarter, outscoring the visitors 22-10. The Tigers had four turnovers in the period, which Tennessee turned into four points. The Lady Vols also scored 12 of their 32 points in the paint in the third quarter.
Auburn did cut the lead to 68-60 with 2:15 to play, but Zaay Green knocked down a 3 on the next possession that effectively put the game away.
Daisa Alexander led Auburn with 22 points. Unique Thompson had 12 points and 13 rebounds, while Janiah McKay scored 12 points.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.