GREENVILLE, S.C. - Kentucky sophomore Rhyne Howard hit five 3-pointers to break the program's single-season record behind the arc and finished with 24 points as the 16th-ranked, third-seeded Wildcats beat sixth-seeded Tennessee 86-65 in the Southeastern Conference women's basketball tournament quarterfinals Friday night.
Howard, a Bradley Central High School graduate who this week was named the SEC player of the year, has made 82 3s this season, breaking Sara Potts' record of 81 set in the 2004-05 season.
Kentucky (22-7) shot 51% overall and was 11-for-24 from 3-point range, its 14th game this season with at least 10 made 3s. The Wildcats' 246 made 3-pointers this season are also a program record.
Freshman guard Jordan Horston led Tennessee (21-10) with 24 points, her most as a Lady Volunteer, junior Rennia Davis scored 14 with four assists and two steals and senior Lou Brown added 10 with seven rebounds and two blocks.
Tamari Key, a 6-foot-5 freshman, blocked seven shots and grabbed six rebounds for Tennessee, and sophomore Jazmine Massengill from Chattanooga's Hamilton Heights Christian Academy had six points and five assists.
Kentucky never trailed and used a 15-3 run to make it 32-18 midway through the second quarter. The Lady Vols trailed by double figures the rest of the way as they lost to Kentucky for the second time this season - Howard scored 37 points and made seven 3-pointers in a four-point win in January in Lexington.
The Wildcats will face ninth-ranked, second-seeded Mississippi State (26-5) - the reigning league champion - at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the second SEC semifinal, with 25th-ranked, fifth-seeded Arkansas (24-7) taking on top-ranked, top-seeded South Carolina (30-1) at 5 p.m. The title game is Sunday.
Tennessee had to rally from a halftime deficit to beat Missouri in the second round Thursday. Now it will have to wait until the NCAA tournament bracket is released on March 16 before learning if its season, the first with former Lady Vols point guard Kellie Harper as coach, will continue.