A display of fourth-quarter resolve by her team and an individual performance for the record books had Tennessee women's basketball coach Kellie Harper feeling even better about leaving the comforts of Thompson-Boling Arena after a four-game homestand.
The Lady Volunteers closed January with their third straight win, beating Florida 79-65 on Sunday afternoon as Tennessee center Tamari Key turned in the fourth triple-double performance in program history. Key, a 6-foot-5 sophomore from Cary, North Carolina, had career highs with 23 points and 10 blocks to go with 10 rebounds as she joined a short list with Shelia Collins, Jordan Reynolds and Shekinna Stricklen.
"It's exciting. I'm speechless, honestly," Key, who also had one assist and one steal in 34 minutes, said afterward, according to utsports.com. "There are so many great people who have played here, and to be one of the four people to have a triple-double is - I'm at a loss for words right now."
Key had nine points and four blocks in the fourth quarter.
Said Harper: "She played terrifically, and I wish we had gotten her the ball more. I thought we went away from it a little bit in the third quarter.
USA Today Sports photo by Randy Sartin / Tennessee's Rae Burrell (12) is fouled by Florida's Lavender Briggs during the first half Sunday at Thompson-Boling Arena.Rae Burrell added 21 points and nine rebounds, and Rennia Davis had 14 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two blocks as Tennessee (12-3, 6-1 Southeastern Conference) held off a late rally attempt by Florida (9-8, 2-7) after hanging on to beat Ole Miss 68-67 three days earlier and rolling to a 70-53 win against Kentucky the previous Sunday.
"I'm really proud of our team's fourth-quarter defense," Harper said. "I thought we really gritted our teeth and got stops down the stretch. We showed a lot of toughness."
The Gators led 21-19 after the first quarter, and while the Lady Vols would not trail again after Key's jumper put them up 25-23 with 7:29 to go before halftime - Florida tied it at 27 inside of four minutes, but Tennessee answered quickly with Kasiyahna Kushkituah's layup to go ahead for good - their fight was far from over. The Lady Vols were up 38-31 at halftime and ahead by double digits with less than two minutes left in the third quarter, but Florida surged to within 60-59 when Kiara Smith grabbed a rebound and raced downcourt to score.
Tennessee called a timeout, then returned to the court on a mission, scoring 10 straight points to trigger a 19-6 closing run that shut down the Gators' upset bid. And so ended a 3-1 stint for the Lady Vols in Knoxville, with the loss a near upset on Jan. 21 of Connecticut, which was undefeated at the time.
USA Today Sports photo by Randy Sartin / Tennessee coach Kellie Harper speaks with guard Jordan Horston during Sunday's home game against Florida.Now they have three straight road games, against Mississippi State at 8 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, Texas A&M next Sunday and Kentucky on Feb. 11.
"We can take a breath now and get fired up again to take on these road games," Harper said. " It's not easy, but we don't talk a lot about defending our home court. And we don't talk about that because we should win road games. So I think our team has traveled well this year. We've done a good job when we've been on the road, and I'll expect no different this upcoming week."
Jordan Walker added nine points for Tennessee, and Kushkituah, who made her first start of the season with Marta Suarez out due to injury, had a game-high 12 rebounds to go with eight points, four assists and a block. Jordan Horston also blocked a shot as the Lady Vols' 14 came within one of the program record.
Florida's Smith had 23 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and four steals, and Lavender Briggs matched her for the team lead in points whille grabbing nine rebounds.
Compiled by Marty Kirkland. Contact him at mkirkland@timesfreepress.com.