KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – EKU women's basketball falls to No. 23 Tennessee by a score of 105-71 on Sunday afternoon in the first road game of the season at Thompson-Boling Arena.
With the loss, the Colonels move to 4-3 (.571) on the season and drop the first contest of a five-straight road swing. No. 23 Tennessee equalizes its record at 4-4 (.500) before hosting Virginia Tech on Dec. 4 in the Jimmy V Women's Classic at The Summit.
"We knew coming in this would be a tough task playing on the road against a team ranked in the top-25," said head coach
Greg Todd. "We would have liked to get off to a better start, had a tough first quarter, but I feel like our girls competed hard after we got through the first, kept playing every possession. To come in and get 71 points against Tennessee is a good thing for us offensively against their size, we did a good job keeping our turnovers down. There were some positives, we have to move forward from this game, Tennessee has a nice group of young ladies and I don't think they will lose a lot of home games this season, they'll be a threat to everyone in the SEC."
Tennessee jumped EKU early, extending its lead to 21-9 heading into the first quarter media timeout. The Volunteers would finish the final four minutes on a 12-0 run, ultimately stopped by an
Alice Recanati jumper as the buzzer sounded to end the first at 33-11.
UTK continued its hit streak to start the second frame, made baskets by Recanati,
Danielle Rainey,
Ally Collett, and
Ariel Kirkwood would cut the deficit to 20 halfway through the quarter.
Emma Hacker hit a three-pointer on back-to-back possessions late in the clock to send the Colonels to the locker room down 26 points.
Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee traded blows in the third quarter, however, the Colonels failed to cut into UT's 30-point lead. Rainey led EKU with five points in the third frame.
A three-pointer by Recanati opened the final quarter for EKU, Tennessee would proceed to go on a seven-point run, keeping Eastern Kentucky at a comfortable length away.
Antwainette Walker scored six of the Colonels last 10 points to end the contest with 18 points and her seventh-straight game in double-figure scoring.
Tennessee outrebounded Eastern Kentucky 62-31 in Sunday's game, both teams equalized on made three pointers (8) and made free throws (9).
The Colonels are back in action next Friday against Miami (Ohio) on the road at Millet Hall in Oxford, Ohio. Tipoff is slated for 6:00 p.m. ET and the game can be viewed on ESPN3. Fans looking to make the trip to see EKU in the I-75 Challenge can purchase single game tickets starting as low as $7 on the
RedHawks' website.
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