The Tennessee Lady Vols went toe-to-toe with undefeated South Carolina in the semi-finals of the SEC Tournament on Saturday evening but fell to the Gamecocks on a last-second buzzer-beating three-pointer.
Top-seeded South Carolina defeated Tennessee, the fifth-seed in the tournament, by a score of 74-73 in Greenville, South Carolina.
Tennessee forward Rickea Jackson hit a jump shot with 1:27 left to tie the game at 71. After both teams went back-and-forth without a bucket for the next 60 seconds, Jackson again put the team on her back and hit a layup to give the Lady Vols the 73-71 lead with 25 seconds left.
South Carolina missed a three-point shot on their next possession while Tennessee guard Jasmine Powell came down with the rebound and was fouled with four seconds remaining. Powell’s two free-throw attempts couldn’t find the basket as South Carolina came down with the rebound.
Down by two points with one second left on the clock, South Carolina found center Kamilla Cardoso wide-open behind the three-point line from the inbounds pass. Cardoso, who had only attempted one three-point shot over her four-year collegiate career without success, banked in the three-point shot as time expired to give South Carolina the win.
NO. 1 SOUTH CAROLINA BEATS NO. 5 TENNESSEE ON BUZZER BEATER 🤯 pic.twitter.com/aggcqd3WCm
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 9, 2024
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South Carolina got off to a hot start in the game, outscoring the Lady Vols 19-6 in the first quarter. While Tennessee put up a stronger effort in the second quarter, the Lady Vols still found themselves down by 23 points only three minutes before halftime.
Tennessee trailed by 13 points at the half but closed the gap to a 12-point deficit by the end of the third quarter. The Lady Vols put up a furious comeback attempt in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Gamecocks 25-14, but fell just short of ending South Carolina’s undefeated year so far.
Similarly to how the men’s team lost to Kentucky on Saturday in Knoxville, the Lady Vols put up 50 points in the second half but were hampered by scoring just 23 points in the first two quarters combined.
Tennessee senior forward Rickea Jackson nearly had a triple-double and led the Lady Vols in points (22 on 9/21 shooting), rebounds (9), and assists (8). Tennessee guard Jewel Spear added in 21 points on 5/11 shooting with a perfect 9-for-9 mark from the free-throw line.
The Lady Vols reached Saturday’s SEC Tournament semi-finals with a 76-62 win over 12-seed Kentucky on Thursday and an 83-61 win over four-seed Alabama on Thursday. Dawn Staley’s South Carolina squad moves to 31-0 on the season with the win over the Lady Vols in the SEC Tournament on Saturday.
Tennessee finishes the regular season and the SEC Tournament with a combined record of 19-12 on the year.
