It took overtime, but the Lady Vols made clutch free throws down the stretch to seize an 82-77 win at Georgia.

Zee Spearman, who started the game 1-4 from the line, went 6-6 to finish it to help hold off the Bulldogs in Athens on Thursday night.

“I basically told myself you better not miss another one,” Spearman said. “Because I know that I’m a good free throw shooter, but sometimes I get in my head, so, I didn’t think about it. I told myself I’m going to make every single last free throw I’ve got to make.”

Spearman, who was playing close to her hometown of Dacula, Georgia, led Tennessee (15-5, 7-1) with 23 points. Mia Pauldo, who took multiple blows, including a hip check into the scoring table, notched 21 points and went 4-4 from the line in overtime.

“Her toughness and ability to get up and knock down her foul shots, I just look at her and see if she’s OK,” Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell said. “She says yes. I trust her to leave her out there.”

Dani Carnegie made three free throws for the Bulldogs after getting fouled at the arc with five seconds left to knot the game at 68-68 and send it to overtime, much to the delight of Georgia fans inside Stegeman Coliseum. The Lady Vols fouled a three-point shooter three times in the game, and Caldwell made it clear in overtime that it had to stop, a directive that brought smiles from the players.

“We tend to foul at the wrong time,” Spearman said. “She was like, ‘Do not foul them.’ I was just laughing because I knew how we are. And I was like, ‘Yeah, y’all, we can’t foul.’ We were really laughing about it in the circle, like we shouldn’t even be here right now.”

Zee Spearman signals a made three against Georgia. (Tennessee Athletics)

Talaysia Cooper, who tallied 16 points, appeared to have a clear block of a three-point attempt late in overtime but was whistled for her fifth foul and objected strenuously to the whistle. Caldwell hustled her off the court before a technical could be called.

Georgia made two of three at the line, and Tennessee still led 80-77 with 11.1 seconds left. A pair of free throws by Pauldo sealed the 82-77 win.

Carnegie led Georgia (18-5, 4-5) with 25 points and went 11-12 from the line, while Rylie Theuerkauf tallied 15 points and Mia Woolfolk added 14 points before fouling out on the fourth quarter.

“Mia’s a bucket,” Georgia coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson said. “She’s a human bucket. She just can’t get in foul trouble. Everybody trusts her to get the ball. Everybody trusts her to finish and score on that low block. I thought she personally got fouled a bunch. But that really hurt us tonight, her not being in. She only played 21 minutes.”

The SEC is a physical conference, and both teams gave and absorbed blows.

“It’s SEC. It means more,” said Janiah Barker, who is from Marietta, Georgia, and grabbed 13 rebounds for the Lady Vols. “With the SEC it’s going to be physical. You’re going to have bruises after probably every game. I think that we decided that we wanted to be the most physical team, we wanted it more, we fought more, and we showed it out there.”

Tennessee lost its last two games with a bitter outcome against Mississippi State in Knoxville last week and then a debacle at UConn last Sunday. The win at Georgia was much-needed for the Lady Vols, who will play a third road game in a row at South Carolina this Sunday, Feb. 8. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. Eastern with a national broadcast on ABC.

“I think it was good for us,” said Caldwell, whose postgame remarks can be watched HERE. “It was good for us to get one under our belt. It was good for us to win. I thought we played with poise and good pace and together down the stretch.

“I was a little bit worried about the momentum not being in our favor and us being deflated, and we weren’t.”

Maria M. Cornelius, a senior writer/editor at MoxCar Marketing + Communications since 2013, started her journalism career at the Knoxville News Sentinel and began writing about the Lady Vols in 1998. In 2016, she published her first book, “The Final Season: The Perseverance of Pat Summitt,” through The University of Tennessee Press and a 10th anniversary edition will be released June 16, 2026.