GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Lady Vols couldn’t flip the script in the SEC tourney, and Alabama won the rematch late Thursday night at Bon Secours Arena.

“We had too many turnovers tonight,” Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell said. “I think we got outworked, outplayed, outcoached from the very start.”

Janiah Barker led Tennessee, 16-13, with 20 points, while Zee Spearman tallied 13 points, and Mia Pauldo and Jaida Civil added eight each.

Jessica Timmons led Alabama, 23-9, with 23 points, while Ta’Mia Scott tallied 20 points, and Essence Cody added 10 points. The Crimson Tide avenged a home loss to Tennessee in the regular season.

It’s been a difficult week for the Lady Vols with fifth-year senior Kaiya Wynn stepping away from the team after not starting on senior day in a story that can be read HERE. Freshman Deniya Prawl didn’t make the trip to Greenville after getting hit in the head at practice by a teammate and entering concussion protocol.

Talaysia Cooper tallied four points and played a total of 12 minutes with two minutes in the third and none in the fourth quarter against Alabama. Cooper walked to the team bus with a staff member after the game before media entered the locker room.

“It was a coach’s decision, and we just wanted to give her some air,” Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell said. “I think your emotions can get running and just wanted to get her outside and with a staff member so she could breathe.”

While the Lady Vols are still considered an NCAA tourney team, their seed likely falls to an eight or nine, which sets up a game against a No. 1 seed on its home floor if Tennessee gets out of the first round.

The Lady Vols committed 18 turnovers with 12 in the first half, several of which were unforced and many of which short-circuited any momentum. Tennessee trailed 39-29 at halftime.

“I think it’s patience,” Caldwell said. “We talked about it pregame of if you are patient enough and swing the ball around enough and everyone touches it, then you’ll have a much cleaner look.”

The Lady Vols had a spark at times, including the sequence below of a block by Spearman, who also saved the ball from going out of bounds, that ended in a layup by Barker.

Tennessee’s win in Tuscaloosa in the regular season ended the Crimson Tide’s home winning streak.

“We watched a lot of film on that game,” Scott said. “We just learned from our mistakes. I think that during that game we learned exactly what we could do to beat them if we saw them again, and that’s what we did.”

Alabama also neutralized Tennessee’s press by helping a teammate out of a double team and then finding an open player at the rim.

“That was something we mentioned before the game,” Scott said. “We really wanted to expose them during the press, so just moving the ball and making sure that we had our head on a swivel and if somebody got in trouble, we helped them.”

The Lady Vols are in a tailspin and have a long break before the NCAA Selection Show, which will be March 16. That will allow both rest and plenty of practice time.

“We have to fix our one-on-one defense,” Caldwell said. “We have to fix our help side. That’s, again, been a situation where we’ve had two days of practice max going into games. That’s where maybe some time to put things together and to really get back after it will help.”

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.