Spear’s 28 points help power No. 15 Tennessee past Ole Miss, 80-71

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jewel Spear matched her season-high with 28 points and the No. 15 Tennessee women jumped out to an early lead they never surrendered, knocking off Mississippi 80-71 on Sunday.

Mississippi (17-8, 8-5 SEC) came into the game in fifth place in the SEC, with hopes of a Top Four finish and a two-round bye in the SEC tournament, but the loss knocked them into sixth place. Tennessee (19-6, 6-6) is currently in eighth place, a half-game behind Oklahoma.

Tennessee finished the first quarter on an 11-2 run and led 17-7. The Rebels got within six by halftime, 34-28, but Tennessee pulled away in the second half and Samara Spencer’s layup with 7:28 left in the game pushed the lead to 67-50.

Starr Jacobs scored at the basket and Sira Thienou tipped in a Jacobs miss to get Ole Miss within double digits, 70-61 with four minutes remaining. KK Deans knocked down a 3 from the corner with :40 seconds left to make it 77-71, but Tennessee freshman Kaniya Boyd drove for a layup six seconds later and Ole Miss did not score again.

Spencer finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for Tennessee. Zee Spearman added 14 points and eight boards off the bench and Talaysia Cooper had 11 points, six assists and six steals.

Deans hit 6 of 12 from distance and finished with 22 points to lead Ole Miss. Tameiya Sadler scored 14 points and Kennedy Todd-Williams had 11. Scott finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

The Volunteers have four games remaining, beginning at home against No. 21 Alabama Thursday.

Ole Miss has three games remaining in its regular season, beginning with a home game with Missouri Sunday.

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