Tennessee, Connecticut. A rivalry reborn… or so basketball fans hope.
With limited fan capacity, it still felt like the late 1990’s inside Thompson-Boling Arena Thursday night. It was a close, back-and-forth game between Tennessee and UConn with the Lady Vols leading at halftime, and until halfway through the fourth quarter.
Then, the Huskies took the lead.
The Lady Vols fell to their old rival, 67 to 61.
Thompson-Boling Arena wasn't packed full with 20,000 fans like the rivalry game once was, but Thursday's game was the highest attended D1 women's game this season with 3,553 fans.
Just like last year’s game, the Lady Vols led at halftime, and then lost the game in the paint in the second half. The Huskies out-scored the Lady Vols in the paint 26 to 20.
At halftime, the Lady Vols were outrebounding UConn 24 to 15 and shooting 50% from the three.
Then, they went cold in the second half. The Huskies outscored the Lady Vols in the fourth quarter, 22 to 12.
Tennessee finished with 41 rebounds to UConn's 38, however, the Lady Vols had just four offensive rebounds in the second half.
The Lady Vols were led in scoring from junior guard Rae Burrell who had 18 points and eight rebounds.
Rennia Davis, Tamari Key and Marta Suarez all added double-figure scoring.
Next Up: Tennessee will host Kentucky Sunday at 2pm EST.
