Texas vs Tennessee game score: Replay, highlights as Longhorns hold off Lady Vols

Posted by author January 24, 2025 Basketball

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For the fifth time this month, the Texas women’s basketball team will test itself against a ranked opponent.

On Thursday night, Tennessee will be the Longhorns’ guest at Moody Center. Texas (18-2, 4-1) is ranked seventh in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll while Tennessee (15-3, 3-3) is ranked 17th. Texas and Tennessee have spent most of their existence in different conferences, but a long-standing rivalry has still festered. This meeting will be the first as Southeastern Conference foes, after Texas joined the league this past summer.

This will be the Longhorns‘ seventh game in the new year, and five of those contests have featured a ranked opponent. The Longhorns beat No. 10 Oklahoma, No. 19 Alabama and No. 9 Maryland earlier this month but were beaten by No. 2 South Carolina on Jan. 12.

Scroll down for live updates, starting lineups and more on the game:

Final: Texas 80, Tennessee 76

Madison Booker scored 26 points and hit a late jumper to lift Texas to a thrilling triumph against Tennessee on Thursday night. Texas forward Taylor Jones also contributed 21 points and 14 rebounds to the Longhorns’ winning effort.

Texas (19-2, 5-1) is now 5-2 against ranked teams this season. The Longhorns will travel to Ole Miss on Sunday.

Tennessee (15-4, 3-4) will next play host to No. 2 South Carolina this upcoming Monday.

4th (27.0): Texas 78, Tennessee 76

After Tennessee tied tonight’s game, Madison Booker quickly untied the game with a jumper. Booker has scored 26 points tonight. Tennessee will have the basketball after a timeout.

4th (1:26): Texas 74, Tennessee 72

A nice pass from Rori Harmon to Aaliyah Moore forced tonight’s 13th tie and then a steal-and-score by Madison Booker has given Texas a two-point lead with 1:26 left.

4th (2:06): Tennessee 72, Texas 70

Two free throws by Jillan Hollingshead has given Tennessee the lead back. With 15 seconds left on the shot clock, Texas has called a timeout.

Madison Booker leads Texas with her 22 points, but the sophomore forward hasn’t yet scored in the fourth quarter. Ruby Whitehorn’s 17 points lead the Lady Vols.

4th (4:37): Texas 68, Tennessee 68

At the final media timeout, Texas and Tennessee are tied. Again. A putback by Taylor Jones with 5:04 left just tied the game for the 11th time, but Jones appeared to suffer a shoulder injury while blocking a shot on the other end.

Tennessee had made nine of its 16 3-pointers tonight. Before tonight, Texas had not allowed more than eight 3-pointers in a single game.

End 3: Texas 62, Tennessee 61

Madison Booker has scored 22 points and Texas will take a 62-61 lead into the final quarter. The reigning SEC Player of the Week, Booker has scored at least 20 points in three straight games.

Booker is a day shy of the one-year anniversary of her 29-point game against Oklahoma at Moody Center. That currently stands as her career-high scoring total.

Tennessee, which missed four of its six free throws in the third quarter, is being led by Zee Spearman’s 14 points.

Texas senior Taylor Jones has also recorded the sixth double-double performance of her season as she has already scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. A buzzer-beating jumper by Jones at the top of the key gave Texas the lead at the end of the quarter.

3rd (3:37): Texas 55, Tennessee 54

Texas and Tennessee continue to exchange blows as neither team has led by more than five points in the second half. Madison Booker has scored six of the Longhorns’ 10 second-half points so far while Ruby Whitehorn and Zee Spearman have both scored four points after halftime to lead Tennessee.

Matthew McConaughey attends Texas-Tennessee game

A fixture at Texas football games and the occasional men’s basketball game, Matthew McConaughey is actually in attendance for tonight’s game. The actor just drew a large round of applause from Texas students when he took his seat near the baseline by the Longhorns’ basket.

Halftime: Texas 45, Tennessee 40

With the game tied in the second quarter’s final 90 seconds, freshman Jordan Lee pulled up and hit UT’s only 3-pointer of the first half. The next possession featured Rori Harmon feeding a no-look pass to Booker that the All-American turned into a transition lay-up.

Booker has scored 14 points to lead Texas while Taylor Jones has contributed 13 points and seven rebounds. Zee Spearman’s 10 points are leading the Lady Vols.

After leaving the game with an injury, Tennessee leading scorer Talaysia Cooper returned to the court with 6:10 left in the first half.

2nd (7:56): Texas 26, Tennessee 25

With starting guard Rori Harmon struggling early, Texas has gotten some good minutes from backup point guard Bryanna Preston. The freshman has played three minutes tonight and scored two points while also drawing an offensive foul and not committing a turnover.

Tennessee leading scorer Talaysia Cooper limped off the court with 9:06 left in the first quarter. She has not yet returned to the game.

End 1: Tennessee 22, Texas 20

Tennessee shot the ball well over the first 10 minutes as the Lady Vols made nine of their 14 shots. Tennessee also committed just two turnovers while forcing five.

So how is Texas still in this game? Offensive rebounds. Tennessee leads the country in offensive rebounding, but Texas had seven to the Lady Vols’ zero in the first quarter. Those offensive rebounds led to 10 second-chance points.

Texas senior Taylor Jones has 11 points and six rebounds. Five of Jones’ rebounds are offensive.

1st (4:09): Tennessee 14, Texas 12

Behind two 3-pointers, Tennessee has grabbed an early lead at Moody Center. Meanwhile, Texas senior forward Taylor Jones has six scored points and grabbed four rebounds to lead the Longhorns.

Texas guards Rori Harmon and Madison Booker combined to commit three turnovers in the game’s first minute, and two of those turnovers came on inbound plays. Texas has five turnovers so far.

Texas vs Tennessee lineups

Texas starters

G: Rori Harmon

G: Shay Holle

F: Aaliyah Moore

F: Madison Booker

F: Taylor Jones

Tennessee starters

G: Jewel Spears

G: Ruby Whitehorn

G: Samara Spencer

F: Talaysia Cooper

F: Jillian Hollingshead

Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell to miss Thursday’s game after giving birth

Tennessee announced before Thursday’s tip that head coach Kim Caldwell would miss the game against the Longhorns after giving birth to her first child, Conor. Caldwell did not make the trip to Austin.

Assistant coach Jenna Burdette will lead the Lady Vols in Caldwell’s absence.

Texas, Tennessee’s storied programs have battled before

Tennessee and Texas are two of the five-winningest programs in the history of women’s college basketball. Twenty-six of Tennessee’s 1,484 all-time wins have been recorded against Texas, and the Lady Vols last beat the Longhorns in 2021. Sixteen of Texas’ 1,234 all-time wins have been recorded against Tennessee and the Longhorns last beat the Lady Vols in 2019.

Can Texas limit Tennessee’s 3-point shooters?

One matchup to keep an eye on tonight? The Longhorns’ perimeter defense against Tennessee’s 3-point shooters.

Tennessee is making 11.7 3-pointers per game, which is the best average in college basketball. Those numbers are bolstered by the NCAA-record 30 3-pointers that Tennessee knocked down against North Carolina Central in December, but the Lady Vols have made at least 10 3-pointers in five of their six conference games.

Just 71 3-pointers have been made against the Texas defense this season. That’s the 10th-lowest total among the 353 Division I teams. The Longhorns allowed a season-high eight 3-pointers against Notre Dame on Dec. 5, and two of those 3-pointers were made in overtime.

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