No. 4 Texas Holds Off Challenge From No. 22 Lady Vols, 65-63

Sunday, February 15

Knoxville, TN

3:00 P.M. ET

University of Tennessee

16-7,8-3SEC

Texas

24-3,9-3SEC

Texas

Tennessee

No. 4 Texas Holds Off Challenge From No. 22 Lady Vols, 65-63

February 15, 2026 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Highlights Latham/Caldwell/Cooper Presser

By: Eric Trainer

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Redshirt junior guard Talaysia Cooper fired in a season-high 29 points to help No. 22/22 Tennessee erase an early 14-point deficit and push No. 4/4 Texas to the brink before falling, 65-63, on Sunday afternoon in front of a season-best crowd of 13,351 at Food City Center.

The Lady Vols (16-7, 8-3 SEC) had possession of the ball with six seconds remaining in the game and a chance to tie or win, but the Longhorns (24-3, 9-3 SEC) eliminated any chance of a shot when Bryanna Preston came up with a steal to seal the win.

Cooper made 12 of 19 field goal attempts, including four of seven from beyond the arc, to lead her team and provide 10 of the team's 16 points in the fourth quarter. Joining her in double figures were senior forward Janiah Barker with 12 and senior guard Nya Robertson with 11.

Texas was paced by14 points from Madison Booker, while Rori Harmon and Jordan Lee chipped in 12 apiece.

The teams exchanged leads five times during the opening five minutes, with the game played at a frenetic pace and each squad shooting 67 percent from the field. A Cooper old-fashioned three-point play, though, flipped a 12-11 deficit into a 14-12 Tennessee lead entering the 4:44 media timeout. Texas responded, however, outscoring the Lady Vols, 12-2, the rest of the way to build an eight-point lead, 24-16, by the end of the opening stanza.

The Longhorns scored the first two buckets in the second quarter, extending their run to 8-0 bridging the periods, pushing their lead to 28-16 and forcing a Big Orange timeout with 8:52 remaining. After a Breya Cunningham bucket put Texas up by 14, 30-16, with 8:11 left, the Lady Vols clawed their way back into it with some deadly outside shooting and hustle on the defensive end. Robertson knocked down a pair of three balls, and then Cooper added two more sandwiched around a layup to draw the Lady Vols within two, 34-32, by the 3:02 mark. With 1:27 remaining, Barker brought her team all the way back, completely erasing the 14-point deficit with a jumper to knot things up at 34. UT's 53.8-percent shooting from the field, including 4-of-5 accuracy beyond the arc, enabled the home team to outscore the visitors 18-10 in the frame, courtesy of a half-closing 18-6 run.

Texas scored first to open the second half, but Tennessee used back-to-back layups by Jaida Civil to take its first lead since the first quarter, 38-36, with 7:11 to go. A pair of free throws by Lee evened it up at 38 before the 4:52 media timeout. A Robertson floater put UT up, 40-38, with 4:21 to go, and she tied the game up at 43-all at the 3:06 mark, but the Longhorns pulled ahead by five, 50-45, at the 1:28 mark. A steal by Jersey Wolfenbarger and a Robertson layup off a Cooper dime cut the gap to three, 50-47, before the end of the third quarter.

The Longhorns began to separate in the final frame, but a Cooper layup at the 8:43 mark trimmed the deficit back to three, 52-49. Then, a Wolfenbarger free throw with 6:42 to go cut it to four, 54-50, before Texas scored the next six points to grab a 60-50 lead and force a Tennessee timeout with 4:26 to go. The Lady Vols collected themselves during the break and came at the Horns one more time. A pair of Barker free throws started off the push, followed by a three from Barker and two more from Cooper to whittle the margin to one, 62-61, with 1:51 left. A pair of Booker charity tosses put Texas back up three, 64-61, with 16 seconds remaining, but a Cooper jumper in the paint drew her team within one once more, 64-63, with nine ticks on the clock. After Lee made one of two free throw attempts with six seconds left to make it 65-63, the Lady Vols used a timeout to advance the ball and had one final chance to find an equalizer. The opportunity never came, as Texas was able to get a steal and end the threat.

NEXT UP
Tennessee begins a challenging stretch of three games in six days next week on Tuesday, as it travels to Oxford, Miss., to make up a game with Ole Miss slated for Jan. 26 that was postponed due to an ice storm that hit the region. The Lady Vols and Rebels will meet at the Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss at 6 p.m. CT (7 ET). The contest will be televised on ESPNU and also carried on Lady Vol Radio Network stations with audio streaming available on UTSports.com. UT will follow that contest by hosting Texas A&M at 6:30 p.m. ET on Thursday (SECN+) and playing at No. 10/10 Oklahoma at 1 p.m. CT (2 ET) on Sunday (ESPN/ESPN2).

COOP CAUGHT FIRE
Talaysia Cooper's 29 points led all scorers. It was her ninth time this season being UT's leading scorer and 23rd time for her career. Cooper leads the team in 2025-26 in double-digit scoring performances with 19 and in 20+ efforts with three (15 career). Cooper was a factor on the defensive side of the ball, too, leading the team in steals with two. The guard has been the Lady Vols' steal leader in 15 of 22 games played this campaign.

SHOUT OUT TO LADY VOL NATION
UT had its ninth home game this season with over 10,000 in attendance, marking the most 10K crowds since the 2015-16 campaign. The crowd of 13,351 on hand vs. Texas was the Lady Vols' largest since 16,215 were in the house for the win vs. UConn last season on Feb. 6, 2025.