#19/17 Tennessee Outlasts RV/RV Georgia In Overtime, 82-77

Thursday, February 5

Athens, Ga.

6:30 P.M. ET

University of Tennessee

15-5,7-1SEC

Georgia

18-5,4-5SEC

OT 1

Tennessee

Georgia

#19/17 Tennessee Outlasts RV/RV Georgia In Overtime, 82-77

February 05, 2026 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Kim Caldwell/Zee Spearman Presser Highlights Photo Gallery

By: Eric Trainer

ATHENS, Ga. – No. 19/17 Tennessee battled back from an eight-point first-half deficit and hit 10 of 12 free throws in the extra frame to fight off Georgia at Stegeman Coliseum and claim a gritty, 82-77 road win in overtime on Thursday night.

Senior forward Zee Spearman fired in 23 points in her return to the Peach State, tallying eight of UT's 14 in the extra period. The Dacula, Ga., native was joined in double figures by freshman guard Mia Pauldo with 21 and redshirt junior guard Talaysia Cooper with 16. Marietta, Ga., product Janiah Barker pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds to go with her nine points and three blocked shots, as the Big Orange improved to 15-5 overall and 7-1 in SEC play. Tennessee joins South Carolina as the only teams in league play with only one loss.

Dani Carnegie, who sent the game to overtime with three free throws with five seconds remaining, finished with 25 points for the Lady Bulldogs (18-5, 4-5 SEC), while Rylie Theuerkauf and Mia Woolfolk added 15 and 14, respectively.

Tennessee got on the scoreboard first on a Zee Spearman free throw and built a pair of four-point leads, including a 9-5 edge on a Spearman three-pointer with 6:12 remaining in the first quarter, before Georgia evened it up at 9-9 by the 4:14 media break on a Zhen Craft turnaround jumper. A Barker turnaround shot off the glass pushed the Lady Vols back ahead, 11-9, but three free throws by Carnegie gave the Bulldogs the lead, 12-11, with 2:34 to go. A driving layup by Pauldo and a steal and score from Cooper boosted the Big Orange back on top at 15-12, and UT closed out the opening stanza with a 15-14 advantage.

UGA grabbed its largest lead at 19-15 on a Miyah Verse bucket with 9:19 remaining in the second period, and UT was able to trim the margin to two, 19-17, on a driving Pauldo layup before the 4:56 media timeout. Georgia put together an 8-2 run out of that break to build a 27-19 lead with 2:59 to go, but UT used a barrage of threes from Nya Robertson, Pauldo and Cooper and closed an 8-0 spree with a layup and then a trey from Mia Pauldo via a kick-out pass from Cooper to seize a 33-31 lead at the half.

After Georgia scored first after the intermission, the Lady Vols got a steal and score from Spearman and then the Dacula native hit a three-ball to move her team ahead, 38-33, and force a Bulldogs timeout with 7:32 left in the third. UGA trimmed the margin to two twice, but buckets by Jaida Civil and Spearman enabled Tennessee to take a 42-38 lead into the 4:55 media break. A Cooper three soon after the stoppage provided the Big Orange a 45-38 lead, and Lauren Hurst's trey at the 2:39 mark made it a six-point game, 48-42. A Theuerkauf three-pointer cut it to three, 48-45, before a free throw from Pauldo sent the team into the final frame with UT clinging to a 49-45 advantage.

Threes by Alyssa Latham and Cooper gave the Lady Vols a 55-49 lead with 8:29 left in the fourth period, but Georgia worked its way back to a tie, getting a corner three from Savannah Henderson to knot the score at 57 and force a Tennessee timeout with 6:49 to go. UT grabbed a pair of three-point leads, 60-57, on a Barker three with 5:18 remaining and 62-59 on a Spearman layup at the 4:23 mark. Georgia battled back, though, cutting it to 64-63 with 1:02 to go and 66-65 with 12 seconds left on Woolfolk layups. UT countered with pairs of free throws each time, getting two from Spearman and Pauldo, with the latter giving the Big Orange a 68-65 advantage with eight ticks left. A foul on a three-point attempt by Carnegie sent her to the line, and she drained all three with five seconds left to tie it at 68. A last-second shot by Cooper was off the mark, sending the game to overtime.

Tennessee scored the first six points of the extra frame, getting two more pairs of free throws from Pauldo and Spearman and then moving ahead 74-68 with 3:23 remaining on a Spearman layup off a feed from Cooper. Down the stretch, Georgia pulled to within three twice. Tennessee, though, hit its charity tosses to hold off Georgia, with Pauldo hitting four free throws and Spearman draining her two attempts to close out the victory.

NEXT UP
Tennessee next heads to Columbia to take on No. 3/3 South Carolina (23-2, 9-1 SEC) at Colonial Life Arena on Sunday afternoon. The Lady Vols and Gamecocks will meet at 3 p.m. ET in a contest televised nationally on ABC. The game also will be carried on Lady Vol Radio Network stations with audio streaming available on UTSports.com.

ZEE WAS CLUTCH
Zee Spearman turned in an SEC-career high 23 points and led UT in scoring for the fourth time this season and the seventh time in her UT career. Spearman's performance marked her third time with 20+ points in 2025-26 and the fourth for her career. The forward also contributed three assists, which tied her career high for the fourth time in the past six games.

CONTINUING HER FINE SEC CAMPAIGN
Mia Pauldo tossed in 21 points, the second Lady Vol with 20+ in the game. The freshman guard has three career games now with 20-plus points. Pauldo has been on a tear in conference play, averaging 15 points and 2.4 assists per contest. The New Jersey native also has been clutch from the stripe with a 88-percent free-throw percentage in SEC competition.

CAUGHT FIRE
Mia Pauldo caught fire in the second quarter, tallying her fourth double-digit scoring quarter this season. Pauldo leads the team with four quarters where she personally scored 10 or more points this season. Pauldo's last 10+ scoring performance in a quarter came when she closed the Alabama win out with 10 in the fourth.

TREYS WERE FALLING
The Big Orange hit 12 treys against the Bulldogs, marking their second game in a row with 10+ deep balls. The Lady Vols have made 10+ threes on nine occasions and have done so for the second-most times in school history.

TENNESSEE IN OVERTIME
Tennessee's 58th game in overtime resulted in the Lady Vols improving to 36-22 in extra time games overall, including 14-13 on the road. UT's last overtime win came at home against Memphis in 84-74 fashion on Nov. 13, 2023.

CLUTCH FREE THROWS
Tennessee was 16 of 22 from the line for the game against Georgia for 72.7 percent, including four of four in the fourth quarter and 10 of 12 in the overtime period. Free throws were the name of the game in the fourth quarter and overtime, with Mia Pauldo and Zee Spearman performing perfectly from the line. Pauldo (8 of 8) and Spearman (6 of 6) hit a collective 14 free throws in the fourth quarter and overtime to help close out a win.