Rickea Jackson, Sara Puckett save Lady Vols basketball from first SEC loss at Missouri
It didn't matter that Sara Puckett hadn't scored in double figures since Stanford on Dec. 18.
The sophomore forward was ready to step up for Lady Vols basketball, waiting wide open at the arc. Puckett let the 3-pointer fly, banking it in to tie the game with 39.2 seconds left in the game. Puckett scored a team-high 17 points in Sunday's 68-65 win over Missouri (14-6, 3-4 SEC) at Mizzou Arena, saving the Lady Vols (16-6, 8-0) from their first SEC loss of the season.
Rickea Jackson, who started for the first time since Nov. 27, scored the game-winning bucket when she converted an and-one play with 1.1 seconds left. Those were the only three of Jackson's 15 points that she scored in the fourth quarter.
Tennessee is now 8-0 in conference play, its best start in the SEC since the 2014-15 season.
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Hayley Frank led Missouri in scoring with a season-high 26 points. Frank was deadly from deep, going 5-for-9 from 3-point range. Missouri snapped Tennessee's three-game streak of holding opponents to fewer than 60 points.
Jordan Horston was not available Sunday for the second time this season. She's the only Lady Vol who has started in all 20 games she played in, and Tennessee coach Kellie Harper said on the radio pregame Horston did not travel due to sickness.
Lady Vols get off to hot start
Tennessee didn't miss a beat without Horston to start.
Most of it was due to Jackson, who scored seven points and went 3-for-3 in the first five minutes. But every player stepped up to build a 23-14 lead after the first quarter.
Puckett and Jillian Hollingshead shot a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and Jasmine Franklin went 2-for-3. The Lady Vols shot 66.7% in the first and tallied six assists on 10 made field goals. Karoline Striplin led Tennessee with eight points in the first half.
Missouri's offensive rebounding keeps it close
The Tigers grabbed eight offensive rebounds in the first half, and it led to 10 second-chance points that kept the game close.
It didn't help that Tennessee struggled on the offensive boards, only tallying two before halftime. Missouri outrebounded Tennessee 19-18 in the first half, but the Lady Vols recovered to outrebound the Tigers 34-32.
Tennessee was hampered by turnovers and fouls in the second quarter and didn't score the last three minutes. But it still went into halftime with 33-27 lead.
Tigers take lead in third, but Lady Vols recover
Missouri went on an 8-0 run in a hurry at the beginning of the third quarter to take a 37-35 lead, which forced Harper into a timeout.
The Tigers led by as much as 47-40 with 3:11 left in the third. But the Lady Vols rallied, ending the third on an 11-0 run. Missouri outscored Tennessee 20-18, but Tennessee weathered the runs to regain a 51-47 lead going into the fourth.
Up next
Tennessee returns to Knoxville for a nonconference matchup with UConn (17-2, 10-0 Big East) on Thursday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN). The historic rivalry will be preceded by a women's basketball edition of ESPN's "College GameDay."
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Lady Vols basketball closes out win at Missouri without Jordan Horston
