Rickea Jackson didn’t even need to look to send the ball out to the wing to Kaiya Wynn in transition.
She knew Wynn would be with her on the fast break, and she rewarded her. Wynn drove into the paint and hit her short jumper, keeping Lady Vols basketball solidly in the lead in the fourth quarter. Jackson’s shot wasn’t falling in the second half like it was in the first, so she found other ways to lead Tennessee to a dominant win.
The Lady Vols throttled Arkansas at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center on Monday, beating the Razorbacks 81-55. It was a crucial bounce-back win for Tennessee (15-8, 8-3 SEC) after dropping its third SEC game on the road Thursday.
Tennessee was led by Jackson’s 21 points, and she added nine rebounds and two assists. Senior guard Jewel Spear added 13 points and stuffed the stat sheet with eight rebounds and a team-high seven assists.
Arkansas (17-9, 5-6) was led by freshman guard Taliah Scott’s 23 points.
Tennessee builds lead off Arkansas shooting struggles
Tennessee looked like a different team from Thursday and came out reenergized against the Razorbacks. The Lady Vols were aggressive offensively and shot 42.9% in the first half to build a 40-24 lead.
Their execution defensively started to suffer in the second quarter at times when the pace picked up. But Tennessee caught a break with Arkansas’ poor shooting night – it shot just 23.7% in the first half and went 6-for-21 from 3-point range.
The Lady Vols were also able to capitalize on turnovers more than Arkansas. Tennessee scored 12 points off six Arkansas turnovers, but the Razorbacks only managed to score six points off nine Tennessee turnovers in the first half.
Jillian Hollingshead logs double-double off the bench
Arkansas was a favorable matchup for Hollingshead to get minutes with forward Maryam Dauda’s versatility. Dauda often plays out on the arc and can shoot from deep, so Hollingshead’s ability to defend and switch benefitted the Lady Vols.
Hollingshead has been a consistent rebounder, but has struggled offensively in conference play. But she found opportunities to score and was aggressive on the offensive end Monday, and logged 14 points on 66.7% shooting, 10 rebounds and three assists in 23 minutes.
Her 10 rebounds lead the team to outrebounding Arkansas 56-29.
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Tennessee’s offense returns to form
The Lady Vols rebounded from a poor offensive showing at Alabama and scored more than 20 points in two quarters Monday.
Part of that was due to easier competition, but Tennessee executed well offensively, too. It logged 19 assists on 28 made field goals, outscored Arkansas in the paint 34-16 and was smart with the number of 3-pointers it took. The Lady Vols went 8-for-15 from 3-point range compared to Arkansas making eight of its 35 attempts.
It also helped that they got out in transition and scored 23 of their points off fast breaks.
Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Rickea Jackson’s 21 points lead Lady Vols to dominant win over Arkansas
