KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Wofford women's basketball team left it all on the court Tuesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena, but the Terriers could not overcome Tennessee's size in a 92-53 loss. Wofford falls to 9-4 on the season while Tennessee improves to 8-6.
 
Wofford was held to 27.9 percent shooting overall and 20.7 percent from three-point range. Tennessee posted a 46.3 percent clip and was 42.9 percent beyond the arc. The Volunteers utilized their size advantage, outrebounding the Terriers 55-26, including an offensive rebound margin of 18-6. Tennessee clogged the paint with 38 points while holding Wofford to six. However, the Terriers won the turnover battle with 11 committed and 13 forced.
 
"Not the performance that we really wanted to have here, but we played a team in Tennessee that is really talented," said head coach Jimmy Garrity. "They're really long; they're athletic; they're strong. We typically pride ourselves on shooting the ball well. Tonight we just didn't shoot it well, but to be honest, that's more of an indication to how Tennessee guarded us.
 
"But we did some good things. Eleven turnovers – that's a positive. We set some goals that we were close to, but at the end of the day, Tennessee's length and strength was just a little bit too much for us."
 
Jackie Carman led the way for Wofford with 17 points as the only Terrier in double figures. Her streak of consecutive double-digit scoring outings has now stretched to 14 games in a row, one shy the program record originally set by Chloe Wanink in the 2018-19 season.
 
Ja'Rae Smith was a hair shy of double figures with nine points, a new career high. She added three rebounds and two steals.
 
Helen Matthews was the top rebounder with five boards, and she added three points alongside two assists. Matthews also led the way with three steals. Rachael Rose paced the team with three assists, and she netted eight points.
 
Lilly Hatton contributed seven points, and Jessie Parish added four. Sydnee Richetto added a pair of points and secured four rebounds. Abbey Crawford and Indiya Clarke scored two and one, respectively, to round out the Terrier scoring. Though scoreless, Annabelle Schultz posted four rebounds and an assist.
 
Wofford stumbled out of the gates as Tennessee opened with 22-straight points. Ja'Rae Smith broke the run by knocking down a pair of free throws to get the Terriers on the board at the 1:51 mark. Jackie Carman netted a jumper in the final minute of the quarter as the score after one was 24-4 in favor of the Volunteers.
 
The Terriers began to pick things up offensively in the second as Ja'Rae Smith and Helen Matthews each put home three-pointers in the first five minutes of the quarter. But Tennessee kept pace and had a response for most Terrier buckets to maintain a 49-19 lead entering halftime.
 
Wofford hit a groove offensively in the third, with Rachael Rose opening the quarter with a jumper. Jackie Carman then popped a trey just over a minute later, but the issue for Wofford was that Tennessee responded each time. A Lilly Hatton layup followed by a Carman three-ball at the 6:37 mark gave the Terriers a five-point run, and overall in the quarter the Terriers netted 19 points to match their entire first half output. But the Volunteers stayed hot on their own end and secured 27 points in the quarter for a 76-38 score entering the fourth.
 
"I think as a team we just kind of came together through adversity," said fifth-year guard Jackie Carman of the third quarter scoring increase. "We understood that there were highs and lows in the game, and we just kind of said, 'Forget what happened in the first; do what we can in the third.' We like to play 10-minute games, just taking it one step at a time. And I thought we came together and tried to capitalize on our non-negotiables – being great teammates and getting the energy back up for the Terriers."
 
Wofford kept fighting in the fourth, posting 15 points and coming within a point of Tennessee's 16. But the early hole proved too much for Wofford to climb out of as the Terriers fell 92-53 to Tennessee.
 
"When you're playing Power Five teams – strength, size – those are always two areas that you're kind of wondering how you're going to handle that," said senior forward Lilly Hatton of the takeaways from the game. "But when we play these teams that are bigger, that are stronger, we learn what we can do and how we can be great teammates, how we can double and how we can dig down and what we need to do defensively to get the stops we need to get. So we carry that into conference [play] because you're playing more even size and strength teams, and it makes those games a lot easier on the defensive end."
 
After four-straight road contests, the Terriers will finally return home for the first time in almost four weeks on Saturday, Dec. 31. Wofford will host Erskine at 11:00 a.m. in the final non-conference affair before SoCon play begins the following week.