Women's Top 25 roundup: No. 15 Tennessee fends off No. 18 Tide

Jewel Spear scored 20 points and Talaysia Cooper added 16 as No. 15 Tennessee continued its late-season surge with an 88-80 victory Thursday at home over No. 18 Alabama in Knoxville, Tenn.

Zee Spearman had 13 points and nine rebounds for the Lady Vols (20-6, 7-6 SEC), who won for the fifth time in their last six games while reaching 20 victories for the 42nd time in program history.

Sarah Ashlee Barker scored 22 points and Zaay Green added 16 for the Crimson Tide (21-6, 8-5), who had a four-game winning streak snapped. Essence Cody had 13 points and seven rebounds for Alabama.

Tennessee closed the first half on a 10-0 run and turned an 11-0 run in the third quarter into a 58-42 lead. Alabama pulled within 75-67 with 5:12 remaining and got as close as 79-75 with 3:15 left before Tennessee pulled away.

No. 9 North Carolina 68, Syracuse 58

Maria Gakdeng scored 21 points with 14 rebounds as the visiting Tar Heels extended their winning streak to six games with the road victory over the Orange.

Trayanna Crisp scored 12 points and Indya Nivar added 11 for North Carolina (24-4, 12-3 ACC), which was playing without Alyssa Ustby (knee), who averages 10.7 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.

Georgia Woolley scored 17 points and Sophie Burrows added 12 for Syracuse (10-16, 4-11), which lost its third consecutive game to match a season high.

--Field Level Media