Tennessee has clearly been a different team in SEC play.

That was evident again on Thursday for the Lady Vols, which beat Mississippi State 80-69 at Thompson-Boling Arena to stay perfect in league action.

Tennessee (11-6, 3-0 SEC) has now won four straight games and nine of its last 11 since starting the season 3-4.

In the second half, guard Jordan Horston proved to be the catalyst in the Lady Vols' strong close. She finished with a game-high 25 points on 11-of-21 shooting from the field with 13 points coming in the fourth quarter.

Horston also nabbed 14 rebounds and recorded five assists.

Forward Rickea Jackson has been a key part of the Lady Vols' recent success and continued to be productive off the bench against her former team – tallying 18 points and six rebounds.

Guard Tess Darby connected on a game-high four 3-pointers en route to a 13-point performance.

Mississippi State shot better than Tennessee both from the field (44.3% to 43.4%) and 3-point range (50.0% to 22.2%), but the Lady Vols dominated the boards – outrebounding the Bulldogs 50-31.

Darby opened Tennessee's first possession with a three and after a back-and-forth display from both teams, the Lady Vols rattled off a 9-2 run, which included three scores from Horston to lead 13-6.

Tennessee maintained its lead throughout the first half, even leading by 12 at one points after a Sara Puckett 3-pointer and back-to-back scores from Jasmine Powell.

Horston ended a three-plus minute scoring drought and a 6-0 Mississippi State run with a layup that also opened the way for Jackson to close out the second quarter with six points to give Tennessee a 41-32 advantage at intermission.

The Bulldogs (12-4, 1-2) came out swinging in the third quarter.

Forward Debreasha Powe hit 3-pointers in consecutive possessions and a pair of Ahlana Smith free throws cut the Lady Vols' lead to 44-40 less than two minutes into the period.

Tennessee was on the cusp of going back up double digits with five minutes left with Jackson and Darby combining for seven points in a two-minute stretch to put the Lady Vols ahead at 57-48.

Mississippi State continued to hang around, however – trailing 61-54 going into the fourth quarter.

With just over seven minutes to go in regulation, Horston nabbed her own rebound and scored on the putback to offer Tennessee a 10-point lead and some breathing room, but another Powe three trimmed the deficit down to four.

Jordan Walker answered back in a big way with a corner 3-pointer with less than six minutes left, but among the most clutch shots in the closing minutes came from Horston.

With Tennessee leading by four again, Horston drove to the basket and scored – drawing a foul in process and sinking the ensuing free throw with just over three minutes left to give the Lady Vols a 72-65 lead.

The sequence also provided Tennessee with one final boost that resulted in the Lady Vols outscoring Mississippi State 11-4 in the final three minutes.

Tennessee will look to extend its win streak to five games against Vanderbilt at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville on Sunday. Tipooff is set for noon ET on SEC Network.

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