Tennessee entered Sunday's matchup against Eastern Kentucky in danger of dropping its fourth consecutive match.

However, the Lady Vols (5-5) held on to take down the Colonels (8-2) 72-63 to get back in the win column.

This win didn't come easy, though. Eastern Kentucky came within one point in the fourth quarter before a big Tennessee run put away the Colonels.

The effort was once again led by junior forward Karoline Striplin who followed up her 29-point effort against MTSU with a team-high 17 points.

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The second half was primarily dominated by Jewel Spear, though. After being held to three total points in the previous two matchups and the first half of Sunday, she exploded for 12.

As a team, Tennessee shot 40.3% from the field. Eastern Kentucky was limited to 34.8% shooting.

The Lady Vols' biggest concern was turnovers. They gave the ball up 22 times during the match leading to 16 points for the Colonels. Many of these were avoidable but were still given up.

Things got out to a slow start. Neither team found success early in the game leading to a 4-2 score after five minutes of action.

However, they began to see more success on offense later in the frame. This led to a 15-9 advantage for the Lady Vols after one quarter. Tennessee shot 25% from the field in the frame while holding Eastern Kentucky to 18.8%.

In the second quarter, the Colonels marched their way back into the game. They trailed by as little as one early in the quarter before an 8-0 Tennessee run reopened the game. However, Eastern Kentucky fired back to cut the lead to a single possession at the 4:39 mark.

From there, the Lady Vols stormed to a 10-point lead due to a 9-2 run. This was rendered useless, though, as the Colonels scored five unanswered in the final 40 seconds.

At the break, Tennessee led 36-31. This came on 34.3% shooting from the field and 18.2% shooting on 3-pointers. Eastern Kentucky knocked down 35.3% of its shots and hit on 42.9% of 3-pointers.

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Leading the way was Striplin who had 13 points at the break along with four rebounds and two steals.

In the third quarter, Tennessee once again got outscored in the period. The Lady Vols traded buckets with the Colonels who won the period by a point. This made it a four-point game with 10 minutes remaining.

To open the fourth quarter, a quick Eastern Kentucky 3-pointer cut the lead to a single point. Tennessee wouldn't give up the advantage, though, as it went on a 13-3 run to put the game away.

Tennessee dominated the glass on Sunday. It won the rebound battle 47-36 on the afternoon.

This included an impressive 14 offensive rebounds. However, these were converted to just five second-chance points.

Grabbing offensive rebounds is great, but the Lady Vols did a poor job of taking advantage and turning them to points.

Next, Tennessee will look to string together consecutive wins for just the second time this season. The Lady Vols will host Wofford on Dec. 19 at 6:32 p.m. ET airing on SECN+.

Then, Tennessee will travel to Liberty on Dec. 31 before getting SEC play started against Auburn on Jan. 4.

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