To begin the season, Tennessee has gone through a gauntlet of ranked opponents. In their opening 12 games, the Lady Vols have faced — and lost to — No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Indiana, No. 6 Virginia Tech, No. 10 UCLA and No. 23 Gonzaga.

On Sunday afternoon, the tough stretch continued with a trip to play No. 2 Stanford.

In the contest, the pair of historic teams battled throughout the affair. Ultimately, the Cardinals (11-1) downed Tennessee (7-6), 77-70.

The deciding factor in the game was the second half.

After heading into halftime tied, Tennessee stormed to another strong third quarter. In their last three matches, the Lady Vols have outscored opponents by a combined 37 points in the period. Against Stanford, Tennessee won the frame by five.

Leading the third-quarter charge was Rickea Jackson. After missing a stretch of games and not playing in the first half against UCF, the transfer caught fire coming out of the locker room. Her eight points in the period contributed to a 10-0 run that catapulted the Lady Vols into the lead. She finished the match with 14 points on 6-for-13 shooting.

"We made some shots," said Tennessee coach Kellie Harper on the third quarter. "I think Rickea (Jackson) comes in and scores eight in the third quarter alone. We got the ball inside a couple times for some buckets. We were coming up strong defensively to keep them slowed down to get that eight-point lead. It wasn't anything magical, we were just making shots."

However, Stanford came out firing in the final frame. The Cardinals stormed to a 17-3 run in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter — retaking their lead and creating further separation. They would never look back from there as they advanced to a seven-point victory.

"Would love to have been able to close this one out and finish stronger in the fourth" said Harper. "You saw Stanford's efficiency, especially in that fourth quarter, on the offensive end. Sharing the basketball, getting themselves to the free throw line. At the same time, I think they made some adjustments defensively and we just kept coming up empty."

Leading the way for Stanford in the fourth quarter was Cameron Brink, Haley Jones and Hannah Jump. The trio scored a combined 23 points on 9-for-12 shooting in the final frame. Their attack proved to be too much for Tennessee to defend as time winded down. They finished with 21, 19 and 19 points, respectively. Brink also added 17 rebounds and six blocks. Jones recorded 12 rebounds.

The effective rebounding was an important factor throughout the game. It continued to give Stanford second-chances and shut the door on Tennessee on the defensive end. The Cardinals won the rebound battle 53-38 — and when it mattered the most, the Cardinals rebounded at an elite level with a 26-19 advantage in the fourth quarter alone.

Outside of Jackson's effort, it was Jordan Horston and Sara Puckett leading the scoring charge for the Lady Vols. Horston finished with 19 points on 8-for-24 shooting. She played an all-around game by totaling 10 rebounds, three assists and four steals — marking her third double-double of the season.

Puckett caught fire in the first half, scoring 11 points on three made 3-pointers. She failed to score in the second half, though.

Despite Horston, Jackson and Puckett leading the team in scoring, it was Jasmine Powell, Marta Suarez and Justine Pissott who recorded the only positive +/- marks. The group all came off the bench but played valuable minutes while on the court.

The loss to Stanford came as the Lady Vols' final chance to make a splash before SEC play begins. Next, they will host Wofford on Dec. 27 before traveling to Gainesville to face Florida on Dec. 29.

However, Tennessee has a chance to build momentum during this stretch. It plays eight unranked SEC teams to begin conference play before hosting No. 9 UConn on Jan. 26.

*****

– TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM.

– ENJOY VOLREPORT WITH A PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION.

– SUBSCRIBE TO THE VOLREPORT YOUTUBE CHANNEL.

– FOLLOW VOLREPORT ON TWITTER: @TennesseeRivals, @TMansfieldMedia, @JNichols_2121, @ByNoahTaylor, @TylerIvens, @RealTBannerman, @JacobPolacheck, @RyanTSylvia.