After winning its last five games Texas was unable to pull off an upset over the Lady Volunteers this weekend in Knoxville, Tenn.

The Lady Volunteers were lead by Shekinna Stricklen who scored 20 points and Vicki Baugh who added 17 points and 11 rebounds. The Lady Volunteers converted 16 points off of 16 Texas turnovers and out-rebouned Texas 49-38 while scoring 17 second-chance points.

Despite a distinct advantage down low, the Lady Volunteers allowed the Longhorns to hang around. After a Chelsea Bass 3-pointer the Longhorns trailed 59-53 with just 8:50 left in the game.

“I felt good when we cut it to six. I felt like we were at a good spot, but I felt like we ran out of gas a little bit,” Longhorns head coach Gail Goestenkors said. “We started fouling and had a couple of turnovers. With a great team like Tennessee, you’ve got to take advantage of every opportunity that you have.”

After Bass’ shot the Lady Volunteers sparked a 10-0 run to take the lead for good.

Senior Ashleigh Fontenette led all scorers with 22 points and sophomore Chassidy Fussell chipped in with 14 points for the Longhorns.

Fontenette’s first bucket put her over the 1,000-point mark for her career, making her only the 36th Longhorn to achieve the feat.

“I didn’t even know I was close, so I’m kind of shocked right now,” Fontenette said. “I think we did good as a team today, we just couldn’t put it all together.”

Tennessee was the third ranked team that Texas has faced so far this season. The Longhorns next matchup with a ranked opponent should come no earlier than Jan. 15 when the Baylor Bears come to Austin. Texas’ last win over a top-10 team came Feb 1, 2009 against No. 4 Baylor in Waco.

Goestenkors knows this weekend’s loss will allow for many opportunities to improve.

“I saw some great things, and I also saw some things that we need to work on, and we will, and we’ll get better,” she said.