Kentucky womens basketball (10-18) lost to Tennessee (21-10) 83-63 on Sunday afternoon in its penultimate game of the regular season.

The loss comes on senior day for the Cats with the defeat to the Volunteers serving as Kentucky’s seventh consecutive loss to end the regular season before heading to Greenville, South Carolina, for the SEC Tournament.

Kyra Elzy’s squad would come out with the familiar faces of Blair Green, Robyn Benton, Jada Walker, Maddie Scherr and Adeyeye Adebola.

Tennessee started the day with the combination of Jordan Walker, Tess Darby, Jordan Horston, Rickea Jackson and Karoline Striplin.

With thoughts of spoiling senior day for Kentucky, the Vols would start the matchup on the right foot with seven quick points from Striplin and six from Jackson for the early 13-0 lead.

The Cats did not score a point for nearly the first five minutes of the game, with Scherr scoring Kentucky’s first bucket with 5:31 left in the first quarter.

Tennessee would lead by as much as 18 in the first quarter with the score at 23-5 at a given time.

After exchanging buckets to follow the chaotic start, Kentucky would get back into the game off an 11-2 run in the last two minutes of the first quarter to bring the score to 25-15 to round up the first stanza of play.

The second quarter would continue to see both sides exchange buckets, but Tennessee would go on yet another run, outscoring the Wildcats 12-3 to finish up the first half with the Vols leading at 45-28.

Tennessee was led in the first half by Jackson’s 13 points and four boards as well as Striplin who scored 10 points to head into the halftime break up by 17.

Coming out of the intermission, Kentucky would struggle to find a bucket yet again to start the half with the Cats failing to score its first point until the 6:07 mark from a Scherr mid-range jumper.

Tennessee went on an 8-0 run during the scoring drought to bring the score to 55-32 halfway through the third.

The rest of the third would continue to see the Vols pull away from the Cats who, from the beginning tip off, had to play catch-up the rest of the game with the score at 68-41 heading into the final quarter of play of the regular season.

With the Cats down by 27 to begin the fourth quarter, energy inside Memorial Coliseum was relatively low, with Tennessee leaving Lexington with a 20-point victory.

Despite the defeat, the Wildcats were led by Scherr in scoring who finished with 27 points while Benton also put up respectable numbers scoring 17.

Tennessee, on the other hand, were pushed to victory from Jackson’s 21 points and Striplin’s inspired effort who finished with 12 points herself for the Vols’ victory.

Kentucky will travel to Greenville, South Carolina for the SEC Tournament starting Wednesday, March 1, with the first matchup’s game time and opponent being announced in the next couple of days.