AUBURN, Ala. -- Shyra Ely scored 20 points, Tye'sha Fluker had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Tennessee rode a late surge to an 81-71 victory over Auburn on Thursday night.
The seventh-ranked Lady Vols (13-3, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) made 10 of 11 free throws after briefly falling behind to extend their regular-season league winning streak to 37 games.
The Tigers (9-8, 0-4) lost their sixth consecutive game, Auburn's longest losing streak since dropping seven in a row during the 2001-02 season.
Auburn, which never led in the first 34 minutes, took a 64-63 lead on Natasha Brackett's pull-up jumper with 4:53 left. But Brittany Jackson hit all three free throws after getting fouled on a long 3-point attempt and Tennessee added six more points from the line in the final 44 seconds to thwart any comeback hopes for Auburn.
Fluker scored eight points in the final four minutes and grabbed seven of Tennessee's 17 offensive boards.
Jackson finished with 15 points for Tennessee, making four of seven 3-pointers. Fluker had 14 points and seven rebounds in the second half.
Brackett led Auburn with 20 points and three steals, making seven of 10 shots and six of seven free throws. Louise Emeagi added 19 points for the Tigers, who made 16 of 17 free throws and shot 61 percent in the second half.
The Lady Vols dominated the boards 32-23 to offset Auburn's 58 percent shooting.
Tennessee led by as many as 10 points in the first half before Auburn's Nitasha Brown banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it 36-29. The Tigers shot 55 percent in the half but committed 13 turnovers.
Tennessee, the league's worst shooting team, made 47 percent of its shots.
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