No. 4 Tennessee 80, Florida 58

1/11/2007 9:58 PM

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -It's not often Tennessee is looking to get even against Florida.

Sidney Spencer scored 21 points and Candace Parker added 19 to lead the fourth-ranked Lady Vols to their ninth straight win, 80-58 over the Gators on Thursday night.

The win gave Tennessee (15-1, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) some measure of revenge for a 95-93 overtime loss to Florida last Feb. 26. That was the first time Florida won in Knoxville in 16 attempts and was the Gators' second win over Tennessee in 36 meetings.

``We used it as a little bit of motivation,'' The Lady Vols' Alexis Hornbuckle said. ``They took us out of a No. 1 seed (in the NCAA tournament).''

Hornbuckle had 10 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds to finish just shy of a triple double.

``We knew this was a team that was ready to play us,'' Parker added. ``We knew we needed to come in and take care of business. We couldn't overlook them.''

Marshae Dotson had 20 points and Depree Bowden added 16 for Florida (6-11, 0-2).

Tennessee raced out to a 25-0 lead, getting four 3-pointers from Spencer in the first 10:40 of the game. Dotson got Florida's first points with a short jumper with 12:19 left in the half.

Tennessee extended its lead to 43-9 with 4:47 left in the half before Florida responded with a 17-1 run heading into halftime.

The Lady Vols led by as many as 29 points in the second half.

``I think we were a little overwhelmed,'' Gators coach Carolyn Peck said. ``I know this from working at Tennessee, a lot of times you're on your heels to start with until a few things happen. That run to end the first half gave our players some confidence. I think they did better in the second half.''