Entering the game as by far the hottest shooting team in the nation, the Tennessee Lady Vols managed to keep it up in a 91-78 win at the Texas A&M Aggies so as to not spoil Kim Caldwell’s SEC debut. Jewel Spear, who hails from Texas, was the star to make sure that happened.
Spear went an incredible 6-of-8 from three, scoring 20 points, as Tennessee held off a second-half comeback from A&M. She was one of four players to score double figures and help the Lady Vols, ranked No. 15 in the AP Poll and No. 13 in the Coaches Poll, remain undefeated.
Thanks in part to a 12-0 run in the second quarter, the Tennessee Lady Vols built a 22-point lead over A&M at halftime. However, Joni Taylor’s team opened the second half on a 9-0 run and would not go away. It didn’t matter, though, as Spear, shall we say, spearhaded a dominant three-point shooting effort by the team.
Including what she did, UT shot 10-of-23 from beyond the arc. What’s crazy, though, is the elite scorers beyond Spear were not the three-point shooters. Samara Spencer and Ruby Whitehorn each hit one three, and Tess Darby hit two. Of those, only Whitehorn scored double figures, with 15.
What really carried this team, in addition to its regular aggression, was the post play.
The Tennessee Lady Vols outrebounded A&M 39-29 with 21 offensive rebounds to A&M’s nine. That was the difference in the game. Zee Spearman had six offensive boards, which were all of her rebounds on the night, en route to scoring 14 points.
Talaysia Cooper had five rebounds and four assists off the bench to go along with two steals en route to 16 points. Those were two of the 11 steals UT had en route to forcing 25 turnovers, as Spear, Whitehorn and Jillian Hollingshead, who grabbed three offensive boards, all had two steals as well.
However, it wasn’t as easy as it should have been for Tennessee, as they had their own turnover woes in this one. Cooper was ironically the main culprit with seven, and they had 20 on the night. Still, they won the transition game while proving they could score out of their half court sets.
Simply put, it was an impressive win. The Tennessee Lady Vols improve to 13-0 on the year and 1-0 in SEC play with a visit from the Oklahoma Sooners, ranked No. 9 in the AP Poll and No. 10 in the Coaches Poll, set for Sunday. A&M falls to 7-6, 0-1 in SEC play and will host the No. 25 ranked Ole Miss Rebels Sunday.
