Christmas Vacation: #15 Lady Vols Run Past Richmond, Tulsa in West Palm Beach

Credit: University of Tennessee Athletics

By Dawson Wise

There is still a 0 in the loss column.

As the Christmas break approached, Kim Caldwell’s team faced one more weekend test with a pair of neutral site games against non-conference foes Richmond and Tulsa. As expected, the final scores were somewhat lopsided.

As the non-conference portion of the schedule dwindles, there is always some worry that the team will be too busy looking forward to take care of the business in front of them. We’ve already seen that with Caldwell, that won’t be an issue.

For the most part, they looked like the same calm, collected, confident, and poised team they have been for most of this groundbreaking season. The offense hummed, the defense locked in, and when the smoke cleared, Tennessee remained unbeaten.

Now, only one game remains before Caldwell enters the gauntlet that is the Southeastern Conference. For now, her team remains unblemished and continues to garner talk and interest about how they will handle the conference grind the first time around.

Let’s quickly recap the two wins in West Palm Beach. I’ll give the final stats for each and then some brief takeaways.

Richmond

Score: Tennessee 92, Richmond 67.

FG: Tennessee 37-72 (51.4%), Richmond 25-52 (48.1%).

3P: Tennessee 9-31 (29%), Richmond 6-22 (27.3%).

Rebounds: Tennessee 37, Richmond 28.

Turnovers: Tennessee 12, Richmond 17.

Points off TO: 26-13 Tennessee.

Paint: 52-36 Tennessee.

Second Chance: 24-7 Tennessee.

Fast Break: 6-4 Tennessee.

Bench: 35-3 Tennessee.

Highlight: Talaysia Cooper had 15 of her game-high 24 points in a third quarter that saw the Lady Vols push the lead from single digits to nearly 20.

Scoring:

Tennessee: Cooper-24, Whitehorn-15 (7 reb), Spencer-11 (6 ast), Spearman-8 (9 reb), Spear-8, Darby/Boyd-6, Puckett-5, Hollingshead-4, E. Darby-3, Latham-2 (7 reb).

Richmond: Rachel Ullstrom-19 (5 reb), Maggie Doogan-14 (6 reb, 4 ast), Ally Sweeney-13 (5 ast), Addie Budnik-12, Katie Hill-6, Anna Camden-2, Faith Alston-1.

Tulsa

Score: Tennessee 102, Tulsa 67.

FG: Tennessee 37-77 (48.1%), Tulsa 22-63 (34.9%).

3P: Tennessee 14-32 (43.8%), Tulsa 5-29 (17.2%).

Rebounds: Tennessee 52, Tulsa 40.

Turnovers: Tennessee 16, Tulsa 23.

Points off TO: 27-13 Tennessee.

Paint: 40-34 Tennessee.

Second Chance: 23-10 Tennessee.

Fast Break: 14-10 Tulsa.

Bench: 40-23 Tennessee.

Highlight: Sara Puckett dropped in 12 of her 17 points in the second quarter, helping to fuel a 41 point onslaught by the Lady Vols that ballooned the lead and allowed them to cruise.

Scoring:

Tennessee: Puckett-17 (7 reb), Spear-16, Spearman-15 (9 reb), Whitehorn-13 (5 reb), Cooper-13, Latham-7 (7 reb), Spencer-5 (6 ast, 5 reb), Hollingshead-4, T. Darby/E. Darby/Wells-3, Strickland-2.

Tulsa: Delanie Crawford-17, Mady Cartwright-12, Jade Clack-11, Elise Hill-9, Kennedi Alexander-6, Kristol Ayson-2, Hadley Periman-11 reb.

Takeaways

Again, these games went about as expected. I’ll keep the takeaways general.

Offensively, I thought the shooting looked good. On paper, they were a couple of the better shooting days on the year. When they shoot like that, you can see the results…they win games. They will need to keep those numbers consistent in conference play. The ability to make shots, especially beyond the arc, may be the difference between a middle of the pack SEC finish and contending for the conference title. The rebounding stayed positive as well, especially from Zee Spearman, who has the potential to be an X-factor in SEC play. I still would like to see more composure in the half court offense at times. There can be times where there is some panic and lack of control, and that will need to be shored up.

Defensively, you did your job. Despite some early adversity against Richmond that saw them hang around, you continued to play your game and drained the Spiders over time, and eventually they ran out of gas. This will be another crucial aspect of conference games. If you can be that physical and mental drain on your opponent, this style will win you some games, as the conference is still relatively new to it. The Lady Vols had a dominant day on the defensive glass, with a 20-8 advantage over Richmond and a 30-15 advantage over Tulsa. To this point, Memphis has been the only team that can break the press. We’ll see how long that lasts. It was another crisp defensive performance.

Overall, this was another weekend that may pay some dividends going forward for this team. Being able to travel away from home to a new court and still play your game and be efficient is difficult, especially for a new unit with a new coach. Let’s not forget that this team opens conference play on the road in College Station in a few days. They needed this test.

Just one game remains before conference play. The Lady Vols have an opportunity to enter the conference slate undefeated. It is the 3rd time in the post-Pat Summitt era (13th overall) that the team has started the year with 10 straight wins and the best start since starting 15-0 in 2017-18.

Up Next

The Lady Vols welcome Winthrop (6-6) to Food City Center on Sunday, 12/29, at 2:00 PM EST. The game will air on SEC Network+.