The Lady Vols opened its SEC Tournament run on the opening day for the first time since 2009.
Greenville, SC. – Tennessee arrived in Greenville South Carolina with plenty of questions on whether Talaysia Cooper would be in the lineup after rolling her ankle in the regular-season finale against Georgia.
She was not in the starting lineup but checked in for the first time at 08:18 mark of the first quarter.
Tennessee took care of business in the opening round with an 77-37 victory over Texas A&M and will meet Vanderbilt on Thursday at 11:00 a.m.
The three takeaways following the Lady Vols’ and Texas A&M’s rematch in the opening right of the SEC Tournament.
Talaysia Cooper’s impact:
For just the fourth time this season, Cooper was not in the starting lineup. However, it took less than two minutes before she checked in for the first time.
At the 08:18 mark, she subbed in and not even a minute later she sank a long-range two to give the Lady Vols its first points of the game.
As the Aggies inbounded after the bucket, the Lady Vols brought the press and were able to force a 10-second violation with a last-second effort from Cooper.
Later in the second quarter, the press got working after. AM rebounded Tess Darby’s missed three and while they were trying to get in transition, Cooper forced a turnover on Sole Williams. With numbers on their side, Spencer quickly took the three and AM called a timeout.
Late in the third quarter, Cooper stole an out-of-bounds pass from Abdur-Rahim and immediately cashed it in off the glass for a pair, 50-28.
A couple of minutes later after Alyssaa Latham grabbed a defensive rebound, Cooper drove in the paint and laid it for two.
In the first few minutes of the fourth, Kaniya Boyd came up with an impressive rebound as she was falling out of bounds and managed to get it to Cooper, who finished with a jumper. That bucket came after Tennessee forced its third 10-second violation of the game.
Cooper finished the game with team-highs in points with 19, rebounds with 8, and 3 steals. Doing all of this in just 23 minutes of play.
Tennessee is tough:
The last trio of games, toughness was lacking for the Lady Vols. Against Texas A&M, they reignited their toughness.
It was first most evident in their rebounding efforts, which did start a little cold.
Late in the first quarter, Jillian Hollingshead had about three Aggies on her back as she tried to get a layup but was not successful in that effort. However, in her toughness to stick with it and grab two offensive rebounds, she was able to draw a foul and tied the game at 5.
A little later it was on full display as they fought and scrapped on the ground for the second offensive rebound of the possession. They were successful in that effort. It ended with Jewel Spear sinking the trey from the wing to give them the one-point advantage.
In the second quarter, their defense became even more suffocating. Right after Spearman connected on a three, she forced a turnover on the other end.
Tennessee capitalized with a Spencer layup to make it 16-14 Lady Vols.
After grabbing the defensive rebound, the Lady Vols hustled down the court and finished with a Cooper layup to keep Tennessee in front, 18-15.
Later, Spearman sparked the toughness again with a defensive rebound that led to a fast-break layup by Kaniya Boyd to make it 24-17.
In the final minute of the third, Tennessee was able to force another 5-second violation. Cooper would turn it over on a bad pass.
The Lady Vols kept the focus and forced TAMU to work the whole shot clock and the Aggies took a bad look three, no good.
So with just four seconds left in the quarter, Latham grabbed the defensive board dished it to Spear and she found a sweet spot on Tennessee’s baseline and sank the three-pointer as time expired, 60-28.
Head Coach Kim Caldwell couldn’t help but let out a little smirk after that incredible play.
Tennessee’s dominance on the glass has all but neutralized the Aggies’ offense, holding them to 13 or fewer points in each quarter of the game and held them to 9 or fewer in three quarters.
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Tennessee outrebounded the Aggies 43-41 and dominated on the offensive glass.
Turnovers feeding offense:
In the first minutes of the second quarter, Tennessee already forced and TAMU turnover. Those efforts were met with an unlikely three from Zee Spearman.
After passing the ball around a handful of times, Samara Spencer found Spearman on an island at the top of the key. She set her feet and knocked down her _ triple of the season. It gave the Lady Vols a lead it would not surrender the rest of the half.
In the final minute of the half, Tennessee brought the press and forced the second 10-second violation of the half.
Although, they were unable to capitalize, as Cooper took a last-second shot from the top of the key.
To open the third, the Lady Vols swiped a bad pass by Sole Williams and Spearman took care of the rest with a layup on the other end. That was the 17th point Tennessee captured from turnovers.
Tennessee forced its first 5-second violation of the game but were unable to maximize those efforts after Darby missed the corner three and TAMU grabbed the defensive rebound.
In the final 90 seconds of the third, TAMU turned it over after a travel violation. The Lady Vols played good heads-up offense and Spencer dished it to Darby as she was driving in the paint and threw up a nice floater to extend the Lady Vols’ lead.
The very next possession, Spencer forced another turnover and Latham kicked it to Spear for a triple.
Tennessee finished with 37 points off of turnovers.
