MEMPHIS — The Tennessee women’s basketball team picked up another win in spite of not putting forth the performance coach Kim Caldwell was looking for Wednesday night at Memphis.
For better or worse, the Lady Volunteers have little time to dwell on either aspect before returning to competition in what will be their busiest stretch of the regular season.
Jewel Spear and Zee Spearman scored 18 points apiece as No. 18 Tennessee beat the Tigers 90-75 at the FedEx Forum, the first of three games in four days for the Lady Vols, who were headed for Florida and the West Palm Beach Classic after stretching their undefeated start to Caldwell’s first season to nine games.
“I think Memphis definitely outplayed us today,” Caldwell said in a postgame news conference. “They played harder than us, they had more of a sense of urgency, so we definitely have a lot to learn … and a quick turnaround before our next game, so we have a lot to fix in a 24-hour period.”
Tennessee had six scorers in double figures in its first true road game of the season, with Spearman and Talaysia Cooper, who had 12 points, notching double-doubles with 12 and 11 rebounds, respectively. Cooper also had six assists and four steals. Tess Darby and Samara Spencer also had 12 points, and Ruby Whitehorn added 10.
Spear returned after missing the previous game due to injury (and playing just one minute in the one before that), but her points, six rebounds and four assists were all season highs for the fifth-year guard even as she sported a leg brace.
“It was nice to return to the court, you know, be with my teammates,” Spear said in the news conference. “I was joking around with Coach, I felt like a coach the past two games or whatever, so seeing what they see and then trying to be a good leader on the court and just get my teammates in the right spots and areas.”
Tilly Boler led the Tigers (2-8) with 23 points. Deede Hagemann, a Michigan State transfer, scored 19 in her season debut, and Tanyuel Welch added 16 with eight rebounds and three steals.
One game after setting NCAA records with 30 3-pointers on 64 attempts in Saturday’s 139-59 home win over North Carolina Central, the Lady Vols were 12-of-37 (32.4%) from behind the arc and shot just 40% overall from the field. They also had a hard time getting away from the Tigers, who led for a majority of the first half.
Spearman sandwiched a pair of layups around a Spear 3-pointer in the last two minutes of the second quarter to give Tennessee a 42-41 lead going into the break. Whitehorn opened the second half with a layup and capped a 7-0 start with a 3-pointer, with the 14-0 run that bridged the halves making it 49-41.
Four players scored (with Darby hitting a 3) in an 8-0 run by the Lady Vols to make their lead 60-47, but the advantage didn’t stay in double figures until midway through the fourth quarter.
Tennessee outrebounded the Tigers 53-44, with the Lady Vols just one shy of matching their season best on the glass.
The crowd of 3,019 was less than a third of the attendance for Tennessee’s most recent home game, but Caldwell was excited to see so many Lady Vols fans present in Memphis.
“It’s really awesome when you’re on the road and you still have this turnout,” she said. “I peaked out during warmups, and it was a sea of orange. I think that’s really special. I think that says a lot about our fan base.”
The trip to Memphis was just the second game outside of Knoxville so far this season for the Lady Vols, who beat Iowa 78-68 in the Shark Beauty Women’s Champions Classic on Dec. 7 in New York. Next up are back-to-back neutral-site games at Palm Beach Atlantic University’s Rubin Arena.
The Lady Vols face Richmond (9-2) at 2:15 p.m. Friday and then have a quick turnaround with an 11 a.m. tipoff Saturday against Tulsa (5-5), which faces Montana at noon Friday. Alabama and Michigan State are also in the field for the West Palm Beach Classic, which starts Thursday.
After this weekend, Tennessee won’t play again until hosting Winthrop on Sunday, Dec. 29. That’s the final nonconference tuneup before the Lady Vols tip off their Southeastern Conference slate four days later at Texas A&M.