WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Maybe the Tennessee women’s basketball team wanted to avoid the holiday rush.
Whatever the reason, the 18th-ranked Lady Volunteers used a second-quarter onslaught to build a 32-point halftime lead that all but ensured their 11th game of the season would also be their 11th win without the need for any second-half heroics.
Down for most of the first quarter (though never by much) in Saturday’s matchup with Tulsa at the West Palm Beach Classic, the Lady Vols revved their offensive engine in the next period by outscoring the Golden Hurricane 41-11, then cruised after halftime for a 102-61 victory as first-year head coach Kim Caldwell remained undefeated in her Tennessee tenure.
The Lady Vols, whose lead reached a game-high 45 points in the final minutes, scored at least 100 points for the fifth time; only the 1987-88 Tennessee team, with seven such games, has more in a season in program history.
“I think we’re getting better,” Caldwell said in her postgame radio interview on the Lady Vol Network. “I think our half-court defense is getting better, our defensive percentage (opponents’ shooting) is going down, which is good. I think players are playing with more confidence, they’re getting more comfortable. It’s exactly what we needed first semester.”