Eric TrainerWomen’s BasketballOctober 31, 2024
Box Score KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Lady Vols forced 43 turnovers on 30 steals, hit 19 three-pointers and eclipsed 30 points in every quarter en route to a 135-49 exhibition win over Carson-Newman in Kim Caldwell‘s debut as Tennessee’s head coach.
With an announced crowd of 9,613 looking on at Food City Center, the Big Orange tied for the second-highest exhibition game point total in program history. Standing first on the list is a 144-52 win over Dynamo Kiev on Nov. 5, 2000, and tonight’s output matched a 135-55 UT triumph over Carson-Newman on Nov 6, 2008. The only better production from Tennessee women’s basketball all-time came via a 136-26 regular-season blowout of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez on Nov. 29, 2002.
Junior guard Ruby Whitehorn was sensational in leading six Big Orange players in double figures, firing in 29 points on 11-of-15 shooting. Fifth-year guard Jewel Spear and junior forward Zee Spearman contributed 17 each, while redshirt sophomore guard Talaysia Cooper, junior forward Sara Puckett and redshirt freshman Kaniya Boyd chipped in 16, 14 and 13, respectively. Spear finished five of 11 beyond the arc, while Whitehorn was four of six from deep.
Cooper also led Tennessee with eight steals, while Boyd was tops in rebounds with seven and senior guard Samara Spencer dished out eight assists with no turnovers in her debut. UT finished with 26 assists on 49 buckets, committing only nine turnovers on the night.
Carson-Newman, picked to win NCAA Division II’s South Atlantic Conference, was led by Jennifer Sullivan with 15 points.
Tennessee jumped out to a 6-0 lead on back-to-back three-pointers by Whitehorn and Spear and carried a 10-5 into the first-quarter media break, as the Lady Vol defense hurried the Lady Eagles into 2-for-12 shooting during the early going. UT bounced out of the timeout huddle with spring in its step, outscoring C-N the rest of the period with a 25-3 push that included 22 straight points at one point. Whitehorn finished 5 of 7 for 13 points in the frame.
The Lady Vols extended their lead to 47-19 by the second quarter media timeout at the 4:57 mark, with the home team shooting 70 percent from the field over that span. Tennessee forced Carson-Newman into six turnovers as it stretched its margin to 28. Over the final minutes of the first half, Tennessee outscored the Lady Eagles, 17-4, to take a 64-23 lead into the intermission. Cooper and Whitehorn tallied 10 and nine points in the period, respectively, and Cooper’s five steals helped UT force 14 C-N turnovers by the end of the quarter and key a 19-0 run in that stanza as well.
Carson-Newman scored 12 points on 55.6-percent shooting by the third-quarter media break, but the Lady Vols countered with 20 of their own on 57.1 percent accuracy during that stint to push their advantage to 84-35 with 4:52 to go in the period. A 21-5 blitz the rest of the way propelled the Big Orange to a 105-40 lead to close out the third frame, with Avery Strickland’s three at the 51-second mark putting UT over the century mark with just over 10 minutes remaining in the contest.
Tennessee continued to scorch the nets in the final frame, hitting 61.5 percent over the first six minutes to outscore the Lady Eagles, 21-9, and swell the score to 126-49 entering the 4:05 media timeout. UT tallied the final nine points of the game while holding C-N scoreless over the final four minutes to account for the final result.
Next Up: The Lady Vols meet Samford for their regular-season opener on Tuesday evening at Food City Center. The contest is slated for a 6:30 p.m. tipoff with coverage on SECN+.
Exhibition History: UT is now 53-5 all-time in preseason exhibition games, with the only losses coming to the Soviet National Team (1979), Athletes in Action (1992) and the USA National Team (1995, 2007, 2023). In the post-Pat Summitt era, UT is 13-1 in preseason exhibition games, defeating Carson-Newman 11 times (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024) and both Georgia College (2021) and Coker (2012) on one occasion each. The only loss was to the USA Women’s National Team in 2023.
First-Time In Orange & White: Transfers Ruby Whitehorn, Samara Spencer, Talaysia Cooper, Favor Ayodele and Alyssa Latham, and redshirt freshman Kaniya Boyd made their Lady Vol debuts during the exhibition contest. The six new faces combined for 84 points, 30 rebounds,17 assists and 22 steals during Tennessee’s triumph.
Ruby On A Roll: Junior Ruby Whitehorn impressed during her opening performance as a Lady Vol, totaling 29 points. The guard fired in 13 points in the first quarter, nine in the second frame, two in the third and five in the fourth. The Detroit, Michigan, native showed great touch from the arc, knocking down four out of six three-point attempts.
Dropping Thirties: Throughout tonight’s game the red-hot Lady Vols posted 30 points or more in every quarter of play. The Big Orange tallied a total of 31 points in the first quarter, 33 in the second quarter, 41 in the third quarter and 30 in the fourth to finish the game. The Lady Vols also surpassed 100 points for the 15th time in 19 exhibition games vs. the Lady Eagles.
