Game Recap: Women’s Basketball | December 14, 2024
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — No. 19/18 Tennessee broke the NCAA single-game record for three-pointers made in game, draining 30 from beyond the arc, and also snapped school and SEC marks for most points in a 139-59 victory over North Carolina Central on Saturday at Food City Center.
The Lady Vols improved to 8-0, running their home winning streak to eight games dating back to last season. With the eighth win to begin her tenure, UT head coach Kim Caldwell carded the best start by a Big Orange women’s skipper in her first season on Rocky Top.
UT rewrote program, SEC and NCAA bests with the 30-trey total. They also topped program and conference bests with 63 attempts from long range. The scoring total surpassed UT’s previous peak tally of 133 that was accumulated vs. Puerto Rico-Mayaguez on Nov. 29, 2002, at the San Juan Shootout.
Senior guard Samara Spencer set the tone from three-point range, notching a program record with nine treys on 13 attempts to card a career-high 33 points. She added 10 assists to notch her first double-double as a Lady Vol and the fourth of her career. Redshirt sophomore guard Talaysia Cooper swished five three-pointers in nine attempts to score 21 points and eclipse 20 or more for the fifth straight game. Fifth-year guard/forward Tess Darby also netted five threes to finish with a season-high 17 points, while junior forward Zee Spearman, junior guard Ruby Whitehorn and senior forward Sara Puckett contributed 15, 13 and 11, respectively.
N.C. Central, which fell to 0-12, was led by Shakiria Foster with 17 points, while Terriana Gray added 10. The Eagles were plagued by 44 turnovers, which ranks as the third-most ever by a Tennessee opponent and the highest total since Memphis committed 46 on Feb. 16, 1999. The record is 50, set by Hawaii Pacific on Dec. 20, 1985.
The Lady Vols exploded to a quick 10-0 lead, with Spencer and Darby sandwiching threes around a pair of Cooper buckets to force an Eagles timeout with 6:34 remaining. Another 10-0 burst by UT pushed the lead to 20-0 by the 4:21 mark, forcing another timeout after a volley of scores that included an Avery Strickland three, Puckett two, Spencer trey and a layup from Jillian Hollingshead. N.C. Central finally got on the board with 4:05 left in the period, but the Lady Vols outscored the visitors 13-8 the rest of the way to take a commanding 33-10 advantage after one.
Tennessee continued its offensive onslaught in the second stanza, outscoring NCCU, 36-8. It included a 13-0 run at the end of the half, punctuated by back-to-back threes from Spencer to increase her scoring total to 22 for the first half. Her treys also boosted her personal shooting to 6-for-8 from deep, giving her team a 16-for-36 shooting performance beyond the arc for the opening 20 minutes. That effort tied the school record at that point for threes made in a game and stood momentarily as the fifth-highest number of attempts in a game by a UT squad, with all five marks coming this season.
Spencer added her seventh three and a school-recording-setting 17th for her team to open the third period and extended UT’s scoring run to 16-0 to make it 72-18 with 9:28 to go. N.C. Central, though, would outscore the Lady Vols, 10-6, to narrow the gap to 78-28 by the 4:55 media timeout. UT responded out of the break with an 8-0 blitz, pushing the lead to 86-28 by the 3:56 mark, as an official review forced a second media timeout. The Big Orange sank six more threes before the end of the period, with Edie Darby, Spearman and Cooper accounting for the final trio of bombs to send their team to the fourth period with a 111-39 cushion via a stanza they won, 42-21.
N.C. Central kept scrapping in the final stanza, limiting the Lady Vols to a 28-20 margin for the tightest period of the game. The Eagles, however, could not cool off a Tennessee squad that shot 60 percent for the quarter and 52.2 percent for the game. The Big Orange was able to take down the previous school and conference point total of 136 when Destinee Wells’ trey creased the twine with 1:40 remaining to make it 137-53. Single free throws by Spencer and Alyssa Latham countered three Eagles charity tosses to account for the final sum.
UP NEXT: Tennessee will next play three games away from home, heading west for a contest in the Bluff City and then making its way east to West Palm Beach, Florida. The Lady Vols meet in-state rival Memphis on Wednesday at FedExForum. Tipoff is slated for 8:30 p.m. ET (7:30 CT), with the contest televised by ESPNews. UT will then play a pair of games at the West Palm Beach Classic, meeting Richmond on Friday at 2:15 p.m. ET and following with an 11 a.m. ET tilt on Saturday vs. Tulsa before heading home.
RECORD-BREAKING DUB: A list of the records that Tennessee broke in today’s contest can be found below.
Tennessee reached 100 points for the fourth time in 2024-25, which ties as the fourth-most in a season by a Lady Vols squad.
• That gives the program 91 all-time regular-season scoring efforts of 100 or more points through Dec. 14. The other three games where they scored 100 points included 101 in the season opener against Samford on Nov. 5, 109 versus Liberty on Nov. 16 and 102 against Western Carolina on Nov. 26. The program record for most 100-point games in a season is seven in 1987-88.
The Lady Vols surpassed the all-time SEC and Tennessee scoring record with 139 points.
SEC Scoring Record
139 Tennessee vs. NC Central, 2024
136 Tennessee vs. Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, 2002
133 LSU vs. McNeese, 2023
133 Kentucky vs. Baylor, 2013
133 Tennessee vs. UT-Martin, 1999
131 Tennessee vs. Troy, 2017
Tennessee Scoring Record
139 vs. NC Central (H) 12/14/24
136 vs. Puerto Rico-Mayaguez (A) 11/29/02
133 vs. Tennessee-Martin (H) 11/19/99
131 vs. Troy (H) 12/6/17
130 vs. Hawaii Pacific (A) 12/20/85
125 vs. DePaul (A) 1/20/98
The Lady Vols produced the highest number of three-pointers made in NCAA history with 30, topping the previous record of 28 by Western Illinois vs. MacMurray on November 12, 2018.
NCAA Three-Point Field Goals Made – Game
30 Tennessee vs. NC Central, 12/14/24
28 Western Ill. vs. MacMurray, 11/12/18
25 Sacramento St. vs. Portland, St., 1/23/16
25 Sacramento St. vs. Montana St., 2/6/16
23 FGCU vs. Ave Maria, 12/11/21
SEC Three-Point Field Goals Made – Game
30 Tennessee vs. NC Central, 2024
19 Arkansas vs. Alabama, 2021
18 Mississippi State vs. Troy, 2020
18 Missouri vs. Florida, 2021
18 Missouri vs. Bradley, 2013
18 Missouri vs. Auburn, 2013
Tennessee Three Point Field Goals Made – Game
30 vs. NC Central 12/14/24
16 vs. Kentucky 3/6/11
15 vs. Lamar 12/1/10
15 vs. Chattanooga 11/15/10
14 vs. Furman 12/10/20
13 vs. Auburn 1/28/10
13 vs. Arkansas 1/24/08
13 vs. Mississippi 2/6/05
13 vs. Army 11/30/02
Tennessee tallied the most three-point attempts in SEC women’s history, carding 63 and surpassing the previous record of 47. A list of the leading SEC three-point field goal attempts all-time is listed below.
SEC Three Point Attempts – Game
63 Tennessee vs. NC Central, 2024
47 Arkansas vs. LSU, 2024
46 South Carolina vs. Florida, 1994
43 Arkansas vs. Ark.-Pine Bluff, 2021
43 South Carolina vs. Alabama, 1994
42 Arkansas vs. Auburn, 2020
Tennessee Three Point Attempts – Game
63 vs. NC Central 12/14/24
42 vs. Middle Tennessee 11/12/24
41 vs. Western Carolina 11/26/24
39 vs. UT Martin 11/7/24
38 vs. Liberty 11/16/24
36 vs. Lamar 12/1/10
EIGHT STRAIGHT WITH A NEW STARTING FIVE: Tennessee has started the season 8-0 with eight different starting lineups and eight different players appearing in the first five. Ruby Whitehorn, Samara Spencer, Tess Darby, Alyssa Latham and Talaysia Cooper opened the contest on Saturday afternoon against the Eagles. The trio of Cooper, Spencer and Whitehorn lead the squad with seven starts apiece. Latham tallied her second start of the season, while Darby earned her fourth.
SAMARA SPARKS THE OFFENSE: Guard Samara Spencer carded a career-high 33 points versus the Eagles, setting a Lady Vol record of nine three-pointers made in a contest. Spencer surpassed Ariel Massengale’s and Meighan Simmons’ previous records of eight three-pointers. Massengale connected for eight three-pointers against Vanderbilt on March 1, 2015, while Simmons tallied eight against Virginia on Nov. 28, 2013. Spencer added a season-high ten assists, three steals and a pair of rebounds. The senior produced a season-best 10 field goals and tallied a career-high nine three-point field goals. It marks the sixth time Spencer has carded a double-figure performance in points this season. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native broke her previous career high of 32 points against Oral Roberts on Dec. 4, 2022, while playing at Arkansas.
HIGH-SCORING QUARTERS: Tennessee has scored 20 or more points in 27 of 32 quarters thus far. Tennessee notched a season-high 42 points in the third quarter against the Eagles, the second-highest quarter in Lady Vol history. It was two points shy of the school record of 44 points which UT hit against Troy on Dec. 6, 2017. Tennessee has scored 20+ points in all four quarters vs. NC Central, Samford, Liberty and Western Carolina. UT had three such quarters vs. UT Martin, Middle Tennessee and Florida State. Tennessee has reached 30 points in a quarter five times, dropping 33 in the first quarter, 36 in the second quarter and 42 in the third frame against NC Central, 34 in the first quarter and 30 in the second stanza vs. Liberty and then 31 in the second period vs. Western Carolina.
FORCING MISCUES: The Lady Vols forced NC Central to turn the ball over a season-high total of 44 times during Saturday’s win, posting a 73-7 advantage on points off turnovers. Six of Tennessee’s foes thus far have committed at least 20 miscues: NC Central (44), Samford (37), Western Carolina (37), UT Martin (31), Liberty (25) and Iowa (30). The Lady Vols also notched 49 points from the bench, 34 points from fast breaks and produced 34 points in the paint. Prior to 2024-25, the last time Tennessee forced 30+ turnovers on four occasions during a season was when it did so four times in 2007-08. Tennessee also collected a 10-second violation versus NC Central, this season UT’s press has resulted in 11 10-second violations by opponents through eight games.
