WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Senior forward Sara Puckett scored 12 of her season-high 17 points in the second quarter, aiding a 41-11 Big Orange blitz in that period that sent No. 18/16 Tennessee on its way to a 102-61 victory over Tulsa on Saturday at the West Palm Beach Classic.
The Lady Vols closed out their stay in Florida with a 2-0 mark and improved to 11-0 overall. This marks UT’s best start since opening 15-0 in 2017-18.
Puckett finished seven of 12 from the field, including 3-of-5 marksmanship from long range, and added seven rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals. She knocked down five of seven field goal attempts in the second period, including two three-pointers in three tries, as her team broke open a 22-20 game after the opening period.
Joining Puckett in double figures were Jewel Spear, who fired in 16 via four treys, junior Zee Spearman, who added 15, and redshirt sophomore Talaysia Cooper and junior Ruby Whitehorn, who chipped in 13 each. Spearman finished one shy of a double-double with a team-high nine boards.
Tulsa, which saw its four-game winning streak snapped, fell to 6-6. The Golden Hurricane got 17 points from Delanie Crawford, 12 from Mady Cartwright and 11 from Jade Clack on the offensive end. Hadley Periman pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.
The Lady Vols grabbed a quick 2-0 lead on a pair of free throws from Zee Spearman, but Tulsa was the aggressor early on. The Golden Hurricane built a 9-4 cushion by the 7:45 mark before a three-pointer from Cooper, a layup by Jillian Hollingshead and free throws by Alyssa Latham evened things up at 11-all with 5:58 to go. A pair of buckets by TU, though, sent it into the 4:24 media break with a 15-11 advantage, thanks to a 12-4 differential in points in the paint and 58.3-percent shooting. Tennessee began to whittle away at the deficit, getting a pair of Spear free throws and a Puckett three to retake the lead, 18-17, with 2:27 remaining. A Spearman close-range bank shot and a Cooper putback down the stretch helped their squad close out the opening stanza with a 22-20 edge.
A Cooper jumper in the paint and another from Spearman from the baseline provided the Lady Vols their biggest lead, 26-20, forcing Tulsa to ask for a timeout with 8:31 left in the second quarter. The run continued, reaching 10-0 as Tennessee increased its pressure and held its foes scoreless from the 2:18 mark in the first quarter until 6:39 remaining in the second and upped the score to 30-20. After the Golden Hurricane ended the drought with a bucket, UT scored the next five points and forced another TU timeout with the Big Orange leading 35-22 at the 6:08 mark. The Golden Hurricane scored shortly after the break, but another UT 9-0 burst propelled the Lady Vols to a 20-point lead, 44-24, with 3:08 showing on the clock. The Lady Vols closed out the first 20 minutes by outscoring Tulsa, 19-7, to take a 63-31 at the intermission behind 12 of Puckett’s 15 points in the first half.
Tennessee increased its margin by one in the early going of the second half, with Spear’s third trey of the game sending the teams into the 4:55 media timeout with the Big Orange on top, 71-38. A Darby three ball ballooned the lead to 37, 78-41, leading to a Tulsa timeout with 1:43 to go in the third. The Golden Hurricane tallied the last four points of the period to make it 78-45, UT, heading into the final 10 minutes.
The Lady Vols rotated in fresh reserves in the final frame, hitting a 40-point lead when Edie Darby drained a three in her third straight game to make it 89-49 with 5:21 remaining. A Cooper jumper in the paint sent the teams into the final media timeout with UT leading, 91-52. A Whitehorn layup and Destinee Wells three elicited Tulsa’s final timeout with 2:37 to go and the Big Orange leading 96-54. A Spearman three, a bucket by Avery Strickland and a free throw by Kaniya Boyd helped their squad close out the game and eclipse 100 points.
UP NEXT: The Lady Vols will take a brief holiday break and then return to action on Dec. 29, as they play host to Winthrop at Food City Center. Tennessee and the Eagles will meet at 2 p.m. ET in the Big Orange’s first Sunday home game of the season. The contest will be streamed on SECN+ and broadcast statewide on Lady Vol Network radio stations and worldwide via live stream on UTSports.com.
ELEVEN WINS IN A ROW: In her first year as the head coach of the Lady Vols, Kim Caldwell has guided the team to an 11-0 start, marking only the second time in 13 seasons UT has opened a campaign with that many wins. The 2024-25 squad joined the 2017-18 (15-0) unit in opening their years that way. UT won its first 11 contests for only the 10th time in program history, and Caldwell has built her second-best start to a season in her ninth year as a head coach. Top honors go to her 2021-22 GSU squad that started 29-0 on its way to 35-1 and an NCAA Division II national title
