KNOXVILLE, Tenn. --听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听Kim Caldwell听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听Samara Spencer听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听Talaysia Cooper听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听Tess Darby听also netted five threes to finish with a season-high 17 points, while junior forward听Zee Spearman, junior guard听Ruby Whitehorn听and senior forward听Sara Puckett听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听Avery Strickland听three, Puckett two, Spencer trey and a layup from听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. 听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听, 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听听trey creased the twine with 1:40 remaining to make it 137-53. Single free throws by Spencer and听听countered three Eagles charity tosses to account for the final sum.
UP NEXT:听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.听
RECORD-BREAKING DUB:听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.听
69制片厂制作传媒⑻ 听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. 听
The Lady Vols surpassed the all-time SEC and Tennessee scoring record with 139 points.听
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