The undefeated Lady Vols will be back on the court this afternoon for a two-game stay in West Palm Beach, Florida, before taking a holiday break.
Tip time for the Friday, Dec. 20, game is 2:15 p.m. against Richmond at Palm Beach Atlantic University inside Rubin Arena. The Spiders, 9-2, are an upset-minded mid major who lost last Sunday by just nine points, 65-54, to No. 6 Texas, the lowest output of the season for the Longhorns.
Tip time for the Saturday, Dec. 21, game against Tulsa, 5-5, is set for 11 a.m. The Golden Hurricane will play Montana on Dec. 20 before playing Tennessee.
Both games will be livestreamed on BallerTV, and fans can purchase an event pass HERE for $20 to watch the West Palm Beach Classic games or listen for free on the radio affiliates of the Vol Network.
No. 16/18 Tennessee is 9-0 and had to get past Memphis on Wednesday to reach Florida without a blemish. The Tigers, coached by former Lady Vol basketball player Alex Fuller Simmons, welcomed the debut of Michigan State transfer DeeDee Hagemann, who missed Memphis’ first nine games and became eligible at the end of the semester when Tennessee arrived.
Hagemann, a superb point guard and facilitator, scored 19 points and handled Tennessee’s pressure.
“She’s a player,” Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell said. “She makes them a lot better. She’s hard to guard. She’s just an all-around, well-rounded player. And if we weren’t coaching against her, she’d be really fun to watch.”
Tess Darby fires a three against Memphis. (Tennessee Athletics)
Tennessee fans could be seen in multiple sections of FedExForum and Memphis fans also created a presence among the 3,000-plus in attendance.
“It was really awesome when you’re on the road, and you still have this turnout,” Caldwell said. “I peeked out during warmups, and it’s a sea of orange, and I think that’s really special. I think that says a lot about our fan base.”
The game already was on the schedule when Caldwell arrived last spring – Memphis played in Knoxville a year ago – and she seemed agreeable to a continuation of the series.
“I don’t know how many years it’s going out, but it was a fun environment,” Caldwell said.
Caldwell also saw plenty she wanted to improve with her team, especially the pressure defense. The Lady Vols got seven steals and forced 17 turnovers but also had 16 turnovers on their end. Both teams also had several unforced errors.
“We didn’t do a very good job of executing our press, and that was disappointing, because we worked on it a lot, and I think we turned it over just as much as them,” Caldwell said. “So that’s just another teaching point from the game that we need to get on when we get back.”
Tennessee did get Jewel Spear back after the fifth-year senior missed the last two games while nursing a lower right leg injury. Spear responded with 18 points, six rebounds and four assists. She also was on both ends of a highlight reel play when she made a pass to Talaysia Cooper from the floor, ran down court, got the ball back and swished a three-pointer.
“I think it was a defensive rebound, and we talk about priding ourselves on 50-50 balls,” Spear said, referencing a term that means the ball is up for grabs by either team. “I knew I couldn’t just reach over and grab the ball, so I dove on the ball, got it, kicked it up to Coop, and she got it right back to me, and then I hit a three.”
Tennessee won the game in classic fashion by dominating the offensive glass and scoring 23 second-chance points. Overall, the Lady Vols had 53 rebounds, the second-highest total of the season and just one under the boards against UT Martin.
Lazaria “Zee” Spearman shows the Ws after Tennessee beat Memphis. (Tennessee Athletics)
The Lady Vols turned a one-point lead at halftime into a 15-point one by the end of the third quarter.
“We just needed to stay more aggressive,” said Zee Spearman, who posted a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Lady Vols. “We never let up on offensive rebounds and trying to get to the basket. Stay aggressive, keep going to the rim, keep rebounding and let it come to us.”
The team departed Knoxville on Tuesday and will stay together through Saturday on the extended road trip.
“We’re getting a lot chemistry built on these trips,” Spearman said. “We do a lot of things together. We make sure that we stay locked together and make sure that we get out of this together.”
Maria M. Cornelius, a senior writer/editor at MoxCar Marketing + Communications since 2013, started her journalism career at the Knoxville News Sentinel and began writing about the Lady Vols in 1998. In 2016, she published her first book, “The Final Season: The Perseverance of Pat Summitt,” through The University of Tennessee Press.
