The games counted this week, and Kim Caldwell is now 2-0 as the Lady Vols head coach.

The second win came Thursday night against UT Martin with a 90-50 outcome. The first win came Tuesday with a 101-53 takedown of Samford.

Ruby Whitehorn led the way on the scoreboard and glass with 18 points and 14 rebounds. She also added three steals and two assists to her tally and earned Player of the Game honors for the radio interview.

For the first time since the 2014-15 season, the Lady Vols had back-to-back games with 30 or more turnovers by an opponent. UT Martin had 31 miscues, while Samford turned loose of the ball 37 times. That last occurred against Winthrop on Nov. 21, 2014, and Tennessee State on Nov. 24, 2014.

The Lady Vols were playing on short rest with one day between games and practice on Wednesday. The pace Tennessee plays – fast on offense and pressing on defense for 40 minutes – makes the turnaround a little tougher.

“Cold tubs,” senior guard Jewel Spear said when asked how the player recovered to get ready to play.

“Coach made us get into cold tubs,” senior forward Sara Puckett said.

While just the second game of the season, it was a physical one. UT Martin coach Kevin McMillan said one of his players sustained a broken hand without a whistle. Tennessee’s Samara Spencer had a pass intentionally thrown in her face, and Avery Strickland took an intentional elbow to the chest. If it seems early in the season for chippy play, it is.

The Lady Vols operate with a “next play” mentality and realize the elevated pace and any miscues or missed shots need to be quickly forgotten. The substitutions also are rapid, so players know they will go back in quickly.

“I could hear them on the bench saying next play to each other,” Caldwell said.

One game after the Lady Vols barely held an edge on the boards – something Caldwell said would be addressed in practice – Tennessee won that battle, 54-28 against UT Martin.

Freshman Kaniya Boyd hit her first career three-pointer, and Tennessee’s bench erupted in celebration. She enrolled early last spring at the age of 17 to rehab a knee injury and was cleared to practice over the summer.

“It’s really fun to see anyone hit a three, but especially a freshman,” Puckett said.

From McMillan’s point of view, the Skyhawks controlled the pace for most of the game by pressing Tennessee and forcing extra passes.

“We got the shots up we wanted,” Caldwell said. “We just didn’t hit them. But I think they did a decent job of controlling the pace.

“What we didn’t do is rebound,” McMillan said. “We can’t jump with them.”

Spear tallied 13 points, Puckett posted 11 points, and Samara Spencer added 10 points. Kenley McCarn led UT Martin (0-2) with 13 points, Morgan Borgstadt tallied nine points, and Shae Littleford added eight points.

The highlights can be watched HERE, and the full post-game pressers are HERE, HERE and HERE.

Tennessee will retake the court Tuesday, November 12, against Middle Tennessee State University at 6:30 p.m. The in-state foe defeated the Lady Vols last season for the first time in program history. Tennessee should be motivated to start a new winning streak.

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.