No. 15 Lady Vols use 37-point third quarter to win at Florida 86-78
With about two minutes to go in the first half, Tennessee Lady Vol head coach Kim Caldwell looked up at the scoreboard and saw her team down double digits and the clock wasn’t moving fast enough to get to the halftime. By the time the horn sounded, Tennessee trailed by nine. Caldwell, her staff and team righted the ship in the second half as a 37 point third quarter was the catalyst to an 86-78 win at Florida.
“Much needed,” Caldwell answered when asked on her post game radio show at the half time locker room was like.
“We basically had to go over the entire game plan again because we didn’t come out and do anything had talked about, practice or planned. We were pretty hard on them and I think they did a really good job of responding. I think a couple of months ago we would have just continued to do the exact same thing.”
The Lady Vols didn’t follow that script in the second half.
Talaysia Cooper, Samara Spencer, Jewel Spear, and Zee Spearman all score in double figures in the second half to help the comeback. Both Spear and Spencer were scoreless in the first half going a combined 0-7 from the floor. They were 6 of 9 in the second half. Tennessee had 5 players in double figures, but it was Cooper led the way with 18 points after playing just two minutes in the first half. Cooper picked up 2 fouls in two minutes of action and sat the half. Cooper had 15 second half points and got the offense moving in the third quarter.
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“I think she was definitely frustrated,” Caldwell said. “I think she went in and did a good job for us defensively. Shot selection could have been a little better, but we are a better team with her on the floor. She did a really good job of not shutting down when she got those couple of (early) fouls.”
In the second half, Tennessee scored 21 points off turnovers and had 26 points in the paint. Both teams had 8 turnovers at the break. In the second half, Tennessee forced 13 turnovers and only turned it over 5 times. But Sunday’s fourth straight win was not the showing Caldwell was looking for out of here team. Caldwell spoke last week about the need for her team to play better on the road. They didn’t Sunday, but will need to Thursday night in Lexington, Kentucky in a top-15 showdown.
“It is a big opportunity, we have to get better between now and then,” Caldwell said.
“I think if we go to Lexington and we play like this we lose. I think if we go to the SEC Tournament and play like this we lose. We have talked about that at length. We need to have a good game on the road. We haven’t had a good game on the road since Arkansas. We have to do a better job. We have to mature a little bit as a team down the stretch.”
Tip off in Lexington Thursday night is set for 7pm ET and the game will be on the SEC Network.
