Cooper’s 15-point third frame helps No. 18/16 UT fend off Spiders, 92-67

Redshirt sophomore guard Talaysia Cooper scored 15 of his game-high 24 points in the third quarter, propelling No. 18/16 Tennessee past RV/NR Richmond, 92-67, Friday afternoon at the West Palm Beach Classic.

With a partisan crowd clad in orange cheering them on, the Lady Volunteers improved to 10-0 on the season, marking the third time in the post-Pat Summitt era and the 13th time in program history that the team started a campaign with 10 consecutive victories. . The Spiders, ranked No. 31 in the NCAA NET rankings, fell to 9-3 after losing their second straight game to a ranked Power Four program. No. 6 Texas beat UR by 11 last Sunday, 65-54, on the Spiders’ home court.

Cooper, a 6-0 guard, took over in the third period, scoring 15 of the Lady Vols’ 26 points in the frame after Richmond cut the lead to six just after halftime. She finished 10 of 18 from the field and added five steals in her sixth game this season with 20 or more points.

The Big Orange also reached double figures in terms of points. White Horn Ruby with 15 and Samara Spencer with 11, with the Fort Lauderdale native making three of seven tries from beyond the arc and dishing out a game-best six assists. Zee Lancer led his team on the glass, bringing down nine caroms and was one rebound bucket away from his second straight double-double with eight points on the day.

Richmond, which trailed 23-21 after one and 47-39 at halftime, was led by Rachel Ullstrom with 19 points. Maggie Doogan, Ally Sweeney and Addie Budnik scored 14, 13 and 12 points, respectively.

The Lady Vols took an early lead, taking a 5-0 lead with 9:07 left on a Spearman jumper and a Tess Darby three. Richmond tied the score at five, 10 and 12 and countered a Kaniya Boyd backhanded with a Doogan three to take a 15-14 advantage at the 4:46 media break. The Spiders took their largest lead of the game, 17-14, on a three-pointer by Ullstrom with 4:33 remaining and led 19-16 on an Anna Camden layup with 2:29 left. UT scores five in a row to contend. the lead, 21-19, on a par three Sarah Puckett and a backhand from Spearman. After UR tied it at 21, Spencer hit a runner before the buzzer sounded to give his team a 23-21 lead after one.

UR tied it at 23 coming out of the quarter break, but Tennessee built its largest lead at 30-23 thanks to a Whitehorn jumper off the glass, a Spencer three and a Alyssa Latham set up. UT pushed its lead to nine, 34-25, with 5:49 left on a pair of free throws from Boyd and a turnaround jumper from Whitehorn in the paint. A 9-4 spurt via three-ball from Cooper, Spencer and Darby extended the Lady Vol lead to 13, 43-30 and forced the Spiders to call time with 3:15 left. UT pushed the lead to 15, 47-32, on a Whitehorn layup with 1:55 left, but UR cut the deficit to eight with a 7-0 run midway through the end to trail the Big Orange, 47-39.

Richmond scored first in the second half, cutting the lead to six, 47-41, on two free throws with 9:35 on the clock. Cooper delivered a quick and thorough personal response, scoring 11 points over the next four minutes and giving his team a 17 lead, 60-43, on a layup with 5:29 remaining. The Spiders managed one score before heading into the 4:29 media break with the score 60-45. Another 8-2 outburst by the Lady Vols, capped by a Cooper layup, forced UR to call another timeout with UT leading, 68-47, with 2:02 left. Cooper added two more buckets in the final two minutes, finishing with 15 for the period and allowing the Big Orange to take a comfortable 73-50 cushion into the fourth frame.

A 7-2 Richmond blitz to start the final quarter caused a Tennessee timeout with 8:04 left and the Lady Vols ahead, 75-57. After some course corrections from the head coach Kim CaldwellTennessee pushed back in front by 20 at 81-61 with 3:38 left on the board, getting a layup after Cooper found Puckett en route to the bucket. A Eddie Darby three-pointers with 20 ticks to play gave UT its largest lead of the afternoon, 92-65, before the Spiders scored the final points of the game to end proceedings at 92-67.

FOLLOWING : The Lady Vols will take a brief break over the holidays, then return to action on Dec. 29, when they host Winthrop at the Food City Center. Tennessee and the Eagles will meet at 2 p.m. ET in the Big Orange’s Sunday home opener of the season. The contest will be broadcast on SECN+ and broadcast statewide on Lady Vol Network radio stations and around the world via live broadcast on UTSports.com.

10-0 AND COUNTING: Under first-year head coach Kim Caldwellthe Lady Vols have compiled a 10-0 start for the 13th time in program history. This is the third 10-0 start in the last 13 seasons and joins the Pat Summitt-era UT teams 2017-18 (15-0) and 2013-14 (10-0) in opening their campaigns this way. Caldwell built his second-best start to a season in his ninth year as head coach. Top honors go to his 2021-22 GSU team that started 29-0 en route to 35-1 and an NCAA Division II national title.

NINE GAMES WITH FIVE NEWS: Tennessee started the season 10-0 with nine different starting lineups and eight different players appearing in the starting five. Jewel Spear, Samara Spencer, Tess Darby, Talaysia Cooper And Zee Lancer opened the contest Friday afternoon against the Spiders, scoring the ninth first-five single. The tandem of Cooper and Spencer leads the team with eight starts each. Spearman recorded his sixth start of the season, while Darby got his fifth.

CANNOT CONTAIN CO-OP: Talaysia Cooper shot with a team-leading 24 points Friday against the Spiders. She also led the team in steals with five, while producing an assist and a rebound. The redshirt sophomore has scored in double figures in every game this season except one, winning her eighth straight game in double figures. Cooper also recorded his sixth 20-point performance of the season. The guard has now added 20 or more points against the following opponents: Liberty (33), Richmond (24), Iowa (23), Florida State (22), NC Central (21) and Western Carolina (20).

SUCCESS IN PAINTING: The Lady Vols established a big presence in the paint, contributing 52 points from the lane. This is the seventh time so far that Tennessee has recorded 40 or more points in paint production. The team had its best result of the season against Western Carolina (60), followed by Samford (54), Richmond (52), Florida State (46), Iowa (44), Liberty (42) and UT Martin (42 ). The attacking trio of Zee Lancer, Jillian Hollingshead And Sarah Puckett combined for 17 of those points. Spearman contributed eight, Puckett kicked five and Hollingshead scored four.

ON THE SCORE: The Lady Vols connected on 37 of 72 shots for 51.4 percent against Richmond, finishing with their second-highest shooting percentage of the season. Tennessee turned away 40 of 90 attempts (52.2%) against NC Central on Dec. 14 for its best performance. During the affair against Richmond, Tennessee posted 50 percent or better marksmanship in three of four stanzas. The team improved after making 12 of 27 shots (44.4 percent) in the first quarter and sinking 12 of 21 buckets (57.1 percent) in the second. They followed suit in the third quarter (14 of 27, 51.9 percent) and in the final period (9 of 15, 60 percent).