KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee had four players score in double figures, and its defensive effort forced 26 turnovers and limited the University of New Haven to 27.6 percent shooting in an 83-40 victory on Tuesday night in front of a season-best crowd of 10,343 at Food City Center.
Sixth-year forward Aaliyah Moore led the Lady Vols (3-0) in scoring with 14 points, followed by freshman guard/forward Gabby Minus with 13, fifth-year guard Kennedy Fauntleroy with 11 and fifth-year guard Kaylene Smikle with 10. Senior forward Fatmata Janneh paced the team in rebounds for the third straight game with nine vs. Chargers. Minus added a game-high six of UT’s 13 steals.
Teaira Kelley was the leader for UNH (1-1), carding a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds in a match-up between Kim Caldwell‘s former rival in the Mountain East Conference when Caldwell was at Glenville State and Debbie Buff was at Wheeling.
New Haven took an early 1-0 lead, but Tennessee struck back with an 11-4 spree courtesy of a Fauntleroy layup and a trio of threes from Naomi White, Fauntleroy and Smikle to build an 11-5 advantage by the 4:45 media timeout. The Chargers reeled the Lady Vols back in, though, and cut the gap to 12-10 with 2:06 to go. A three from Jada Eads and two free throws from Moore, however, closed out the opening stanza with UT holding a 17-10 edge despite shooting only 25.0 percent from the field.
The Big Orange got a free throw from Fauntleroy and a three-ball from senior forward Riley Makalusky to build its biggest lead yet at 21-11 with 8:22 remaining in the second period. After a couple of answers by UNH, a trey by Smikle sent her team into the 6:43 media break with a 24-15 advantage. The Chargers kept clawing back, drawing to within four, 24-20, at the 5:20 mark, but Tennessee used seven free throws, a Riley Makalusky three and a rebound bucket by Smikle to forge a 13-4 push that sent the home team into the locker room with a 37-24 gap at the half.
Tennessee merged a 6-0 run to close out the first half with a 5-0 run to begin the second, using an Eads trey and Minus layup to extend its lead to 42-24 and force a Chargers timeout with 7:23 remaining in the third period. UT tied its largest advantage at 44-26 on a pair of Moore free throws, but NH responded with a bucket and a free throw to trim the margin to 44-29 by the 4:54 media timeout. The Lady Vols closed out the frame on an 11-4 burst, getting a Fats Janneh three from the top of the key and a Moore put-back to extend their lead to 55-33.
The Big Orange continued its roll at the outset of the fourth quarter, getting a Minus three and layups from Moore, Fauntleroy and sophomore forward Zhen Craft to force another UNH timeout with UT on top, 64-33, with 7:47 to go. Tennessee extended a run that began in the third quarter to 21-0, getting a trey from sophomore guard Harissoum Coulibaly to put the capper on it and make the score 70-33 with 4:07 left. The hosts outscored New Haven 13-7 the rest of the way, with fifth-year guard Nya Robertson knocking down a pair of threes for her first buckets of the campaign after joining the active roster prior to the Coppin State game on Nov. 5.
NEXT UP
Tennessee is back at home on Thursday, welcoming Middle Tennessee to Knoxville. The contest is slated to tip off at 6:30 p.m. ET and will be available for streaming on SECN+. The MTSU contest will be UT’s Salute To Service contest, presented by Standard Nuclear, paying tribute to Tennessee’s ultimate Volunteers.
