BALTIMORE, Md. – The Tennessee women’s basketball team overcame a slow offensive start, following a 12-point first quarter with 86 points over the final three frames to claim a 98-60 victory over Coppin State in the program’s first game ever on the home court of an HBCU.
Leading 12-10 after the opening 10 minutes, the Lady Vols (2-0) persevered by scoring 30 in the second period and 33 in the third to nearly surpass 100 in consecutive games. The third frame was fueled by 6-for-13 accuracy from deep, which helped the team finish 13 of 35 on the evening.
Fifth-year guard Kaylene Smikle worked through early foul trouble to lead UT with 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Fifth-year guard Kennedy Fauntleroy and freshman guard/forward Gabby Minus each contributed 12 points, with Minus registering a double-double with 11 rebounds. Sixth-year forward Aaliyah Moore added 11 points for the second straight game, and Fatmata Janneh led the Big Orange on the glass and was in double figures once again with 13 boards.
CSU (1-1) was paced by Anya George and Jayleen Jones, who tossed in 13 and 12 points, respectively. The Eagles suffered 29 turnovers at the hands of the Big Orange’s press, with the Lady Vols racking up 17 steals in the contest.
Tennessee pushed out to an early 6-0 lead, getting layups from Moore, Harissoum Coulibaly and Naomi White on the offensive end while holding Coppin State to 0-for-7 shooting from the field on the other end heading into the 4:54 media break. Play became more physical and shots were harder to come by for the Lady Vols in the back half of the opening stanza, with Coppin State tying the score at 7-7 with 3:34 to go. Free throws by Smikle and Zhen Craft and a Jada Eads three, however, helped UT close out the first frame with a 12-10 edge.
A jumper and a pair of free throws by Minus and two more charity tosses from Eads pushed Tennessee’s lead to 18-10 with 9:09 remaining in the second period. The Lady Vols then put together an 8-0 burst, fueled by a pair of Fauntleroy layups, two Minus free throws and a layup from Rylie Theuerkauf to go up 13, 26-13, with 7:59 to go. Following a 7-0 counter from the Eagles, the Big Orange used a 13-4 spree to build a 39-24 lead with 2:00 minutes left in the half, with a White three, a Moore jumper and a Janneh layup contributing to that push. Moore added a trey with 31 seconds left to send UT into the locker room with a 42-27 advantage.
The Lady Vols came out of the locker room with renewed purpose. A Smikle trey, layup, steal-and-score and another three fueled a 10-0 half-opening run that forced a CSU timeout with 7:28 to go in the third. Three Minus free throws and a Fauntleroy layup propelled Tennessee into the 4:43 media timeout with a game-best 57-29 lead. The Big Orange continued to heat up beyond the arc, getting deep balls from White, Moore, Theuerkauf and Riley Makalusky to close out the frame with a 75-39 lead.
UT built its advantage to 39, 78-39, early in the final stanza on an old-fashioned three-point play from Smikle and rolled into the 6:54 media timeout with an 81-46 gap following a Fauntleroy trey. Janneh and Makalusky added threes, and a pair of Jada Eads free throws gave their team a 95-57 lead before a CSU timeout with 1:48 left. The Lady Vols closed out the final minutes with Harper Peterson’s three accounting for the final score.
NEXT UP
Tennessee returns home for a pair of games next week, playing host to New Haven on Tuesday and Middle Tennessee on Thursday. Both of those contests tip off at 6:30 p.m. ET and will be available for streaming on SECN+.
