WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Senior forward Sara Puckett scored 12 of her season-high 17 points in the second quarter, aiding a 41-11 Big Orange blitz in that period that sent No. 18/16 Tennessee on its way to a 102-61 victory over Tulsa on Saturday at the West Palm Beach Classic.
The Lady Vols closed out their stay in Florida with a 2-0 mark and improved to 11-0 overall. This marks UT’s best start since opening 15-0 in 2017-18.
Puckett finished seven of 12 from the field, including 3-of-5 marksmanship from long range, and added seven rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals. She knocked down five of seven field goal attempts in the second period, including two three-pointers in three tries, as her team broke open a 22-20 game after the opening period.
Joining Puckett in double figures were Jewel Spear, who fired in 16 via four treys, junior Zee Spearman, who added 15, and redshirt sophomore Talaysia Cooper and junior Ruby Whitehorn, who chipped in 13 each. Spearman finished one shy of a double-double with a team-high nine boards.
Tulsa, which saw its four-game winning streak snapped, fell to 6-6. The Golden Hurricane got 17 points from Delanie Crawford, 12 from Mady Cartwright and 11 from Jade Clack on the offensive end. Hadley Periman pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.
The Lady Vols grabbed a quick 2-0 lead on a pair of free throws from Zee Spearman, but Tulsa was the aggressor early on. The Golden Hurricane built a 9-4 cushion by the 7:45 mark before a three-pointer from Cooper, a layup by Jillian Hollingshead and free throws by Alyssa Latham evened things up at 11-all with 5:58 to go. A pair of buckets by TU, though, sent it into the 4:24 media break with a 15-11 advantage, thanks to a 12-4 differential in points in the paint and 58.3-percent shooting. Tennessee began to whittle away at the deficit, getting a pair of Spear free throws and a Puckett three to retake the lead, 18-17, with 2:27 remaining. A Spearman close-range bank shot and a Cooper putback down the stretch helped their squad close out the opening stanza with a 22-20 edge.
A Cooper jumper in the paint and another from Spearman from the baseline provided the Lady Vols their biggest lead, 26-20, forcing Tulsa to ask for a timeout with 8:31 left in the second quarter. The run continued, reaching 10-0 as Tennessee increased its pressure and held its foes scoreless from the 2:18 mark in the first quarter until 6:39 remaining in the second and upped the score to…
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