No. 5 seed Tennessee rolls to a 101-66 victory over No. 12 South Florida in women’s NCAA Tournament
No. 5 seed Tennessee rolls to a 101-66 victory over No. 12 South Florida in women’s NCAA Tournament
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Talaysia Cooper had 20 points, six rebounds and four assists, Samara Spencer scored 15 points and fifth-seeded Tennessee routed 12th-seeded South Florida 101-66 on Friday night in a women’s NCAA Tournament first-round game.
Zee Spearman added 13 points and Jewel Spear had 11 for Tennessee (23-9), which advanced to play No. 4 seed Ohio State (26-6) on Sunday. The winner will move on to the Birmingham 3 Regional.
“Our team is at our best when we are playing as a team,” Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell said. “We were able to get something from everyone. I think we had fun. It was a really good stepping stone for us. We had been a little bit off track, and so we needed to kind of get our juice back.”
The Volunteers held a 26-25 lead after the first quarter, which included four ties and six lead changes. But Tennessee outscored South Florida 29-9 in the second quarter to grab control of the game. Spearman and Cooper each had 11 points, with Spearman going 3 for 3 on 3-pointers during the period.
“We just turned our pressure up,” Spencer said of the Vols’ second quarter success. “We knew coming into the game that they really only had one solid ballhandler who was comfortable handling the ball. So we made her turn the ball over some, and then we just made other people have to dribble the ball up the court. That was to our advantage.”
The Vols eventually built their lead as high as 35 points in the fourth quarter. They shot 50% from the floor and 43% on 3s (16 of 37). Eight Tennessee players made at least one 3.
“We’ve had to guard people who have multiple people who can shoot, and sometimes we have a hard time doing that,” Spencer said. “So I know for other people who have to play us, it’s really hard. And especially, we have a lot of people who shoot very high percentages.”
Sammie Puisis had 28 points and seven rebounds for South Florida (23-11). L’or Mputu scored 12 points.
“The first quarter was probably really fun to watch on TV, and then you’ve got to hand it to Tennessee,” South Florida coach Jose Fernandez said. “They shot the ball really well. We’re down one point after a quarter and we had 10 turnovers. When we go into halftime, it’s 16. That’s really tough. You’re giving a very good offensive team extra possessions.”
This was Tennessee’s 164th all-time NCAA Tournament game. The Vols set new school records for made 3s (16) and attempted 3s (37) in an NCAA Tournament game.
Tennessee’s season total of 328 made 3s is also a new Southeastern Conference single-season record.
Takeaways
South Florida: This was USF’s 10th NCAA berth and the program’s fourth in the last five years. The Bulls dropped to 5-10 all-time in NCAA action. They got into the field by winning the American Athletic Conference tournament championship. They had won 12 of their last 14 games.
Tennessee: The Vols, ranked 20th in the final AP poll, had lost three of their last four games coming into the NCAA Tournament. But their size, depth, athleticism and shot making were all too much for the Bulls.
Key stat
Tennessee forced 24 turnovers, while the Lady Vols committed just six turnovers themselves. Tennessee held a 36-10 edge in points off turnovers.
Caldwell’s milestone
First-year Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell won the 2022 Division II national championship at West Virginia’s Glenville State. Caldwell spent last season as the head coach at Marshall, going 0-1 in the NCAA Tournament with a loss at Virginia Tech. This is her first NCAA win at the Division I level.
“I think it definitely means a lot for our players,” Caldwell said. “It means a lot for our program. I think the way we did it probably means more than anything. We hadn’t been playing very well and we hadn’t really been having fun. To do it kind of as a polar opposite of how we’ve been playing the last two weeks of the regular season was important.”
Tennessee, which has appeared in all 43 NCAA tournaments since the event’s inception in 1982, will be going for its 37th Sweet 16 berth and first since 2023 on Sunday.
___
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.
