GREENVILLE, S.C. — No. 18/17 Tennessee overcame a slow start and outscored Texas A&M by 42 points over the final three quarters to claim a 77-37 opening-round victory over the Aggies on Wednesday in the Southeastern Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. 

Redshirt sophomore Talaysia Cooper, who left UT’s regular-season finale on Sunday with a lower body injury, returned to action, coming off the bench to lead all scorers with 19 points while adding team highs of eight rebounds, three assists and three steals. Fifth-year guard Jewel Spear and junior forward Zee Spearman added 11 points each, while senior guard Samara Spencer chipped in 10 for the No. 9-seeded Lady Vols (22-8).

The 16th-seeded Aggies (10-19), who lost their 11th-straight game, were paced by Sahara Jones, who produced a 16-point, 13-rebound double-double.

Texas A&M grabbed an early 3-0 lead by the 8:41 mark and moved ahead 5-2 before a three-pointer by Alyssa Latham tied things up at 5-all with 5:43 remaining. A Solé Williams trey, though, sent the Aggies into the first media timeout with an 8-5 lead with 4:57 left in the period. Tennessee grabbed its first lead, 9-8, on a free throw by Jillian Hollingshead and a three by Spear with 4:44 left, but A&M pushed back in front, 13-9, before a Spear jumper drew her team to within two, 13-11, by the end of the first frame despite the Big Orange hitting just 19 percent from the field.

The Lady Vols started to warm up in the second stanza, taking a 16-13 lead by the 8:10 mark after a Spearman three and a Spencer layup. After the teams exchanged buckets and the Aggies cut the deficit to 18-17 on a pair of Jones free throws with 5:27 to go, Tennessee found another gear. A Cooper free throw and Spencer three-pointer built the lead to 22-17 with 4:47 to go, forcing a Texas A&M timeout. Free throws by Kaniya Boyd and Cooper, followed by a Cooper trey ballooned the lead to 11, 30-19, with 1:03 left. A pair of Spearman charity tosses with 32 seconds left extended UT’s burst to 14-2 and sent Tennessee into the intermission leading 32-19.

UT continued an 11-0 run spanning the halves, boosting its advantage to 17, 36-19, by the 8:42 mark on layups by Spearman and Ruby Whitehorn. After Texas A&M whittled the gap to 12, 38-26, by the 5:59 mark, a Latham jumper and layups by Hollingshead and Cooper sent their team into the 4:31 media timeout with a 42-26 margin. After a Boyd free throw and A&M bucket by Janae Kent made it 43-28, Lady Vols, Tennessee exploded on a 17-0 run with three straight layups by Cooper, a Tess Darby layup and a pair of Spear threes capping the proceedings. Their efforts, buoyed by UT’s 55-percent shooting during the period, helped make it a 32-point game, 60-28 at the end of the third. 

A Spearman layup and Cooper jumper extended the quarter-spanning run to 21, tying UT’s season best spree, and making it 64-28 with 7:55 remaining. After an Aggie bucket, Tennessee put together another 10-0 flourish, with a Cooper layup, two Spencer free throws, a Latham put-back and a Spearman layup extending the margin to 42, 72-30, with 5:29 on the clock. With that, the Lady Vol bench took over and finished off a 40-point victory.

UP NEXT: The Lady Vols advanced to the second round and will face No. 8 seed Vanderbilt (21-9, 8-8 SEC) at 11 a.m. ET on Thursday. The contest will be televised on SEC Network and available on Lady Vol Network radio stations statewide and via audio stream on UTSports.com.

UT MATCHES 30-TURNOVERS FORCED RECORD: The Lady Vols tied the program record by forcing 30 or more turnovers in a game for the eighth time during the 2024-25 season. They now share the UT women’s record with the 1997-98 squad, which also forced 30 or more on eight occasions. 

LOCKDOWN CENTRAL: The Big Orange defense limited Texas A&M to an opponent season-low 37 points and 27-percent shooting this season and forced 32 turnovers, marking the most committed by an SEC school vs. UT this season. The Lady Vols also enjoyed a 37-5 points-off-turnovers advantage.

UNDER PRESSURE: The Tennessee press forced the Aggies into four 10-second backcourt violations, running the season total for opponents to 30 in game 30 this season. The first 10-second infraction occurred at the 7:31 mark in the first quarter, the second with 21 seconds left in the second quarter, the third with 8:23 to go in the fourth and the fourth at the 5:40 point in the final frame. Wednesday’s total of four was one shy of the season-most five violations Western Carolina committed on Nov. 26. 

RACKING UP STEALS: For the 16th time this season, Tennessee recorded 10 steals or more in a game. The Lady Vols recorded 10 takeaways, marking the second straight game they have hit that total after doing so with 10 against Georgia on Sunday.

SPEAR HITS UT SINGLE-SEASON THREES TOP 10 AGAIN: Jewel Spear knocked down three three-pointers against the Aggies to run her season total to 71 in 2024-25. That sum ranks Spear No. 9 on UT’s single-season treys list, passing the 69 Spear had last season (which falls to No. 11). Tess Darby’s 70 threes in 2022-23 now rank her No. 10 on the list.

FIFTEENTH DIFFERENT STARTING FIVE: Tennessee utilized its 15th different starting lineup of the season on Wednesday, with Jewel Spear, Kaniya Boyd, Zee Spearman, Tess Darby and Alyssa Latham opening the contest against the Aggies. Spearman started her 22nd game, while Spear notched her 21st, Darby her eighth and Latham and Boyd their fourth. Ten different players have been in the starting lineup for UT this season.

SUCCESS IN THE SEC TOURNAMENT: Tennessee improved 87-28 (.756) all-time in the 46th year of the tourney. Through the Texas A&M game, the Lady Vols are 41-5 all-time in their opening game of the SEC Tournament.