Tennessee ladies’s basketball made historical past on Saturday.
The Girl Vols turned the primary school, NBA or WNBA crew to make 30 threes in a recreation throughout their historic 80-point win towards North Carolina Central, 139-59.
The 139 factors have been probably the most in this system and SEC historical past.
Related Press No. 19 Tennessee (8-0), was 30-of-63 (47.6 %) from lengthy vary. Senior guard Samara Spencer, in her first season at Tennessee after transferring from Arkansas, led the Girl Volunteers with a career-high 9 threes.
Spencer entered Saturday capturing 43.3 % on 4.3 three-point makes an attempt per recreation.
The 9 made threes have been additionally a program and SEC document.
Teammate Talaysia Cooper, Tennessee’s main scoring this season at 20.1 factors per recreation, added 21 factors whereas capturing 5-of-9 from past the arc.
The Girl Vols’ bludgeoning of NC Central continued their spectacular offensive begin to the season.
Tennessee entered Saturday averaging 92.6 factors per recreation, the third-most within the nation.
Head coach Kim Caldwell turned the primary Tennessee ladies’s basketball coach to start her profession 8-0.
Some may scoff at Tennessee setting the document towards lowly NC Central (0-12), which was outscored 37-0 within the second quarter earlier this season towards No. 4 LSU (11-0).
However Tennessee is not the primary crew in basketball historical past to play an overmatched and overwhelmed opponent. But it was the primary to hit 30 threes.
Its capturing show is an indication of the sport’s evolution, the place three-pointers are valued at a premium.
That is been the case for Tennessee beneath Caldwell. It entered Saturday first in Division I in three-point makes an attempt per recreation (36.9).
Whereas it is going to face a lot stiffer competitors within the SEC, its historic win ought to nonetheless be a confidence booster.
The Girl Vols ranked 249th in three-point proportion (28.7 %) earlier than Saturday’s recreation.
“Day in and time out, we work on our three-point capturing,” Spencer mentioned after her career-best recreation. “It is simply gonna be higher after we can lastly play good competitors within the SEC.”
The best way Tennessee performed on Saturday, it actually seems to be prepared for a tough highway forward.
