Tennessee girls’s basketball made historical past on Saturday.
The Woman Vols grew to become the primary faculty, NBA or WNBA group to make 30 threes in a recreation throughout their historic 80-point win in opposition to North Carolina Central, 139-59.
The 139 factors have been essentially 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 Woman Volunteers with a career-high 9 threes.
Spencer entered Saturday taking pictures 43.3 % on 4.3 three-point makes an attempt per recreation.
The 9 made threes have been additionally a program and SEC report.
Teammate Talaysia Cooper, Tennessee’s main scoring this season at 20.1 factors per recreation, added 21 factors whereas taking pictures 5-of-9 from past the arc.
The Woman 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 grew to become the primary Tennessee girls’s basketball coach to start her profession 8-0.
Some may scoff at Tennessee setting the report in opposition to lowly NC Central (0-12), which was outscored 37-0 within the second quarter earlier this season in opposition to No. 4 LSU (11-0).
However Tennessee is not the primary group in basketball historical past to play an overmatched and overwhelmed opponent. But it was the primary to hit 30 threes.
Its taking pictures 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 below 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 Woman Vols ranked 249th in three-point share (28.7 %) earlier than Saturday’s recreation.
“Day in and time out, we work on our three-point taking pictures,” Spencer stated after her career-best recreation. “It is simply gonna be higher once we can lastly play good competitors within the SEC.”
The way in which Tennessee performed on Saturday, it actually appears to be like prepared for a troublesome street forward.
