Tennessee Lady Vols basketball is off to a great start in the women's SEC Tournament. They just missed out on a first-round bye, so they faced Texas A&M to kick off the conference tournament.
After back-to-back embarrassing losses, the Lady Vols responded with a dominant victory over No. 16 Texas A&M 77-37, holding the Aggies to its lowest scoring output of the year.
game one WON ✅ pic.twitter.com/2clUFMylRQ
— Lady Vols Basketball (@LadyVol_Hoops) March 5, 2025
While it was A&M's worst offensive performance, it didn't necessarily seem like that would be the case after one quarter. The Aggies led the Lady Vols 13-11 after the first ten minutes, but it was all Vols for the final 30 minutes.
Tennessee did not allow A&M to score ten or more points in any of the remaining quarters, its best defensive performance of the season.
Because of the dominant defensive performance, the Lady Vols' game one win is a statement win and shows Tennessee can be one of the top teams in the SEC despite the disappointing end to the regular season.
Talaysia Cooper came off the bench and led the team in scoring with 19 points, three steals, three assists, and eight rebounds to add to her line.
Jewel Spear and Zee Spearman scored 11 points each, while Samara Spencer also finished with double-digit points at 10.
Tennessee now moves to its second-round matchup against in-state rival Vanderbilt. This is where the Lady Vols' tournament draw could hurt them. The Lady Vols lost its regular season matchup 71-70 in Nashville. A win against Vandy would set a date with No. 1 South Carolina.