All season long, Tennessee head coach Kim Caldwell has trusted her freshmen. That trust paid off when the Lady Vols beat Kentucky on Thursday.
All season long, Tennessee head coach Kim Caldwell has trusted her freshmen. That trust paid off when the Lady Vols beat Kentucky on Thursday.
With Janiah Barker sidelined due to injury, Deniya Prawl faced a big role defensively against Kentucky's bigs. The role got even bigger when Zee Spearman got into early foul trouble and had to sit the entire second quarter. Prawl played 26 minutes in the win, often against Kentucky big Amelia Hassett.
"She's playing harder," Caldwell said. "She's having more confidence. She can guard multiple positions. We're going to need her to guard multiple positions."
Prawl is by no means a volume scorer, but she was Tennessee's second-highest scorer of the night with nine points. She did it with 3-for-3 shooting and getting to the free throw line. Outside of scoring, Prawl grabbed four rebounds and earned four steals without turning the ball over.
Tennessee's volume scorer was fellow freshman Mia Pauldo, who took a team-high 22 shots and made nine of them. She was the only double-digit scorer of the game and scored 21 points. Pauldo missed shots early but still had the confidence to score, and she scored nine of Tennessee's 19 fourth-quarter points.
All season, Caldwell has been asking Pauldo to shoot more and get more involved in the offense. It finally happened against Kentucky.
"I know she's going to make the right play, and she's continued to be spectacular," Caldwell said. "I don't have to overcoach her. I just know that she's going to go out there, and I just have to put her in space and let her play free."
Jaida Civil also made a big defensive contribution with 24 minutes of playing time. Offensively, she earned eight points, six rebounds and three assists on a night when it was tough to score.
Two of Civil's rebounds were on the offensive end, which Caldwell credits to her effort. Getting extra possessions is important in Caldwell's system, and Civil gives effort on both ends.
"Her defense has come such a long way," Caldwell said. "She plays so hard, she can guard multiple positions now and she was probably one of our weaker defenders to start the year."
As a team, Tennessee took 20 more shots than Kentucky. Without those 20 extra shots, the Lady Vols would not have come close to winning. They got those extra shots from offensive rebounds and forcing turnovers.
Tennessee forced 21 Kentucky turnovers to just nine turnovers of its own. The Lady Vols earned 11 steals in the game, six of which came from freshmen.
Before the season, Caldwell said she had to get immediate production out of her freshmen. That production came against a top-15 opponent, showcasing the development over the course of the season.
"They're not freshmen to me," Caldwell said. "They're players on our team. I know what they can do, and you just want the best body. So I don't really think about age at this point. I know who they are, I know their body of work and I trust them."