Lady Vols basketball entered the month of January with more questions than answers surrounding the team.
Lady Vols basketball entered the month of January with more questions than answers surrounding the team. In response, the Lady Vols have completed four conference games and have claimed victory in each game since the start of the new year.
Including a non-conference win right before the beginning of conference play, the Lady Vols have won five-straight contests in what has been the team’s best stretch of the season.
Most recently, on Jan. 11, the Lady Vols defeated Arkansas at home, 85-50. The competition has not been as fierce to start with, as all four conference wins came against teams with records under .500 in conference play.
Despite that, the Lady Vols have been winning soundly in the majority of their contests, with the closest game coming against Florida at the start of the new year, resulting in a 10-point home victory.
Up to this date, the biggest playmakers for the Lady Vols have been junior Talaysia Cooper and senior Janiah Barker, both of whom average over 14 points each.
Cooper missed the last conference game against Arkansas after suffering a pre-game practice injury when she was struck in the head by a basketball. Her status for the upcoming games had been uncertain.
Guard Kaniya Boyd has also missed time recently due to a high-ankle sprain. Details on her expected return are still unclear.
"We really don't know the status of when they'll return,” Lady Vols coach Kim Caldwell said. “KB had a high-ankle sprain the day before (Mississippi State game). And then Coop got hit in the head today with a ball in the shootaround."
Forward Zee Spearman, who’s currently in her second season with the Lady Vols, has found her groove this season. In three of the team’s four conference games played, Spearman posted 14 points or more. The only game she didn’t win was against Florida.
"I think the biggest thing is she's being a little more patient,” Caldwell said. “She's not trying to force it off the first pass. We're sharing the ball. People are getting out of her gaps. She's not trying to dribble one on five. She's cutting, she's screening, she's rebounding, and I think that's who she is and it's who she needs to continue to be."
Spearman posted 20 points against Arkansas but also made her presence felt everywhere else. Eight rebounds, three assists, three steals, and two blocks finished out her impressive game.
The Lady Vols are going to need players like Spearman to step up as the schedule gets tougher. Along with Spearman, true-freshman Mia Pauldo has become an x-factor for the team.
Pauldo is not the only true-freshman being counted on as the schedule rolls on; Jaida Civil, Deniya Prawl, and Mya Pauldo have also been plugged into the rotation.
"It's huge," Caldwell said of her rookies. "We live in a world where people don't want to wait. You don't want to wait, you don't want to develop, you don't want to do any of that. And we told the freshmen they were going to come and play, and they're getting the opportunities.
The Lady Vols’ next three games come against top-of-the-line conference opponents, including Alabama, Kentucky, and Ole Miss.
It’ll be a chance for the team to prove they can achieve the same heights they’ve reached against the top of the conference, while cementing that they belong there.
Cooper, according to Caldwell, will return to the lineup against Alabama on Sunday, a big boost for the team.