Lady Vols To Host FSU In SEC-ACC Women’s Basketball Challenge

2024 SEC-ACC Women's Basketball Challenge Graphic

Lady Vols To Host FSU In SEC-ACC Women’s Basketball Challenge

June 12, 2024 | Women's Basketball

Renew Season Tickets (By 6/12/24)Purchase Season Tickets SEC-ACC Women's Basketball Challenge Matchups UT-FSU Series History

By: Eric Trainer

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – ESPN shared the first look at Tennessee's 2024-25 women's basketball schedule on Wednesday, announcing the Lady Vols will play host to Florida State on Dec. 4 as part of a 16-game SEC-ACC Women's Basketball Challenge over a two-day period.

The Big Orange and the Seminoles are slated to play in one of six match-ups on that Wednesday, with 10 more taking place on Thursday. Tip times and broadcast designations will be released later.

UT and FSU met in Tallahassee on Nov. 9 last season, with the Seminoles staving off the Big Orange, 92-91. The Lady Vols, who lead the all-time series, 2-1, bounced back from a 15-point first-half deficit to lead by six in the fourth quarter before a last-second three-pointer lifted the hosts to victory at the Donald L. Tucker Center.

Florida State returns nearly its entire core from last year's NCAA Tournament team, including preseason All-America candidate Ta'Niya Latson, who was the nation's No. 14 scorer a year ago at 21.4 points per contest. The Seminoles are ranked No. 18 in ESPN's Way-Too-Early Top 25, which was released on May 6.

Tennessee, which will embark on the 2024-25 campaign with new head coach Kim Caldwell at the helm, was not ranked in that poll. The NCAA DI Rookie Coach of the Year at Marshall last season and the NCAA DII National Coach of the Year at Glenville State in 2022 welcomes back a veteran nucleus, two talented redshirt guards and four experienced newcomers via the transfer portal. That incoming quartet was not finalized until after ESPN's poll came out.

The Lady Vols return a pair of starters from 2023-24, including second and third-leading scorers Jewel Spear and Sara Puckett. Spear, a 5-foot-10 fifth-year guard, averaged 13.1 points and 4.4 rebounds, draining a team-high 69 three-pointers as a senior and ranking fourth in the SEC at 2.09 treys per contest. Puckett, a 6-2 forward, produced career bests of 9.9 ppg. and 4.9 rpg. while shooting 45 percent from the field, 35 percent on three-pointers (38 made attempts) and 86 percent on free throws. They were the only two UT players to start all 33 games.

Tess Darby, a 6-1 fifth-year guard/forward, leads a trio of players who averaged double-figure minutes off the bench last season. A 73-game starter during her career and one of the program's all-time best long-distance shooters, Darby averaged 5.2 ppg. and 3.4 rpg. while ranking second on the squad with 44 three-pointers in 2023-24. Joining her as returning reserves are 6-5 senior forward Jillian Hollingshead (4.6 ppg., 4.5 rpg.) and 6-0 senior guard Kaiya Wynn (4.4 ppg., 2.6 rpg.).

Also back are 5-6 senior guard Destinee Wells (6.8 ppg., 3.5 apg., 2.6 rpg.), 5-7 junior guard Edie Darby (1.1 ppg.) and 5-10 junior guard Avery Strickland (0.9 ppg.). Wells continues to work her way back from last year's lower leg injury that ended her season after 10 games.

Among six players who will see the court for Tennessee for the first time are two redshirt guards, including Talaysia Cooper, a 6-0 redshirt sophomore transfer from South Carolina, and Kaniya Boyd, a 5-9 redshirt freshman early enrollee in January from Las Vegas. Cooper was the No. 18 overall player, No. 4 point guard and had a five-star rating in the 2022 espnW 100. Boyd, meanwhile, was the No. 35 overall player and had a four-star rating in the 2024 espnW 100.

Caldwell and her staff have added four talented players via the portal since arriving on Rocky Top. That group includes 5-7 senior guard Samara Spencer from Arkansas, 5-11 junior guard Ruby Whitehorn from Clemson, 6-2 sophomore forward Alyssa Latham from Syracuse and 6-4 junior forward Lazaria Spearman from Miami.

Spencer was the second-leading scorer for the Razorbacks in 2023-24, averaging 13.9 points while contributing 4.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.3 steals per contest. Whitehorn started 29 of 31 contests for the Tigers as a sophomore, averaging career bests of 12.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.6 steals per game. Latham produced 8.6 points per game and 7.0 rebounds to rank fourth and first for the Orange, respectively, while Spearman put up 6.3 ppg. and a team-leading 6.0 rpg. for the Hurricanes while shooting 50 percent from the field.

Tennessee's remaining non-conference and SEC contests will be released at a later date. Lady Vol season tickets, though, are already available here.