Thursday night, Tennessee Lady Vols basketball took on the Coppin State Eagles on the road in Baltimore. The Lady Vols took the win, 98-60, but the game didn’t go exactly the way anyone expected. If you missed any action, here is the full recap.

Tennessee forced back-to-back travels on Coppin State’s first possessions. Between those possessions, Aaliyah Moore scored the first points of the night to put Tennessee up 2-0. The Lady Vols had their issues early and allowed Coppin State to stay close, even though the Eagles weren’t doing themselves any favors.

Harissoum Coulibaly scored the next two points with 7:46 to go in the first quarter, while Coppin State could not get anything to fall. Naomi White made it 6-0 at the 5:36 mark, and the Eagles had yet to score at the first media timeout with 4:54 to go.

Gabby Minus made a free throw out of the timeout to make it 7-0 before Anya George banked in a 3-pointer for Coppin State’s first points of the night. The Eagles began attacking the lane and generated enough offense to tie the game at 7. Tennessee had early trouble converting at the rim, along with turnovers and fouls. Moore, Kaylene Smikle and Fats Janneh each had two fouls.

Jada Eads finally hit the Lady Vols’ first three of the game to put Tennessee up 12-8 with 1:03 to go, and the first quarter ended with a 12-10 Tennessee lead.

Minus opened the second quarter with a score from around the free-throw line. Then, the press turned up a notch. White forced a five-second call to give Tennessee the ball back, and on that possession Minus worked a foul and got to the stripe to sink two.

The Lady Vols kept the attack to the paint and made that approach work to their advantage. They opened up a 26-13 lead around the eight-minute mark of the second quarter. Kennedy Fauntleroy provided great defense and got to the lane for positive production.

Coppin State broke Tennessee’s press a couple of times to score and cut into the lead, but Fauntleroy and the Lady Vols kept the pressure up and built a decent cushion. White also hit her first three of the night.

The Lady Vols got solid contributions down the stretch of the first half from several players to build a 42-27 halftime lead. Moore found good shots, including a 3-pointer, and went to the half as the leading scorer with eight points. Tennessee had work to do on the boards but made its money with 19 points off 19 Coppin State turnovers.

Smikle opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer, and after a foul away from the ball gave the Lady Vols the ball back, Smikle scored two more for a quick five points. That sequence put Tennessee up 47-27. The third quarter became a Smikle explosion.

She showed up on defense with a steal and converted it into an easy score. Then after Minus got a steal and rebound off her own miss, Smikle drained another three. That gave Smikle 10 third-quarter points in just over two and a half minutes, and gave the Lady Vols a 25-point lead. Fauntleroy and Minus kept up the attack down the lane.

White hit her second three of the night midway through the third quarter to give the Lady Vols a 60-31 lead, and after Smikle made a great save, Eads got to the free-throw line for two. Moore connected for her second of the night, and Rylie Theuerkauf found her first 3-pointer of the game. Riley Makalusky came in and hit from deep with 22 seconds to go in the quarter to send the Lady Vols to the fourth quarter up 75-39. Tennessee outscored Coppin State 33-12 in the third quarter.

Minus deserves kudos for doing the gritty work. She went to the fourth quarter with 12 points and 10 rebounds. She added one more rebound in the fourth quarter and finished with a double-double. Ten of her points came from the free-throw line. She knows how to attack and give herself opportunities. Minus didn’t have the night from the field that she would have liked, but the work she puts in overshadows that a bit.

The Lady Vols closed it out in the fourth quarter and saw more from Makalusky. She found five more points to finish the night with eight off the bench. Harper Peterson scored the Lady Vols’ 98th point on a 3-point bucket with 35 seconds left. Smikle went on to finish with 18 points after finding seven more points in the final quarter. Fauntleroy added 12 points, seven assists and three steals. Moore scored 11, and Eads chipped in nine. George led Coppin State with 13 points, and Jayleen Jones added 12.

The night didn’t play out how many expected, but the Lady Vols did what was needed and still pulled out a convincing win. Tennessee went to work on the boards and finished with a 50-36 advantage in that department, led by Janneh’s 13 rebounds. Tennessee also scored 32 points off 29 Coppin State turnovers.

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