Talaysia Cooper saw the open Florida State player and knew where the ball was going. She sprinted to the corner and took flight.
Cooper smacked the ball into the stands as soon as Amaya Bonner released the 3-point shot. The crowd at Food City Center erupted. She followed with a 3-pointer, a jump shot and a steal, fueling a run that allowed Tennessee to build a 20-point lead in the first half.
But the lead was erased by Florida State in the third quarter and the game went down to the wire. And Cooper once again fueled the Lady Vols when it mattered most.
The redshirt sophomore guard scored 12 of her 22 points in the fourth quarter, lifting Tennessee to a 79-77 win over the Seminoles (8-2) in the SEC/ACC Challenge on Wednesday. It was a significant win for Tennessee (6-0), which beat its first power conference opponent of the season.
“It just gives us energy,” junior forward Zee Spearman said of Cooper. “You see the whole bench went crazy. I feel as if once she gets going, the whole team goes behind her. And it’s like, we all can see that, and we all follow her.”
Spearman was the only other Tennessee player to score in the fourth quarter, with 10 of her 13 points. She got active on the boards to score putbacks and drove inside to get to the rim instead of settling for 3-pointers. Spearman also hit the game-winner, draining a fadeaway jumper to give Tennessee the two-point lead with 24 seconds left.
Spearman’s jumper wasn’t the look the Lady Vols were looking for, but coach Kim Caldwell was glad she took the shot.
“She was poised. She was under control. She believed in it,” Caldwell said. “She had some huge offensive rebounds for us down the stretch, too. I think our offensive rebounding in that fourth quarter won us the game.”
The Lady Vols scored six second-chance points and had eight of their 23 offensive rebounds in the fourth. They outpaced FSU in second-chance points 19-6 and outrebounded it 50-39.
Sophomore forward Alyssa Latham was a key contributor off the bench, with nine points, seven rebounds and a block in 17 minutes.
“If we get (Spearman) and Alyssa going, it’s going to be a hell of a season,” Cooper said. “Not many people can guard that, to be honest.”
Caldwell expected the matchup with Florida State to be a game of runs as both teams wanted to push the pace. But things almost fell apart completely for Tennessee in the third quarter when it couldn’t get a stop and the Seminoles put up 30 points.
Caldwell called a timeout halfway through the third when FSU was on a 17-2 run. Ta’Niya Latson, who scored 38 points, had just stolen the ball from Cooper and hit an open layup without a single Lady Vols player running back to try to stop her.
Caldwell believed the team “quit a little bit” for a moment. After the third quarter, with the score tied 57-57, she reminded her team that this wasn’t unexpected. Now it was about who wanted it more in the final 10 minutes.
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“We didn’t just melt and pout and quit and panic,” Caldwell said. “We just continued to be resilient, which is big, and the more we can see that, the better. And (Cooper) was a really good example of that. She was frustrated, she was frustrated, she was frustrated, and then she got over it . . . She was just able to get through it because she wants to win.”
The win over Florida State was important for Tennessee. Not just because it was the first power conference opponent and not just because it closed out a tight win. It showed exactly what this team is made of.
“We’re some dogs,” Latham said. “We not going to stop playing, we’re a very resilient team . . . You can see we have a lot of chemistry, we have fun while we’re playing. So it’s going to be a really great season.”
Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Lady Vols show that ‘we’re some dogs’ in close win over Florida State
