Lady Vols basketball returned home to Food City Center to host the New Haven Chargers on Tuesday night. Tennessee worked through this one to take an 83-40 win.

It took over a minute into the game for the Lady Vols to get on the board. Kennedy Fauntleroy got to the rim for two and hit a three for five of the first eight points. Naomi White added a three in that sequence. Then, Kaylene Smikle sank a three to give Tennessee an 11-3 lead. 

After that, Tennessee went on a long scoring drought and things got a bit sloppy. On defense, the Lady Vols committed several fouls, which allowed New Haven to stay in the game. On offense, the Lady Vols weren’t knocking down shots and at times dribbled themselves into tough spots deep in the paint. 

They drew fouls, but the free-throw shooting was off. After the team started 0-for-6 from the line, Fats Janneh hit one of two to make it a 12-7 game. A Jada Eads three-pointer and a couple of Aaliyah Moore free throws made it a 17-10 game at the end of the first quarter.

Riley Makalusky got early minutes and hit a three-pointer to give the Lady Vols a 21-11 lead with 8:22 to go in the first half. After New Haven’s Tearia Kelley responded, Smikle hit her second three of the night. To that point, all but two of the Lady Vols’ points came from beyond the arc or the free-throw line. Tennessee began 1-for-7 in layups and had no midrange game.

New Haven kept hanging around in this game deep into the second quarter. The Chargers were pesky on defense and in the rebounding department, and on offense they found their way into the paint, converting 5-of-7 layups in the first half. 

Makalusky drained another three late in the first half, and Smikle found another bucket to send Tennessee up 37-27 at the half. The Lady Vols shot 28.6% in the opening 20 minutes, went 10-of-21 from the free-throw line, and trailed 14-6 in the paint. 

The third quarter began much like the game had. New Haven played tight, pesky defense, and it took until the 8:02 mark before Eads drained a three from the top of the key to make it 40-24. Then, Gabby Minus got to the paint for just the third made layup of the night for Tennessee.

Minus continues to be solid as a true freshman. She played tough defense and hit the boards just as she has. She finished the night with 13 points, eight rebounds, and six steals. Lady Vols were plus 25 with her on the floor.

Tennessee got seven third-quarter points from Moore, with five from Minus and three each from Eads and Janneh. The Lady Vols defense also tightened and shut the Chargers down to just nine third quarter points. Tennessee scored five points off of six turnovers.

The fourth quarter saw the Lady Vols continue to separate themselves. New Haven did not find its first score until the 3:45 mark when Carla Ramirez scored her first bucket of the night. Due to another strong defensive quarter, the Lady Vols held New Haven to single digits again, and scored 14 points in the fourth quarter off of turnovers to finish with 29 points off 26 turnovers.

Rylie Theuerkauf found her first points with 2:27 left, to make it a 75-37 game. Nya Robertson also found two three point buckets in the closing parts of the game. The Lady Vols outscored the Chargers 28-7 in the fourth quarter (46-16 second half) to close out the win.

Moore finished with 14 points and seven rebounds to lead the Lady Vols in points. Fauntleroy added 11 points, five rebounds, and two steals. As a team, the Lady Vols finished 16-of-28 from the free throw line, and shot 15-of-40 from three point range.

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