The No. 20 Lady Vols opened the 2012-13 season with a dominating 104-44 victory over Carson-Newman on Thursday night at Thompson-Boling Arena. The game marked the debut for longtime Tennessee assistant Holly Warlick as head coach of her alma mater before 10,647.
Junior Meighan Simmons led the Lady Vols with 24 as five players scored in double-figures.
Sophomore Isabelle Harrison scored 19 and grabbed seven rebounds.
Freshman Bashaara Graves had a double-double with 17 points and 15 rebounds in her first game as a Lady Vol. Fellow newcomer Jasmine Jones tallied 16 in her debut in Orange & White, as she made the first six of her field goal attempts.
Senior Taber Spani netted 11 points.
Sophomore Cierra Burdick had a well-rounded game with nine points, seven rebounds and six assists
Tennessee was superior in all areas of the game. UT captured the rebounding battle, 55-32 while the Lady Vols shot 55.2 from the floor and limited Carson-Newman to just 20.0 from the floor. Tennessee forced the Division II Eagles into 25 turnovers and recorded 16 steals.
UT outscored C-N 54-6 in the paint and had 21 fast break points to just two for the Eagles.
Carson-Newman was led by Chante Markus, who had 12 points.
Simmons had 16 of her points in the second half. Harrison and Graves each had 12 points in the final 20 minutes.
The second half was more of the same for the Lady Vols as the margin moved to 40 at 58-18 on a free throw by Simmons with 15:19 left in the second half. Tennessee finished a 34-11 spurt on a Spani 3-pointer with 8:00 left to lead 84-29.
The lead surpassed 60 on Jones' jumper with 4:25 left, putting UT ahead 96-35.
UT broke the 100-point barrier as Jones put home her sixth consecutive shot without a miss with 3:08 left in the game, making it 100-38.
The Lady Vols busted out to a 47-15 lead at halftime led by Jones' 11 points. UT shot 55.2 percent in the first half while the defense held the Eagles to just four field goals and 14.3 from the floor.
Tennessee dominated from the start, jumping out a 10-0 lead in the first 4:17 and never looked back. The Lady Vols expanded the lead to 20 for the first time on a Jones jumper with 9:11 left in the first half, putting UT up 24-4. Kamiko Williams' fast break lay-up moved the margin to 26 at 32-6 with 5:51 left in the half. The lead hit 30 for the first time at 45-15 on a Taber Spani layup with 2:17 left in the half.
The Lady Vols return to action on Sunday as they play the second of two exhibition games as Coker College of South Carolina comes to Thompson-Boling Arena for a 2 p.m. tip-off. Tennessee officially opens the 2012-13 regular-season next Friday, Nov. 9, as the Lady Vols travel to Chattanooga to take on the Lady Mocs at 7 p.m.