Tennessee's Sara Puckett (1) brings the ball upcourt against Indianan on Thanksgiving day.
photo by Tennessee Athletics Communications
No. 19/21 Tennessee couldn't match a hot-handed No. 21/19 Indiana squad that knocked down 10 threes, falling 71-57 in the Elevance Health Women's Fort Myers Tip-Off on Thursday at Suncoast Credit Union Arena.
Junior forwards Karoline Striplin and Sara Puckett led the Lady Vols (3-2) in scoring with 13 each on the night. Puckett added a team-high seven boards to the score sheet, and fifth-year senior Jasmine Powell was also in double figures with 12 points in her first game back from injury.
Yarden Garzon was the high scorer for the Hoosiers (4-1), pouring in a career-high 23 points. Mackenzie Holmes and Sara Scalia were also top producers for IU, finishing with 17 and 10, respectively.
Indiana was first on the board with a layup by Chloe Moore-McNeil 27 seconds into play. Destinee Wells got Tennessee's first points of the game with a jumper at the 8:22 mark, but a pair of IU threes propelled the Hoosiers to an 8-4 lead by the media timeout. Powell responded with a pull-up jumper following the break to bring the Lady Vols within two with 4:36 left in the first quarter. The teams traded buckets in the closing minutes with Powell hitting the last shot of the period to send the game into the second with Indiana leading 12-9.
Lilly Meister hit a layup to stretch IU's advantage to five before the Big Orange bounced back with a 7-2 run capped off with a trey by Jewel Spear to tie the game at 16-all with 6:14 to go in the half. The Hoosiers answered with an 11-0 run of their own to go up 27-19 before Powell ended the UT drought with a three at the 2:32 mark. Back-to-back three-pointers by Garzon had Indiana on top by 14 with 48 seconds to go, but Striplin knocked down the last bucket of the half to send the game into intermission with Tennessee trailing 33-21.
A jumper in the paint by Puckett 25 seconds into the half cut the deficit to 10, but three minutes later, IU rode a trio of threes to lead 44-25. Striplin responded with a trey at the 5:16 mark in what would be the first of her 11 straight third-quarter points, as the Lady Vols pulled within 16 by the end of the stanza at 52-36.
The teams swapped baskets through the first two minutes of the fourth period before five straight points by Puckett trimmed the deficit down to 14. An 11-4 run fueled by Garzon and Scalia gave the Hoosiers their largest lead of the game at 76-46, but a trey by Powell ended the streak with 3:07 to play. The Lady Vols outscored IU 8-2 over the final two and a half minutes, setting the final score at 71-57.
NEXT UP: Tennessee returns to Southcoast Credit Union Arena on Saturday to close out its stay at the Elevance Health Women's Fort Myers Tip-Off against #22/20 Oklahoma at 1:30 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast by Women's Sports Network.
HOW TO WATCH UT VS. OU: Celebrating its first anniversary this month, the Women's Sports Network is a free, ad-supported streaming television network and is the first and only 24/7 platform dedicated exclusively to female athletes. Available in over 95 million homes with distribution on Amazon Freevee, Fubo, LG Channels on LG Smart TVs, Local Now, Plex, Tubi, VIZIO WatchFree+, Roku and XumoPlay, the Women's Sports Network boasts partnerships with every major national women's sports league in the United States, including the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), U.S. Ski and Snowboard, World Surf League (WSL), WNBA, Athletes Unlimited and many more. Its partnership with the Elevance Health Women's Fort Myers Tip-Off is the first such agreement between the network and any early season college basketball event. For more information about Women's Sports Network and how to access games, please go to https://womenssports.com/.
SARA IN DOUBLE FIGURES – With 13 points against IU, Puckett notched her fifth consecutive contest in double figures and remains one of just two Lady Vols in the past five years to open a season with five straight games scoring in double figures. She joins LVFL Rae Burrell (2020-21) in doing so.
KARO HEATING UP – Karoline Striplin tossed in 13 points against the Hoosiers, recording her second straight game with double-digit points. It marks the third time the junior forward has tallied double figures in back-to-back games in her career. As a sophomore, Striplin totaled 11 points vs. South Carolina (2/23/23) and 12 points at Kentucky (2/26/23). In 2021-22, Striplin scored 10 against ETSU (12/20/21) and 12 vs. Chattanooga (12/27/21) as a freshman.
WELCOME BACK, JP – After missing last Sunday's game vs. Troy with a wrist injury, Jasmine Powell made her presence known against the Hoosiers, putting up 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including a season-high two three-pointers, and six rebounds.