Kim Caldwell promised to bring a fast offense and pressure defense to the Lady Vols. The new head coach of the Lady Vols delivered the goods on Halloween with a lot of treats for Tennessee fans and a 135-49 win against Carson-Newman.

Granted, it was an exhibition game against an overmatched team and a Division II opponent. Tennessee should win, and the contest shouldn’t be close. But the numbers pop.

The 135 points was tied for the second-most points by the Lady Vols in an exhibition game, matching the output against Carson-Newman in 2008. Tennessee had 26 assists to just nine turnovers and 30 steals. Carson-Newman lost the ball 43 times and Tennessee turned those miscues into 52 points. Tennessee had  26 offensive rebound and converted those into 26 points. The bench accounted for 52 points. All of the points came despite no one playing more than 21.5 minutes.

Ruby Whitehorn led the Lady Vols with 30 points. Tennessee also got scoring punch from Jewel Spear and Zee Spearman with 17 points each; Talaysia Cooper, 16 points; Sara Puckett, 14 points; and Kaniya Boyd, 13 points.

Tennessee led 64-23 at halftime and never let up until dribbling out the clock with 29 seconds left. Carson-Newman Coach Mike Mincey said after the game that he didn’t want Tennessee to back off. The exhibition game lets his team see the toughest competition and prepares the Eagles for the season.

Jennifer Sullivan led Carson-Newman with 15 points, while Lindsey Taylor added nine points. Sullivan is from Knoxville, while Taylor is from Maryville. Both players keep up with Lady Vols basketball.

“It was a good test for us to play in the arena, in front of the fans,” Caldwell said. “It was really nice to play against somebody other than ourselves. We appreciate Carson-Newman for coming. That’s a very good Division II team, and they’re going to have a good year and we’re going to be rooting for them all the way.”

Carson-Newman’s post-game presser can be watched HERE. Tennessee’s is available HERE.

The announced crowd was 9,613, but that includes all season ticket holders, and maybe about half of that was in the arena on Halloween night. Still, it put fans in the seats and allowed a team with seven new players – all of whom contributed – to go through a game day routine before the outcomes count.

Caldwell saw plenty that she wanted to fix, too. Her team has to get used to the rapid pace and frequent substitutions – the total was 122 – nearly all of which was five-for-five swaps. But she also saw things she liked.

“The thing I’m the most happy about is our steals and our forced turnovers,” Caldwell said. “It just came with pressure. Some of the previous times, we have to bark at them and yell at them, get up, get up, get up and they did that without us barking tonight, which was a good sign.”

This team plays with a joie de vivre. The next game is Tuesday, Nov. 5, against Samford on Election Day, followed by UT Martin on Thursday, Nov. 7. It’s a fun group to watch and well worth a trip to the arena.

Maria M. Cornelius, a senior writer/editor at MoxCar Marketing + Communications since 2013, started her journalism career at the Knoxville News Sentinel and began writing about the Lady Vols in 1998. In 2016, she published her first book, “The Final Season: The Perseverance of Pat Summitt,” through The University of Tennessee Press.