The Kim Caldwell era for Lady Vols basketball is off to a solid start.

Tennessee hosted Samford for the season debut and downed the Bulldogs 101-53.

After Ruby Whitehorn went off for 29 in the exhibition win over Carson-Newman last week, it was Zee Spearman who led the way off a strong finish. She posted 25 points and six rebounds in the game with 21 of them coming in the second half and 15 in the fourth quarter.

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Behind Spearman was Talaysia Cooper. The redshirt sophomore recorded 19 points on an efficient 8-for-13 shooting as a guard to go along with five assists, four rebounds, six steals and three blocks.

Jewel Spear also put together an impressive game with 18 points. She added seven rebounds and four steals to her line, as well.

As a team, Tennessee shot 48.1% from the field and 29.4% on 3-pointers. The defense held Samford to 35.7% shooting from the field and 15% on 3-pointers.

It wasn't the prettiest at first, but Tennessee was able to get out to a strong start. This was largely thanks to Cooper who scored seven of the Lady Vols' first 15 points.

As Samford trailed by eight with five minutes to play in the first quarter, it called timeout to regroup. The Bulldogs pulled the margin down to five but Tennessee responded to take a reasonably comfortable 26-17 lead into the second quarter.

Cooper led the team in scoring at this point with 10.

The second quarter was off to an inefficient start but the press showed its effectiveness. The Lady Vols forced back-to-back 10-second violations in the frame.

Tennessee's defense would hold Samford off the board for the first five minutes of the second half to go on a 14-0 run to take a 20-point lead.

At halftime, the Lady Vols built up a 49-26 lead. Leading the way was Cooper who posted 13 points, three steals and two blocks in the frame.

The third quarter was more dominance in the favor of Tennessee. The Lady Vols outscored the Bulldogs by 13 in the quarter. This was capped off with a Spear 3-pointer to beat the buzzer and extend the lead to 78-42.

The fourth quarter was another continuation of the blowout. Spearman led the way in the frame with 15 points.

Tennessee forced 37 turnovers in the win. Previously, Sara Puckett stated the goal for games is 25 so this one theoretically past that test.

This came on 27 steals in the game. The result was 50 points off turnovers which is just shy of half of the total points in the game.

Tennessee doesn't have much time to rest before turning the page to its next opponent. The Lady Vols will host UT Martin on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. ET airing on SECN+.

Then, Tennessee will look for revenge as it hosts MTSU on Tuesday Nov. 12 at 6:30 p.m. ET airing on SECN+.

The first nationally televised game on the Lady Vols' schedule is set for Nov. 26 when they host Western Carolina at 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network.

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