No. 18 Tennessee routs Texas A&M to open SEC Tournament

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Talaysia Cooper had 19 points and eight rebounds, Jewel Spear added 11 points and three 3-pointers, and 18th-ranked Tennessee beat Texas A&M 77-37 on Wednesday in the opening game of the SEC Tournament.

Tennessee (22-8) advances to play No. 8 seed Vanderbilt on Thursday. The Lady Vols dropped a 71-70 contest against the Commodores on Jan. 19 when Mikayla Blakes tipped in a missed shot at the buzzer for just their 11th series win in the last 90 games.

Tennessee pulled away from Texas A&M in the second quarter. The Lady Vols closed the half on a 14-2 run to take a 32-19 lead as Texas A&M went 1 for 6 from the field with five turnovers in the final 5:27.

Then the Lady Vols closed the third quarter on a 17-0 run to go ahead 60-28 on a long 3-pointer by Spear. A 14-2 run to start the fourth made it 74-30.

It was the fifth largest margin of victory in SEC Tournament history.

Zee Spearman also scored 11 points and Samara Spencer finished with 10 for Tennessee, which scored 37 points off 32 Texas A&M turnovers.

Sahara Jones had 16 points and 13 rebounds for No. 16 seed Texas A&M (10-19).

Tennessee lost its final two games of the regular season to enter the tournament with its lowest seeding in program history at No. 9. The Lady Vols improved to 41-5 in their opening game of the SEC Tournament.

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