KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Shyra Ely scored 23 points and freshman point guard Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood hit three 3-pointers in her collegiate debut, leading No. 9 Tennessee to an 82-55 victory over TCU on Sunday.
Alexis Hornbuckle added 15 points, Shanna Zolman had 11 and Brittany Jackson 10 for the Lady Vols (7-2), who have won three straight since losing to No. 3 Duke earlier this month.
Sandora Irvin, who became the all-time leading scorer for the Lady Frogs (7-4) last week, had 21 points and 16 rebounds.
TCU fell out of the Top 25 after losing at Arkansas State and Utah and is still looking for its first road win of the season. The Lady Frogs are 0-4 against Tennessee.
Wiley-Gatewood and Hornbuckle - both high school All-Americas - were put in charge of Tennessee's offense in place of senior Loree Moore, who had her tonsils out this month and is expected to be out a few more weeks.
Wiley-Gatewood missed the first six games because of patellar tendinitis and the last two games for breaking team rules.
Hornbuckle started, and Wiley-Gatewood came off the bench to score nine points - all on the 3-pointers. At times, they were both on the court.
The Lady Vols pulled away in the first half. The teams traded the lead six times before halftime with 22-21 being TCU's last lead with 8:55 remaining.
Tennessee coach Pat Summitt immediately called a timeout, and the Lady Vols responded by outscoring the Lady Frogs 27-9 the rest of the way and led by as many as 19 during their run.
Wiley-Gatewood showed off her passing and shooting skills during the spurt.
She hit two 3-pointers and had some no-look passes that jazzed up Tennessee's offense.
Wiley-Gatewood drove into the lane and passed to a cutting Dominique Redding for an easy basket.
Not to be outdone, Hornbuckle also showed some flash.
Brittany Jackson got a steal but missed the layup at the other end. Hornbuckle got the rebound and passed the ball behind her back to Jackson. She missed, but the partisan crowd roared in appreciation of the effort.
Tennessee led 48-31 at halftime, the most points the Lady Vols had scored in the first half this season.
The Lady Frogs had 32 turnovers, 19 steals by Tennessee. The Lady Vols had 22 turnovers.
Tennessee vs. TCU Post Game Quotes
TENNESSEE HEAD COACH Pat Summitt
(opening remarks) "I thought our defensive intensity gave us the ability to generate offense, and that was huge in the first half. In the second half, we were not as aggressive. We got great play off our bench. Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood is a great addition. She sees the open player. Her court awareness and passing skills enable us to be a better team. With Alexis (Hornbuckle) and Wiley-Gatewood together, it picks up our offense. I thought (Shyra) Ely played very well. She settled down and played with composure. She played more inside today. She handled herself well and knocked down open shots."
(on the improvement in Tennessee's offensive play the past few games) "I think that starts with point guard play. That simplifies what you have to do offensively. Alexis showed her ability to get the ball inside against Louisiana Tech and to get her teammates involved. With Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood, our players have to understand that when she has the ball, they have to be ready to receive the ball at anytime."
"Anytime you have players like Alexis (Hornbuckle) and Sa'de (Wiley-Gatewood) who are unselfish, others want to be involved. That can be contagious. Those two are very unselfish. Our wing players could do a better job of feeding our posts. Shanna (Zolman) has got to get better at that. Feeding the post from the wing has to be a priority."
(on whether there is too much talent in the Tennessee backcourt) "That's the best problem that I've had all year. I'll figure it out. What's difficult is not having enough players. Against Louisiana Tech, I looked down the bench, and we had just one guard substitute. I had to use Dominique Redding at the guard spot. With Alexis (Hornbuckle), Sa'de (Wiley-Gatewood), Brittany (Jackson), and Shanna (Zolman), that's not a problem. That's a great asset. And when Loree Moore gets back, that gives us five guards."
(on Shyra Ely playing more inside against TCU) "TCU played so much zone. We wanted our three-point shooters on the perimeter. Shyra gets in the gap. Today, she was playing within our system. She feels less pressure to carry the team because of our guard play."
(on the play of TCU senior Sandora Irvin) "Sandora was 1-of-5 from the floor in the first half and 7-of-12 from the line. We fouled her too much. We had fouls to waste, but that was not our strategy. She had to work for everything that she got. I'm not sure that she was 100 percent. One of our assistants said that she was sick coming into the game. She got her points. She's a fine player. She's the best inside player I'd seen on tape this season coming into this game."
(on the play of Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood) "With her healthy, she gives us a different look. We don't want to rush any player with an injury. We didn't want to rush Sa'de, and we don't want to rush Candace (Parker). I'm excited to think about our future. I can sleep a lot better at night."
Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood
"When I first came in, I was nervous. After the first two minutes, I got into a rhythm with my teammates with my passing then my shooting. It was fun."
"I didn't expect to play as many minutes as I did."
"Practice helps you to get ready for the games. I practiced four or five days. I was out of shape. It was good that I didn't go with the team to Louisiana Tech. I stayed back to condition. That helped me to get ready for this game."
Shyra Ely
(on improved offensive play) "Did you see my shooting percentage? They're (Alexis Hornbuckle and Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood) great about seeing the floor. You have to be ready for the ball when they're in the game. I got some easy baskets. That kept me in the flow of the game. Today, I tried to focus on defense."
Alexis Hornbuckle
(on the team's cohesiveness) "We're starting to click. We're playing together. We're knocking down shots. We've been practicing game-tempo shots, and that's starting to transfer over to the game."
(on running the fast break) "We started running. We're a running team. That opens doors. We have to execute in either man or zone. It took a while to get into it."
TCU HEAD COACH JEFF MITTIE
(on the game) "I thought from our standpoint that this game was very disappointing. We played 12 minutes of good basketball. We had a lot of players play badly. Give credit to Tennessee; their defense forced that. We just kept getting further and further from the basket. You know that from Sandora (Irvin), you get 20 (points) and 10 (rebounds) every night. You need some help from the support players. Today we got none."
(on Tennessee's offense) "Tennessee looked in sync offensively today. On tape I watched some of their games and that wasn't true. One player would zig when another player thought she would zag. Today they were all on the same page. But we have let a lot of teams look in sync this season."
(on Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood) "I knew she was talented, but you don't know how much she had been practicing. She was highly recruited, and she had great court vision and can score."
(on TCU's 0-4 road record) "Next season we are going to schedule all of our games at home and at neutral sites."
SANDORA IRVIN
(on her play) "They did a good job of keeping me from the block. I missed some shots that I shouldn't have, but I went to the line a lot. I get fouled almost every time I get the ball."
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