Kellie Harper recaps Lady Vols’ season opener

Everything Tennessee head coach Kellie Harper said following the Lady Vols’ win against Western Kentucky.

On how important Jordan Walker’s ability to avoid turnovers is for the team:
“I think it’s imperative that you have players that aren’t turning the ball over and you’ve got players that are distributing, finding the open man, making good decisions and managing the team. I think that’s important. She’s done a good job of that. I thought Destiny Salary did a good job of that when she was in there. For two newcomers coming into those tough roles, I thought they did a pretty good job with that. Overall, our 13 turnovers, I think we’re going to walk out of this one and feel OK about that and find a way to get better once we look at them. I think there were a lot of those that we could erase. We’ve worked hard on that in our preseason practices. I thought our offensive spacing helped us in those areas. We’ll go back, get in the film room, watch some of those and try to correct them even before our next practice.”

On Marta Suárez’s Tennessee debut:
“Marta is a player that gives us some steadiness. She’s poised. She’s competitive. She makes plays. She had several offensive boards. She’s going to be in the mix. She’s going to be in the middle of it. She sticks her nose in it. We need that. I think, for us right now, just having her skillset is important. We started her at the small forward position, but we’re able to move her around a little bit. She played some wing and brought the ball up the court a couple of times. I think just trying to take advantage of her broad skillset is important for our team. She really helps us when she’s out there.”