Tennessee women’s basketball head coach Kellie Harper has confirmed that she has received an SEC Grant-in-Aid (GIA) and Institutional Financial Aid Agreement (IFAA) from transfer Jewel Spear. The 5-foot-10 Spear, a two-time All-ACC and ACC All-Tournament honoree during three seasons at Wake Forest, is a native of The Colony, Texas, and a product of The Colony High School. Announcing her commitment on social media on Thursday night, the rising senior also retains the option of using an NCAA-granted extra year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Spear is the third addition to the squad during the offseason, bringing the roster to 12 players. Harper earlier welcomed three-time all-conference point guard Destinee Wells from Belmont and wing Avery Strickland from Pitt. Wells and Strickland have two and three years available, respectively, to play collegiately. Strickland and Spear will become teammates after being foes in the ACC. “We are extremely pleased to welcome Jewel to our Lady Vol family and look forward to her impact, both on the court and off,” Harper said.
Spear garnered All-ACC First Team honors while leading the league in scoring as a sophomore (18.3 ppg.) and earned second-team accolades as a junior. She was named to the ACC All-Tournament Team in 2021 and 2023 and was an ACC All-Freshman selection in 2021 as well. She is a two-time member of the ACC All-Academic Team. In 2022-23, Spear averaged 16.5 points. 3.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists per contest, leading Wake Forest in scoring and ranking fifth in the ACC in points per game. She connected at a 37.7 percent clip from the field, a 35.4 percent rate beyond the three-point arc and an 83.9 percent pace on free throws. Her percentages from three-point range and the charity stripe stood at No. 2 and No. 4 in the ACC, respectively. Her 2.8 three-pointers per contest ranked No. 2 in the league as well.
Over the past month, Harper has added a trio of players who tallied 197 three-pointers made between them last season. The Lady Vols hit 198 as a team in 2022-23, with returning players Tess Darby (70), Sara Puckett (26), Jasmine Powell (19), Rickea Jackson (16), Karoline Striplin (12), Jillian Hollingshead (2) and Kaiya Wynn (1) combining for 146 of those.