CHICAGO (AP) -- It was tough to tell No. 2 Tennessee hadn't played in 10 days.

Tamika Catchings scored 21 points despite sitting out the final nine minutes with four fouls and the second-ranked Lady Volunteers beat DePaul 100-66 Friday night for their seventh straight victory.

Catchings, who went to high school in a Chicago suburb, played in front of dozens of friends and family, including her father, former NBA player Harvey Catchings. She was 9-of-13 from the field and had three steals for the Lady Volunteers (7-1).

"It's great to come back here, I love it," Catchings said. "Any game where even some of them can see me play, I get up for it."

Catchings and her teammates hadn't played since beating Memphis on Dec. 7 -- they were taking final exams -- but rust was not apparent. Tennessee coach Pat Summitt was expecting the play to be sloppy, but the Lady Vols came out focused and led 15-2 five minutes into the game.

"Sometimes, the ugliest basketball is played after exams," Summitt said. "But we talked about coming out strong."

It was ugly all right -- for the Blue Demons (5-3), who couldn't handle the defensive pressure of the Lady Vols. Transition layups from Catchings, Semeka Randall and Kristen Clement extended the lead to as many as 27 points and Tennessee led 61-35 at halftime.

"I hope it's the last half where you see this team come out with the deer-in-the-headlights look," DePaul coach Doug Bruno said. "These are talented athletes (the Lady Vols), but there's nothing to be scared of."

Randall finished with 18 points and Clement had 17 and nine assists.

Clement's jumper with 16:45 left put the Lady Vols up 70-40, and Kyra Elzy's follow of a missed free throw by Catchings with 9:20 left gave Tennessee an 82-50 lead. A layup at the buzzer by Sarah Edwards gave the Lady Vols their biggest lead.

Lenae Williams led DePaul with 24 points, while freshman reserve Laura Sobieszczyk added 14.