KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Facing its second top-10 opponent in five days, No. 16/15 Tennessee overcame an 18-point second-quarter deficit and pushed unbeaten No. 6/4 LSU to the brink before falling, 89-87, Thursday night in front of 10,220 at Food City Center.
The Lady Vols (13-2, 1-2 SEC) took two-point leads twice over the last four minutes and tied the game three times inside the final three minutes, including 87-all with 32 ticks left on the clock. LSU’s Kailyn Gilbert hit an acrobatic shot with a second remaining, however, to put her team back on top. After a timeout to advance the ball and a lob on the inbound play, a desperation attempt from the paint by UT with one second left wouldn’t fall, allowing the Tigers to improve to 18-0 overall and 3-0 in league play.
Tennessee, which suffered a one-point loss to No. 9/10 Oklahoma on Sunday and has lost its last two contests by a combined three points, was led by a pair of players with 20-point nights. Fifth-year guard Jewel Spear was seven of 11 from the floor and drained five of seven attempts from beyond the arc to lead all scorers with 25 points. Redshirt sophomore guard Talaysia Cooper was right behind her with 24, while junior guard Ruby Whitehorn and senior guard Samara Spencer tossed in 10 each.
The Tigers also had four players in double figures, led by a 23-point, 21 rebound double-double from Aneesah Morrow. One of three LSU players with 20 or more points, she was aided by 22 from Gilbert and 20 from Flau’Jae Johnson, while Mikaylah Williams was her team’s fourth player in double figures with 16 on the night.
After LSU got on the board first on a Jersey Wolfenbarger tip-in, Sara Puckett drained a three-pointer to put her team on top 3-2 with 9:29 to go in the first quarter. A Cooper baseline jumper knotted the score at five with 7:26 left and drew Tennessee to within one, 8-7, at the 7:06 mark before the Tigers used a 4-1 burst to take a 12-8 edge into the 4:19 media timeout. LSU scored the next three buckets to build an 18-8 cushion by the 3:02 mark before a Cooper jumper and Spencer three-ball cut the gap to 18-13 with 2:02 to go. The Tigers clawed right back, stretching their lead to as many as 13 with 42 seconds left before a Spear trey-and-one play pulled the home team to within 10, 26-16, at the end of the first period.
LSU used a 9-2 blitz to open up a 37-19 lead with 6:32 to go in the second stanza, but the Lady Vols responded with a layup from Spencer, a layup from Whitehorn and a Cooper jumper to trim the deficit to 12, at 37-25, by the 4:49 media timeout. A pair of Spear threes after the break extended UT’s run to 12 and whittled the gap to six, 37-31, with 4:20 to go. After the Tigers responded with a pair of free throws, layups by Whitehorn and Cooper drew their team to within five, 40-35, with 2:53 remaining. After a pair of LSU scores, a pair of Spear free throws and an Alyssa Latham fast break layup off a feed from Whitehorn got Tennessee within five once again at 44-39 before an LSU bucket by Johnson sent the visitors in the locker room with a 46-39 advantage.
The Lady Vols came out of the locker room with a statement, cutting the deficit to three, 46-43, with 8:41 left on a spinning layup by Spear and a turnaround jumper by Whitehorn, forcing LSU to ask for time. An intentional foul by Morrow put Spear at the line for two, and she sank both to pull her team within one, 46-45, with 7:59 remaining. LSU responded with six straight points to ease ahead, 52-45, but buckets by Spear and Whitehorn cut it to 54-49 with 5:29 to go. Another 6-0 spurt by the Tigers put them up 11 with 3:45 to go, but the Lady Vols would not go away. A Cooper runner, Kaniya Boyd three and a Whitehorn layup forced another LSU timeout with their team leading, 62-56, with 2:37 left. Tennessee got as close as 62-60 on a Cooper layup and 64-62 on a Zee Spearman layup with 44 seconds before LSU carried a 67-62 lead into the final frame.
A Spencer three began the fourth quarter in a flourish for the Lady Vols, cutting the margin to two, 67-65, with 9:41 remaining and whipping the crowd into a frenzy. After LSU built its lead back to six, 72-66, with 8:13 to go, Tennessee reeled the Tigers back in once again, getting a pair of free throws from Spearman and a three-pointer from Boyd to make it a one-point LSU lead, 72-71, with 7:19 to go. From then on, it was a back-and-forth affair, with the Big Orange tying the contest at 74 with 6:29 to go on a three by Spear and taking a 77-76 lead with 5:32 to go on a second-chance jumper in the paint and an and-one free throw by Cooper. A trey by Cooper gave her team an 82-80 edge with 3:43 to go and a Spearman layup put UT up 84-82 with 2:17 on the clock. Each time, LSU had a response, including a fast break layup by Williams that lifted her team to an 87-84 lead with 50 seconds remaining. After Spear evened the score at 87 with 32 seconds left, Gilbert’s heroics with one second left enabled her team to escape with the win.
UP NEXT: Tennessee heads to Fayetteville next to take on Arkansas on Sunday afternoon at Bud Walton Arena. The contest is slated for noon CT (1 p.m. ET) on SEC Network. Listen on 95.5FM WSMG.
