No. 6 LSU holds on to beat No. 19 Tennessee 82-77

BATON ROUGE, La. — Reserve Kailyn Gilbert scored 23 points, including two free throws in the final seconds, to help No. 6 LSU to an 82-77 win over No. 19 Tennessee on Sunday.

With the win, the Tigers moved into a tie for first place in the Southeastern Conference with Texas and South Carolina.

Mikaylah Williams scored 16 points, Aneesah Morrow had 14 points and 14 rebounds and Flau'Jae Johnson added 12 points for LSU (25-1, 10-1).

Ruby Whitehorn scored 21 points, Jewel Spears added 19, Talaysia Cooper had 16 and Zee Spearman 15 for the Lady Vols (17-6, 4-6), who were coming off an 80-76 victory over No. 5 UConn.

Takeaways

Tennessee: The great equalizer for the Lady Vols has been 3-pointers. Tennessee trailed 41-37 at halftime after using a 13-8 run — with Jewel Spears providing all the scoring. Tennessee finished shooting 6 of 18 from long distance. LSU was 6 for 17.

LSU: Entering Sunday's game, 63% of LSU's scoring has been by the trio of Johnson, Morrow and Williams. When two of the three got into foul trouble midway through the third period, the Tigers got Gilbert's 15 points in the quarter, including 12 in LSU's 16-10 run in the final 5:18. LSU led 62-57 entering the fourth.

Key moment

Tennessee cut LSU's lead to 78-76 with 23.9 seconds left. Whitehorn fouled Gilbert, who made two free throws with 21.8 left, and Morrow made two for an 82-76 lead with 13.7 remaining. Whitehorn made her first free throw with 11 seconds left and missed her second. Morrow rebounded to seal the win.

Key stat

LSU's bench, spurred by Gilbert, outscored the Lady Vols 36-6.

Up next

LSU plays at No. 4 Texas on Saturday. Tennessee hosts Auburn on Thursday.

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP women's college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball