BATON ROUGE, La. - Bashaara Graves made a late steal and soon after scored inside with a second left to help No. 12 Tennessee narrowly avert a second-straight upset with a 64-62 victory over LSU on Thursday night.
Coming off a stunning 80-63 loss at Missouri, Tennessee (18-5, 9-1 Southeastern Conference) trailed 62-59 after Theresa Plaisance's baseline jumper put LSU (13-10, 4-6) in position to give coach Nikki Caldwell her first victory over her alma mater in four tries.
Graves scored inside with 15 seconds left to make it 62-61.
Cierra Burdick's free throw tied it with 7 seconds left, then Graves stole the ball from LSU's Bianca Lutley. Graves' initial shot was blocked by Plaisance, but Tennessee got her the ball again underneath and her next shot rolled in.
Graves finished with 17 points, while Meighan Simmons led Tennessee with 18.
Plaisance had 20 points and nine rebounds for LSU.