By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – If LSU head coach Kim Mulkey has learned anything about her team after the first 18 games (and wins) of the 2024-25 season, it’s a simple lesson.
Give the ball to 5-8 guard Kailyn Gilbert with the game on the line and get out of her way.
The pocket rocket transfer from Arizona hit her second game-winning drive of her inaugural season with the 6th-ranked Tigers on Thursday night, an acrobatic, twisting left-handed layup with 0.9 seconds left for an 89-87 SEC win over No. 16 Tennessee.
“I run this play all the time with Coach Mulkey,” Gilbert said. I said, `Coach, let me get the ball.’ And she was like, `I don’t know’ for a second, but then she was like `OK, I got you.’ So, I dribbled the ball, let the time run out, went to the goal, and then the rest was history.”
After Jewel Spear swished the Lady Vols’ 11th 3-pointer of the night to tie the game at 87-87 with 32 seconds left, Gilbert got a chance to steal the win for the 1½-point underdog Tigers (18-0, 3-0 SEC).
Gilbert made her move with five seconds left. She dribbled the ball left hand to right hand between her legs to get her past defender Ruby Whitehorn, got to the right edge of the free throw line, cut left into the lane and planted her left leg to jump while turning her body away from 6-5 UT center Jillian Hollingshead.
Then, she shifted the ball to her left hand and looped in a layup past Hollingshead’s fingertips.
“She was the one we wanted the last shot for,” Mulkey said of Gilbert, who scooped in a game-winning drive in traffic vs. Washington in the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Classic in November. “People will look at that (Gilbert’s game-winning drive) and go, `That’s a luck shot.’ I can assure you that wasn’t. That’s how she shoots the ball.”
While Aneesah Morrow had 23 points (19 in the first half) and 21 rebounds (the same amount as Tennessee’s starting five) and Gilbert scored 22, it was former Bossier City-Parkway star Mikaylah Williams and Flau’Jae Johnson who carried LSU in the fourth quarter after the Tigers exited the third period with a 67-62 lead.
In the final quarter, Williams scored 7 of her game-total 16 points and Johnson had 5 of her 20 points.
“Tennessee is a great team that went on many runs,” Gilbert said. “But the entire time in the huddle, we kept saying `Weather the storm, just keep our calm. No matter what’s going on in the game, no matter what’s going on in the stands, just keep your calm. So, we did that.”
Spear led the Lady Vols (13-2, 1-2 SEC) with 25 points. Talaysi Cooper added 26 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.
“It’s a very bitter pill to swallow,” said Lady Vols’ first-year head coach Kim Caldwell, whose team lost 87-86 at home to Oklahoma last Saturday. “We’re three points away from being a top 5 team in the country. We don’t want moral victories. It’s our job to put four quarters together. It’s extremely frustrating we’re not playing four quarters.”
Thursday’s game lived up to its billing with Tennessee and LSU as the nation’s No. 1 and No. 3 ranked scoring offense. The Tigers, despite having a height disadvantage inside, outscored the Lady Vols 60-30 in points in the paint and 24-14 in second-chance points to compensate for Tennessee outscoring LSU 33-3 in three-pointer points.
LSU’s biggest concern entering the game was handling the Lady Vols’ constant defensive press which had forced a nation-leading 27.64 turnovers per game.
The Tigers had just 14 turnovers and scored at least half of their 18 of 28 layups by breaking the press for quick buckets.
“We didn’t allow their pressing to bother us,” Mulkey said. “If you handle the press, you’re going to get layup after layup after layup after layup. I told our players if we take care of the ball and throw it over the top, you’re going to get those layups. That’s what got us the lead.”
The Tigers return home for a Monday night 6 p.m. league game vs. Vanderbilt. The Commodores (14-3, 1-2) lost 87-59 at Ole Miss on Thursday
Contact Ron at ronhiggins@gmail.com