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Kailyn Gilbert hits buzzer beater, gifts LSU victory over Tennessee

Wade-Peeryby:Wade Peeryabout 15 hours
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Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images

The LSU women’s basketball team won a stunner on Thursday night over the Tennessee Volunteers. And they got some late game heroics from Kailyn Gilbert when they needed them most. Gilbert drained a circus shot with 0.7 seconds left to lift LSU to an 89-87 victory.

The No. 6 Tigers defeated the No. 16 Volunteers on Thursday night in Knoxville. Tennessee’s Zee Spearman had a good look, but missed a short jumper that would have sent the game to overtime. The Lady Vols (13-2 overall, 1-2 SEC) took their second close loss in five days to a Top 10 team. Aneesah Morrow had 23 points and 21 rebounds to lead the Tigers, who currently sit at 18-0 overall and 3-0 in the SEC. Flau’Jae Johnson had 20 points and Mikaylah Williams had 16 points for LSU.

LSU attempted just eight three-pointers, drilling one of those. The Tigers will host Vanderbilt on Monday and Tennessee will play against Arkansas on Sunday.

The Tigers will have a highly anticipated showdown with the South Carolina Gamecocks on Thursday, Jan. 23rd. That one is slated for 8:00 PM EST and the game will be nationally televised on ESPN. Another big one for LSU will come on Sunday, Feb. 16th, when they face off against the No. 5 Texas Longhorns.

LSU climbed to No. 5 in the women’s AP poll for the first time since the 2009 season. After leading the Tigers to a 26-6 season her first year at LSU, Kim Mulkey has continued to build momentum in Baton Rouge. The Tigers currently have the nation’s top-ranked scoring offense and the second ranked scoring defense. With their win over Kentucky on Sunday, LSU moved to 16-0, giving them the best start in program history, passing the 2002-2003 team that started out 15-0. They remain as one of the only undefeated teams in women’s college hoops.

Their average margin of victory had been more than 39 points per game leading up to Thursday, which led the nation. Before Thursday night, they had won their four SEC games by an average of 27 points per outing.