LSU Lady Tigers Take Down Lady Vols Behind Dominant Second Half

The LSU Lady Tigers took down the Tennessee Lady Volunteers on Thursday, February 26th, 89-73 after a great second half performance from the Tigers.

Tennessee guard Nya Robertson (1) doesn't like the call during a women's college basketball game between the Lady Vols and Mississippi State held at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center in Knoxville, Tenn., on Jan. 29, 2026. | Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Lady Volunteers took on the LSU Lady Tigers in a primetime matchup as the Lady Vols looked to play the spoiler on LSU’s senior night. 

The Lady Vols have not been at their best lately. They lost their last four games and have lost seven of their last nine games. Still, head coach Kim Caldwell had the ladies ready to give sixth-ranked LSU all it could handle.

Lady Tigers defeat Lady Volunteers

Ole Miss vs. Tennessee head coach Kim Caldwell in a NCAA women’s college basketball game at the Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss. on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. | Bruce Newman/Special to the Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

After going down 6-10 early in the first quarter, the Lady Vols had a fantastic stretch where they went on a 9-0 run to take an early 15-10 lead. They would hold on to that lead the rest of the first quarter and led at the end of the quarter 20-16; although, it felt like a lot more since they had just gone on a run, but a late three by Jada Richard cut the lead to just four. 

The Tigers got themselves together to start the second quarter as they went on a 16-4 run. Slowly but surely, the Volunteers cut back into the lead with buckets by multiple Lady Vols, and eventually Nya Robertson hit a deep three to retake the lead with under a minute left in the quarter. LSU’s Mikaylah Williams hit a reverse layup with under 10 seconds left to end the half, and so LSU led going into halftime 43-42.

Tennessee did a good job of holding the projected 5th overall pick in the upcoming WNBA draft (per CBS Sports). Flau’jae Johnson had just three points on 1-4 shooting in the first half.

It was not a pretty half for either team with LSU head coach Kim Mulkey referring to it as looking like “rec ball,” in an interview with ESPN at halftime. 

The third quarter was not much better for the Lady Vols. After Tennessee regained the lead early in the quarter, LSU took its game to a different level. LSU retook the lead almost immediately and kept building the lead throughout the quarter, and eventually went on a 9-0 from the 4:24 mark to the 1:30 mark. By the end of the third, LSU had amassed its largest lead of the game, leading 70-59. 

The fourth quarter was very defensive, and Tennessee never really cut into LSU’s lead. The Tigers even stretched the lead out late with a few baskets late. As the final horn sounded, LSU came out on top 89-73.

Jaida Civil led the Lady Vols with 17 points off of the bench, and Nya Robertson had 14 points herself, but it was not enough. LSU was led by Mikaylah Williams as she ended the night with 20 points.

Tennessee’s turnovers were a big factor in the loss; the Lady Vols had 16 of them in the contest. Another problem was the shooting from the ladies, but it was not the three-point shooting that was the problem. In fact, Tennessee actually hit 11 threes (seven more than LSU) on 38% shooting but only shot 16-42 on two-point attempts. 

The loss was the fifth-straight for the Lady Volunteers. They have one more regular season game on Sunday against Vanderbilt at 2:00 P.M. on ESPN.