BATON ROUGE, La. -- Kelley Cain and Glory Johnson scored 19 points each to lead Tennessee (No. 6 ESPN/USA Today, No. 5 AP) to a 73-65 victory over LSU on Sunday in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams.
Kamiko Williams added 13 points for the Lady Vols (13-2), who didn't hit a 3-pointer for the first time in 422 games. They were 0-for-7 from behind the arc, marking the first time since Jan. 21, 1999 that they didn't hit a 3. Tennessee won that game too, beating Florida.
LaSandra Barrett scored 15 points while Jeanne Kenney added 11 for LSU (10-5). Courtney Jones had 10.
The Lady Vols led 37-35 before going on a 12-0 run early in the second half to break the game open. Meighan Simmons hit four free throws and Cain and Johnson combined for the other eight points during the spurt.
LSU responded as Kenney hit three 3-pointers in a 3-minute span to draw the Lady Tigers within 51-44 with 10:16 left.
They were able to get as close as five points three different times -- the last coming with 5:46 left on Shanece McKinney's turnaround. Tennessee built a 68-56 lead on Simmons' driving bank shot with 1:19 to go and Williams scored seven of her 13 points over the last four minutes of the game.
Johnson scored six of her 13 first-half points during an 11-0 run that enabled Tennessee to turn a six-point deficit into a 27-20 lead with 5:33 left before halftime.
The Lady Vols extended the advantage to 35-25 on Alicia Manning's putback with 1:45 left. LSU closed to 35-29 at the half.
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