GREENVILLE, S.C. — Tennessee women's basketball coach Kellie Harper called a timeout with her team down 27-10 and on the verge of getting run out of the building by fourth-ranked LSU.
"I didn't yell. I asked, 'Let's talk about where we're at right now,'" Harper said she told her struggling players. "Really asked them to dig deep and what they wanted."
The answer? To stick around the Southeastern Conference tournament a little longer.
Rickea Jackson had 26 points and fellow senior star Jordan Horston scored 17 as the third-seeded Lady Volunteers rallied from 17 points down to upset the second-seeded Tigers and make the SEC title game for the first time since 2015.
"We just had better focus," said Harper, who is in her fourth season as head coach at her alma mater. "You just get a little momentum."
Jackson and Horston both had double-doubles, each with 10 rebounds in the improbable comeback.
LSU (28-2) seemed in control even at halftime, up 40-26 with Alexis Morris and Angel Reese leading the way. But Tennessee (23-10), behind Horston and Jackson, steadily reeled in the Tigers, who had beaten the Lady Vols in their lone regular-season meeting 76-68 on Jan. 30 in Baton Rouge.
The Lady Vols will face regular-season champion South Carolina at 3 p.m. Sunday for the league tourney title. ESPN will televise the game.
Jackson's basket tied it at 56 with 6:40 remaining in the fourth quarter, and Horston followed with two straight jumpers to give Tennessee its first lead at 60-58 with 5:12 to play.
The Tigers got within 68-67 when Morris stole the ball and scored on a breakaway layup with 1:24 left. They had the ball in the final 15 seconds when Reese was called for an offensive foul on her drive to the basket.
"I thought we were shooting two," LSU coach Kim Mulkey said.
After Tess Darby made one of two free throws for Tennessee, the Tigers got a final chance. But a 35-foot attempt by Morris was off target as the buzzer sounded.
The Lady Vols stormed the court and jumped around in celebration. They'll have to collect themselves quickly and refocus to face the undefeated Gamecocks for the trophy.
"It feels good," Horston said of reaching the SEC final, "but the job is not done."
Reese finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds her 28th double-double in 30 games this season. Her six made free throws gave her 204 this season to break LSU's single-season mark set by Maree Jackson in 1977-78.
Morris, who scored 20 points for the Tigers, said her teammates have to focus on what's ahead and not what happened at the SEC tournament.
"They probably won't like me for the next week," Morris said of her plans to get LSU on track for what she hopes is a deep NCAA tournament run. "I am one of the players who can make my team better. We needed more tonight from certain players, certain people, and we'll get it out of them this week coming up."
The Lady Vols may have improved their chance to be a top-four seed in the 68-team bracket and a host in the first two rounds. The team was not among the top 16 teams in the last NCAA reveal, but this could push them up a line.
Beating reigning national champion South Carolina would be even bigger.
The Gamecocks have owned the series with the Lady Vols in recent years, winning six of the past seven meetings.
South Carolina 80, Ole Miss 51
Laeticia Amihere scored 17 points and Aliyah Boston posted her 80th career double-double to lead South Carolina into the SEC tournament final for the eighth time in nine seasons.
Boston had 10 points and 11 rebounds as the top-seeded Gamecocks (31-0) won their 37th straight game.
Fourth-seeded Ole Miss (23-8) didn't prove to be much of a roadblock. South Carolina needed a great escape at Ole Miss just two weeks earlier, trailing late before forcing overtime and keeping its perfect season intact with a 64-57 victory.
The Gamecocks took the drama out of this one early, with Zia Cooke and Boston getting four points apiece and Brea Beal adding a three-point play for a 13-4 lead less than seven minutes in. They stretched the lead to 15 points by halftime and were ahead by at least 20 points much of the final two quarters.
Boston, who surpassed Sheila Foster's school career double-double mark earlier this season, broke Foster's career rebounding record of 1,427 that stood for more than four decades. Boston now has 1,432 in her four seasons.
South Carolina will try to win its seventh tournament crown since 2015, along with a bit of redemption since its most recent loss came in last year's SEC final in Nashville.