STANFORD, Calif. — Talaysia Cooper made a go-ahead layup with six seconds left while finishing off a 19-point performance with a career-high 10 steals as Tennessee forced 30 turnovers, and the 19th-ranked Lady Volunteers beat Stanford 65-62 on Wednesday night in the first matchup in nearly three years between the storied national powers in women’s college basketball.
Stanford’s Lara Somfai missed two free throws with 13 seconds left and the Cardinal trailing 62-60, but teammate Nunu Agara rebounded the second shot and hit a putback basket to tie the game at 62 with 11 seconds on the clock.
The Lady Vols (6-2) set up Cooper’s layup after a timeout, Agara missed a driving layup with two seconds to go, and Tennessee’s Nya Robertson made the second of two free throws for the final margin at the end of the game.
Agara’s 3-pointer with 1:13 remaining pulled Stanford within 62-60, and she finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds as former coach Tara VanDerveer watched from the stands. VanDerveer, a member of both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, led the program to NCAA Division I tournament titles in 1990, 1992 and 2021 before retiring after the 2023-24 season.
Kate Paye’s first season as Stanford’s head coach produced a 16-15 overall record and an 8-10 mark in Atlantic Coast Conference play as the Cardinal failed to make the NCAA tourney for the first time since 1987, but she had them off to an 8-1 start going into Wednesday’s matchup with Tennessee.