The Lady Gamecocks (21-3, 9-2 Southeastern) led 27-26 before Gortman and Tatyana Troina keyed a 14-2 run that put the game out of reach.

Gortman's jumper made it 30-26 and Troina, South Carolina's main long-range threat, closed things with a four-point play and a 3-pointer to make it 41-28 with 14:19 remaining.

Alabama (15-9, 5-6) made one last charge, getting to 45-42 with 8:46 to go on Monique Bivins' second 3-pointer. But Gortman scored the next four points to start an 11-2 run for the Lady Gamecocks.

Gortman was 10-of-16 from the field, finishing a point shy of her season high.

The Crimson Tide had come in off two straight wins, including a 92-86 victory over then-No. 25 Mississippi State on Feb. 7. But they could never find their rhythm at the Carolina Coliseum.

Alabama missed its first seven shots and trailed 10-0 nearly nine minutes into the game.

The Crimson Tide had 20 turnovers. Leading scorer Shondra Johnson, averaging 15 points coming in, did not score in the first half and ended with eight points on 3-of-11 shooting.

Jocelyn Penn, the SEC's fourth-leading scorer added 16 points. But 10 of those came in the final three minutes when the game had been decided.

Christina Ciocan scored 13 points and Troina 12 for the Lady Gamecocks.

After Alabama dug itself out of its early hole to tie things at 16-all, Gortman scored the last six points of the half for the Lady Gamecocks, including a 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds left to give them a 27-21 lead at the break.

No. 3 Tennessee 80, Mississippi State 78
STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) -- Kara Lawson hit a pull-up jumper from just inside the foul line at the buzzer to give No. 3 Tennessee a 80-78 victory over Mississippi State on Thursday night.

Lawson scored 29 points, including a 3-pointer to tie it with 35 seconds left.

Tennessee (21-3, 10-1 Southeastern) improved to 19-0 against Mississippi State, but none was tougher than this.

The Lady Bulldogs (16-9, 7-5) led most of the way behind their high-scoring duo of LaToya Thomas and Tan White. Thomas, the SEC's leading scorer, had 31 points, and White added 24.

But the Lady Vols made the last run with Lawson and Brittany Jackson, who had 24 points -- including 4-of-8 shooting from 3-point range -- to spark the comeback.

Jackson got a friendly bounce on a 3-pointer with 3:20 left to give the Lady Vols their first lead since the opening minutes at 73-72.

Thomas broke a 5 1/2-minute field goal drought for the Lady Bulldogs and was fouled on a power move to the basket to reclaim the lead for Mississippi State, but she missed the free throw.

Jackson scored off an offensive rebound to put Tennessee up 75-74, but the Lady Bulldogs got baskets by Keisha Stringfellow and Thomas to go up 78-75 with 50 seconds left.

Again, the rims were kind to Tennessee. Lawson's leaning 3 bounded off iron and in to tie it at 78.

Thomas had a chance to put Mississippi State in front again but missed a 9-foot jumper with about 10 seconds left.

That gave Lawson the last look after a timeout with 6 seconds left. The junior guard went one-on-one and shook off a defender. After swishing her shot, Lawson sprinted a victory lap around the court.

Two years ago as a freshman, Lawson hit a game-winning 3 in the closing seconds to beat Mississippi State at Humphrey Coliseum 79-75.

White had 20 points in a spectacular first half in which the freshman used an array of spin moves, crossovers and a pinpoint jumper.

White led the Lady Bulldogs on an 11-0 run in the first half that gave Mississippi State a 14-point lead. She scored five points and handed out two dazzling assists to Thomas on the fastbreak.

Lawson scored 18 points in the first half to keep the Lady Vols from getting buried by the Thomas and White show. Mississippi State shot 60 percent in the first half and led 47-34 at the break.

No. 6 Vanderbilt 77, LSU 60
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Chantelle Anderson had 23 points and eight rebounds as sixth-ranked Vanderbilt used a decided height advantage to beat LSU 77-60 Thursday night.

LSU didn't have an answer for the 6-foot-6 Anderson, who leads the nation in field-goal percentage at 65.8. The Tigers have only two players over 6 feet, compared to four of Vanderbilt's five starters.

Anderson started off slow, hitting only 50 percent from the field in the first half as the Commodores (22-5, 8-3 Southeastern) struggled to hang on against LSU (13-9, 6-5). The Tigers, led by junior center Aiysha Smith, who had 23 points, capitalized on poor shooting and turnovers by Vanderbilt to stay within two points for most of the half.

But the Commodores grabbed back-to-back offensive rebounds to hold on to the ball more than 1 1/2 minutes late in the half, using the time to help Anderson find her shot. She was fouled on a layup with 1:45 remaining and made the free throw to put Vanderbilt up 31-26.

Vanderbilt led 36-26 at the break, and would never trail again. The closest LSU got was nine points on a three-point play by Smith with 16:04 remaining.

Rebounds proved key, with Vanderbilt grabbing 37 to just 23 for LSU.

The win was the Commodores' fifth straight over the Tigers. Vanderbilt leads the series 12-10.

Vanderbilt now takes its three-game winning streak into Saturday's rematch in Knoxville with third-ranked Tennessee. The Commodores handed the Lady Vols their first loss in Nashville in more than 11 years earlier this month.

Anderson finished 8-of-13 from the field, and hit 7-of-8 from the free throw line. Zuzi Klimesova and Jillian Danker rounded out double-figures scorers for Vanderbilt with 14 points each.

The loss was the second straight for the Lady Tigers, who fell to Arkansas on Sunday.

Temeka Johnson finished added 10 points for LSU.

No. 14 Florida 81, Kentucky 59
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Vanessa Hayden blocked seven shots to set a school record, scored 17 points and pulled down 14 rebounds to lead No. 14 Florida to an 81-59 victory Thursday night over Kentucky.

Those blocks give Hayden the Gators' record for a season with 107. The national record is 151 by Michelle Wilson of Texas Southern in 1989.

Without enough size to match up against Hayden and Florida (17-7, 7-4 Southeastern), the Wildcats (8-16, 1-11) were forced to foul. SeSe Helm led Kentucky with 22 points. Monique Cardenas led Florida with 18 points.

Kentucky committed eight fouls in the first half to Florida's one, and the Gators reached the bonus point in the second half after committing only two fouls of their own.

Courtney Cooper had 15 and 14 rebounds for Florida.

Rita Adams added 13 points for Kentucky.