Defending national champ LSU, playing without star center Angel Reese for a fourth straight game, held off a late Virginia run that got the Cavaliers within two in a 76-73 win on Saturday in the Cayman Islands.
Paris Clark led Virginia (4-2) with 19 points, with Sam Brunelle chipping in 15 and Yonta Vaughn going for 13.
Vaughn, who came off the bench in both of UVA’s two games at the event, was named to the All-Tournament team after tying for a team-best 13.5 points per game, shooting 52.6 percent from the field and 58.3 from three-point range, and averaging 5.5 assists.
Aneesah Morrow finished with a game-high 37 points on 15-of-25 shooting and pulled down 16 rebounds for LSU (7-1).
The game was tied at 38-38 at the break, and a pair of free throws from Clark gave Virginia a 54-53 lead with 1:58 left in the third.
An 11-3 LSU run got the Tigers’ lead to 10 before the Cavaliers rallied late, getting as close as 73-71 when Jillian Brown made the first of two free-throw attempts with 58 seconds left.
Brown missed the second free throw, and LSU would add to its lead with a Flau’jae Johnson free throw with 31 seconds left.
London Clarkson missed a driving layup with 22 seconds left, but Virginia snared the offensive rebound, and ran a play to get a potential game-tying three.
Brunelle missed the three with five seconds left, and Aneesah Morrow iced the game with a pair of free throws with two seconds left.
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Chris Graham
