CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) -- With yet another Southeastern Conference tournament title on the line, the Tennessee Lady Vols found a way to win.

	Cynthia Hall, left, goes up for a shot as Tennessee's Semeka Randall and Kara Lawson try to defend.

Tennessee (No. 3 ESPN/USA Today; No. 2 AP) won its 10th SEC tournament title Sunday, overcoming a 12-point deficit midway through the second half to beat Mississippi State (No. 19 ESPN/USA Today; No. 17 AP) 70-67 on Sunday.

"We're down by 12, we have every opportunity to just basically quit," Tennessee coach Pat Summitt said. "That's when I called a timeout. We had a little, I guess you call, prayer meeting on the sideline. I told this team they didn't want to lose the way they were playing."

It worked.

Just more than a minute later, the Lady Vols went on a 12-2 run, and Kyra Elzy completed the comeback with two free throws with 55.2 seconds left that put Tennessee (28-3) ahead to stay.

Sharon Fanning knew a Tennessee run was coming, and the Mississippi State coach couldn't do anything to stop it. She tried to stop it with a couple of timeouts to let her Lady Bulldogs (23-7) regroup, but it wasn't enough with a Tennessee crowd of 10,687 cheering every basket.

"They fed off of that," Fanning said.

Summitt readily agreed.

"Our fans obviously they generate a lot of energy for us," she said.

Tennessee has won four of the last five tournament titles, but it looked like the Lady Bulldogs would add a third straight upset victim in their first appearance in the championship game.

Mississippi State, which knocked off Auburn (No. 15 ESPN/USA Today; No. 12 AP) and No. 2 Georgia to reach the title game, outshot the Lady Vols and led 56-44 with 8:01 remaining.

Tennesee's Michelle Snow made a basket to start the spurt, and Tamika Catchings took over with seven straight points. Gwen Jackson tied it at 60 with 3:21 to go when she stole an inbounds pass under Tennessee's basket, grabbed a rebound and scored.

The teams were tied twice more before Elzy's free throws put Tennessee ahead to stay. Angela Harris, who finished with 24 points, gave Mississippi State one last chance with her 3-pointer with 9.2 seconds left.

Semeka Randall sealed the victory with four free throws in the final 14.9 seconds, the last at the 7.9-second mark.

Catchings finished with 25 points to lead Tennessee, Randall had 17 and Snow 15.

Subbing Elzy for freshman April McDivitt midway through the second half was the big key for Tennessee. Mississippi State's veteran guard duo of Angela Harris and Cynthia Hall got McDivitt and freshman Kara Lawson into foul trouble and had no trouble shooting over the shorter Lady Vols. Elzy's defensive prowess kept Harris and Hall from penetrating.

"You have to break it down whether Elzy's up there or whoever's there," Fanning said. "You've got to get to the interior of the defense. Elzy guards you hard and makes it hard to see passes."

LaToya Thomas, the SEC's leading scorer as a freshman, nearly carried Mississippi State to its first-ever tournament title. She scored 25 points and started the Lady Bulldogs' 13-3 run to start the second half with two quick baskets, but she fouled out with 3:21 to play.

"She came out and basically held her team in it," Catchings said of Thomas. "When they needed a key basket, there she was. What more can you say? She's a great player."

Nitra Perry added 12 points for Mississippi State, which had been trying to become only the second team to win the tourney title by playing four straight games.