GREENSBORO, N.C. — The Lady Vols lost their first game in the last minute.

NC State took the lead with 46 seconds left and got the ball back after a miss from the Lady Vols. The Wolfpack held the ball until there were two seconds left thanks to an offensive rebound, going up three following an intentional foul.

Tennessee couldn’t get the ball in clean and was forced into a heave, resulting in an 80-77 season-opening loss.

"We have a lot of things we can fix," Tennessee head coach Kim Caldwell said. "We can get a lot better, and we know where we're at."

The No. 8 Lady Vols started the year with a test against the No. 9 Wolfpack, one that it did not pass. Talaysia Cooper scored 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the losing effort, leading all scorers.

Tennessee was even on the boards with NC State as each team grabbed 48 rebounds. Caldwell wants to see a lot more from her team in that area.

"I was not pleased with any of it," Caldwell said. "They have a (6-foot-6) center, but in (Southeastern Conference) play, you're going to have to find a way to go get it. We're going to show a lot of those clips of us just not crashing."

Vanderbilt transfer Khamil Pierre led the Wolfpack with 21 points and 14 rebounds. With guarding the junior being a focus entering the game, Caldwell was very disappointed with the effort against her.

"She's one of the best players in the country," Caldwell said. "She hit some really tough shots where we did a really good job defensively, and she had some that were wide open."

NC State was able to hang with the Lady Vols for most of the first quarter. A 50% shooting effort and just one turnover gave the Wolfpack a five-point lead with under a minute to go in the opening frame.

Then, Tennessee’s run came. Cooper scored the final four points of the first quarter, and the Lady Vols scored eight straight to start the second for a 12-0 run and forcing an NC State timeout. Cooper scored 17 in the first half to take a four-point lead into the break.

Toward the end of the first half, Janiah Barker was called for a technical foul after celebrating a 3-pointer toward the NC State bench. The officials told Caldwell the technical was called for taunting.

The Lady Vols got the first three points out of halftime, but NC State went on a run after that. A 16-2 run gave the Wolfpack an eight-point lead, prompting a timeout from Caldwell. Tennessee responded to cut NC State’s lead to just one with 10 minutes to go.

Both teams started the fourth quarter slowly on offense but picked up as it went. Barker made a three to give Tennessee a late lead, but the Lady Vols immediately gave up a jumper with two minutes left to hand back the advantage.

Mia Pauldo's layup with 54 seconds left gave the Lady Vols the lead before a fast-break basket from Pierre gave NC State a lead it wouldn't give up.

Jaida Civil scored 13 points in her NCAA debut against a top-10 team. Mia Pauldo added 10 points on 4-for-12 shooting, making one of her eight 3-point attempts.

The purpose of scheduling top-10 games early in the season is to learn about a team. The Lady Vols learned a lot of places for potential improvement to meet their goals.

"If we buckle down and fix the things that we need to," Caldwell said, "and there were some really eye-opening things that we need to get under control, then we'll get 15 points better from this loss."