CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) -- Tennessee coach Pat Summitt would rather not praise Michelle Snow until after the Southeastern Conference tournament. Push her, and the compliments pour out.

"The only other player I've had that could shoot the basketball like that was a young lady named Chamique Holdsclaw," Summitt said, comparing the sophomore to the four-time All-America selection.

	April McDivitt led the victorious Vols with three assists.

Snow hit her first six shots and finished with 20 points Saturday night in helping the Lady Vols (No. 3 ESPN/USA Today, No. 2 AP) beat Vanderbilt 61-53 in the SEC tournament semifinals and reach the title game for a third straight year.

"In terms of elevation, she can just turn and elevate and shoot over people. You don't see much of that in the women's game. She can get open looks. Obviously, she's been hot the last two days," Summitt said of Snow, who scored 19 in the quarterfinals.

The Lady Vols (27-3) will face Mississippi State, a 62-61 upset winner over Georgia. The Vols will be trying to win their 10th SEC tournament championship Sunday.

The 6-foot-5 Snow had struggled for much of the season against more physical post players. Summitt said she takes the blame for that because she wanted Snow to stay close to the basket. But they changed recently and are moving Snow around.

"Michelle's never going to be a physical player. She can be an aggressive player. She has great mobility, and she's learned to use that," Summitt said.

Snow credited Summitt with telling her to shoot the ball more instead of passing it away after she had a few points. It didn't hurt that she had a bunch of relatives in the stands watching, which Snow called opportunity, not pressure.

"Coach said you always got to look at it positively," Snow said.

Vanderbilt (20-12) was in the semifinals for the first time since 1995 when the Commodores won the tournament by beating instate rival Tennessee. But the Commodores haven't beaten the Lady Vols since then and had to face them for the third time in 29 days.

Snow took away any hopes of an upset in the opening minutes as Tennessee won for the 12th straight time in the series.

Snow hit jumpers from all over the court and keyed a 13-2 run with eight points. Her 3-footer with 13:30 to go made it 15-4, and Vandy didn't get to within eight until it was too late.

"It's how you start the game, and young kids understand that at this point of the season," Vandy coach Jim Foster said.

Tennessee, which has won more SEC tourney games than any other school, led 36-23 at halftime and built that to as much as 54-39 with 7:24 to go on a bucket by Semeka Randall.

The Lady Vols survived a nearly four-minute stretch without a point in the second half when Vandy could only get a one basket from Zuzi Klimesova. They had a chance to get closer inside the final five minutes. Jillian Danker hit a jumper to get within 56-46 with 4:43 left and then scored on the next possession only to have the basket nullified by a charge.

Tamika Catchings added 12 points for Tennessee.

Chantelle Anderson led Vanderbilt with 19 points, and Klimesova finished with 13.