Auburn eliminates Vanderbilt, 77-67

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Daisa Alexander and Unique Thompson powered a 17-2 run in the fourth quarter as Auburn beat Vanderbilt 77-67 on Wednesday in the opening round of the Southeastern Conference women’s basketball tournament.

Thompson was 9-of-12 from the field as she finished with 21 points and nine rebounds, and Alexander scored 19 points and had nine assists. Erin Howard added 15 points, including a career-high five 3-pointers, for Auburn (11-17).

The No. 13-seeded Tigers will take on 25th-ranked Arkansas, the tournament’s No. 5 seed, in the second round today.

Alexander and Thompson, who combined for 25 second-half points, each scored six — and Howard hit a 3 — in the decisive run as Auburn held the 12th-seeded Commodores scoreless for more than 5 1/2 minutes. Vanderbilt (14-16) missed just three shots during that stretch but committed seven turnovers, which the Tigers converted into 11 points.

Auburn finished with 31 points off 25 Commodores turnovers in the game.

Koi Love scored a career-high 26 points on 9-of-13 shooting for Vanderbilt. The freshman also had seven rebounds and seven assists, which tied her season high.

› Missouri 64, Ole Miss 53 Aijha Blackwell scored 16 points as the 11th-seeded Tigers topped the 14th-seeded Rebels and advanced to a second-round matchup against sixth-seeded Tennessee (20-9), which beat Missouri 77-66 in their only meeting during the regular season.

Missouri’s Amber Smith hit a 3-pointer and Nadia Green made one of two free throws and then a layup to make it 34-24 at the end of the second quarter. Missouri (9-21) scored 14 of the first 16 second-half points to make it 48-26 when Haley Troup hit a 3-pointer.

Mimi Reid had 15 points, five rebounds, seven assists and a career-high four steals for the 14th-seeded Rebels (7-23). Ole Miss has lost 17 in row, tied with Evansville for the second-longest active skid among Division I women’s basketball programs.

Reid made a layup to pull the Rebels within four with 2:22 left in the first half, but they missed their next 11 field-goal attempts before Jayla Alexander hit a jumper with 4:57 left in the third. Missouri shot 9-of-10 from the field during that span.