Tolefree, Ramirez rally Arkansas' women to OT victory at Missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Amber Tolefree scored a career-high 35 points and Taylah Thomas made two free throws with 7.2 seconds left in overtime as No. 25 Arkansas rallied to beat Missouri 85-81 on Sunday, erasing a 13-point deficit in the last five minutes of regulation.

Tolefree had 14 points and Amber Ramirez, who finished with 24, had seven in the fourth quarter when the Razorbacks outscored the Tigers 23-15.

After Missouri's Aijha Blackwell opened the scoring in overtime, Chelsea Dungee and Ramirez hit jumpers and Tolefree had a pair of free throws for an 80-76 lead with 2:08 to play.

Blackwell cut it to one with 19.4 seconds to go but after A'tyanna Gaulden made 1 of two free throws at 17.4, the Tigers missed a contested inside shot, allowing Thomas to seal the game after grabbing her ninth rebound.

Arkansas (18-4, 6-3 Southeastern Conference) beat the Tigers 90-73 on Jan. 12 when Dungee scored 38 points. In the five games since she has scored 46 points on 14-of61 shooting, including the 2 for 18 and six points on Sunday.

Amber Smith scored 22 points and was one of three to grab nine rebounds for the Tigers (5-17, 2-7), who had a 12-0 run in the first quarter for a lead that stood up until a Ramirez layup with 1:59 left in the fourth quarter. Blackwell and Hayley Frank added 14 apiece. Missouri had a 35-22 rebounding advantage but had 20 turnovers.

LSU 59, Texas A&M 58

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Khayla Pointer scored nine of her 18 points in the fourth quarter and Jailin Cherry hit two free throws with 4.3 seconds left and LSU beat No. 15 Texas A&M for the second time, pulling out a 59-58 victory on Sunday.

After Cherry's free throws made it 59-55, Kayla Wells hit a 3-pointer from the left corner with 2.1 seconds left. Cherry was fouled before any time went off the block and she missed both free throws but Faustine Aifuwa grabbed the offensive rebound to clinch the game.

Aifuwa scored 18 points and grabbed a careerhigh 16 rebounds to help the Tigers (16-5, 6-3 Southeastern Conference) overcome the loss of Ayana Mitchell with a left knee injury late in the first half. Mitchell, who had two rebounds to surpass 900 for her career, got tangled up with an Aggie going for a rebound and left the game at 2:16 of the second quarter with LSU leading 26-17. Mitchell averages 14.4 points and 9.1 rebounds and was second in the nation shooting 68.7%.

Wells and Aaliyah Wilson scored 18 points apiece for the Aggies and N'dea Jones added 12 points and 12 rebounds. Wilson hit a half-court shot at the end of the third quarter for a 43-42 lead after trailing 26-19 at the half.

Chennedy Carter sprained her ankle in Texas A&M's (18-4, 6-3) 57-54 loss to LSU on Jan. 9 and is still out. The Aggies lost their next game but had won four straight since then.

LSU has four wins against Top 15 teams this season.

No. 1 So. Carolina 60, No. 22 Tennessee 48

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Zia Cooke thinks communication is the key to South Carolina's tough defense.

All that talking worked out quite well on Sunday.

Cooke scored 20 points, and the top-ranked Gamecocks clamped down on No. 22 Tennessee for a 69-48 victory.

South Carolina (21-1, 9-0 Southeastern Conference) earned its 15th straight win. Cooke posted her fourth game with at least 20 points, and fellow freshmen Aliyah Boston and Brea Beal also helped with the Gamecocks' impressive defensive performance. “I think communication is something that's helping us out a lot," Cooke said. “At practice we go hard and whenever we go hard at practice it helps us out in the game as well."

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley likes how her freshman class, rated No. 1 in the country, is developing.

“They are just super competitive young ladies who don't like to lose," Staley said.

Tennessee (17-5, 7-2) had a season-low 23 points in the first half. The Lady Vols shot just 34.6% (18 of 52) for the game and finished with 21 turnovers.

Rennia Davis had 18 points and 10 rebounds for Tennessee, which lost its eighth straight to a No. 1 opponent since defeating LSU in 2005.

“They play with great poise," Tennessee coach Kellie Harper said. “”Yet they're very aggressive."

South Carolina got a temporary scare in the third quarter when Boston hobbled off the court. The Gamecocks' leading scorer and rebounder came back to the bench with her right knee heavily wrapped, and Staley patted the freshman on the head as the final period began.

Boston, who joked and chatted with teammates in the fourth, finished with 10 points, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Staley said Boston would be fine and she would have gone back in if the Gamecocks were playing a championship game.

The Lady Vols cut a 15-point halftime lead to 38-29 in the third quarter. But Boston had a basket and four foul shots to re-establish South Carolina's lead.

Florida 60, No. 13 Kentucky 62

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Freshman Lavender Briggs scored nine of her 18 points in a 25-5 fourth-quarter blitz that rallied Florida to a 70-62 win over No. 13 Kentucky on Sunday.

Playing their second-straight game without star Rhyne Howard, who has a broken finger, the Wildcats scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to take a 51-43 lead.

Briggs started the comeback with a 3-pointer at the 7:14 mark and her 3 at 5:12 put the Gators up 54-53. She added a layup then hit a her free throw with 59 seconds left for a 68-56 lead.

Florida (12-10, 3-6 Southeastern Conference), which ended a five-game losing streak, beat a ranked team for the first time in eight tries this season. The Gators were 8-of-14 shooting in the fourth quarter, making 4 of 6 beyond the arc, but were only 7 of 13 from the foul line.

Briggs, who had a streak of 14 straight double-figure games end when the Gators lost to Kentucky 65-45 on Jan. 12, was just 7-of-20 shooting but had a career-high 13 rebounds and six assists.