El Dorado News-Times

Herbert Harrigan, South Carolina roll to SEC title

-

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Mikiah Herbert Harrigan had 15 points, Brea Beal added 12 points and 11 rebounds and No. 1 South Carolina rolled to its fifth SEC tournament title in six years, blowing out defending champion and ninth-ranked Mississipp­i State 76-62 on Sunday.

The Gamecocks (32-1) won their 26th straight and should be the No. 1 overall seed — along with the favorite — in the NCAA Tournament.

They proved their superiorit­y once more by running away — the Gamecocks led by 27 in the second half — from the usually powerful Bulldogs (27-6), who suffered their biggest defeat since falling to Tennessee 82-64 in February 2017.

Herbert Harrigan, a senior who considered transferri­ng last spring, was named tournament MVP. She had 44 points in the three games.

Tyasha Harris had 10 points and 10 assists for South Carolina. Freshman Aliyah Boston had 11 rebounds, her 16th game this season with double-figure boards.

Aliyah Matharu led Mississipp­i State with 17 points. Freshman Rickea Jackson, the team's leading scorer who had 52 points the past two tournament games, was held to nine points on 4-of-12 shooting.

IOWA STATE 57, NO. 2 BAYLOR 56

AMES, Iowa — Ashley Joens scored 15 points, including the decisive free throw with 0.9 seconds left, to help Iowa State stun Baylor, ending the Lady Bears' 58-game regular-season Big 12 winning streak.

The Lady Bears (28-2, 17-1 Big 12) last lost a conference regular-season game to Texas on Feb. 6, 2017. The streak was the sixth longest in NCAA history. Their only other loss this season came to South Carolina in November in a Thanksgivi­ng tournament.

Iowa State (18-11, 10-8) took a 56-53 lead on Joens' layup with 37 seconds left. Juicy Landrum tied the game 14 seconds later with a 3-pointer.

After timeouts by both teams, Joens was fouled with less than a second left by Didi Richards. After the officials reviewed that there was still time on the clock, Joens hit the first of the two free throws.

Ines Nezerwa and Rae Johnson each had 11 points for the Cyclones, who had lost 11 straight games to Baylor.

Richards scored 15 points and Lauren Cox added 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Lady Bears.

NO. 5 UCONN 79, SOUTH FLORIDA 39

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Megan Walker scored 21 points and No. 5 UConn beat South Florida in an American Athletic Conference tournament semifinal.

Christyn Williams added 15 points and Crystal Dangerfiel­d had 13 for the Huskies (28-3). Connecticu­t improved to 20-0 alltime in AAC tournament play after finishing 118-0 during the conference's seven regular seasons.

The Huskies are leaving the conference to return to the Big East next season.

Elena Tsineke had nine points to lead South Florida (19-13), which suffered its second blowout loss to the Huskies in less than a week.

NO. 6 MARYLAND 82, OHIO STATE 65

INDIANAPOL­IS — Stephanie Jones scored 18 points and Ashley Owusu had 17 points and 11 assists to lead Maryland past Ohio State in the Big Ten tournament championsh­ip game.

The Terrapins (28-4) won their 17th game in a row, earned the conference's automatic NCAA Tournament bid and captured their first tourney crown in three years. It's Maryland's fourth tournament title in the six years it has been a member of the league.

Dorka Juhasz scored 20 points and Kierstan Bell had 13 to lead sixth-seeded Ohio State (21-12), which ran out of steam after winning three times in the previous three days and had won four straight overall.

NO. 10 NC STATE 71, NO. 22 FLA. ST. 66

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Aislinn Konig and Elissa Cunane each scored 18 points and North Carolina State won its first Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championsh­ip in 29 years, beating Florida State.

Jakia Brown-Turner added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Wolfpack (28-4) in a tightly contested game in which neither team led by more than six points.

Kiah Gillespie had 15 points and nine rebounds for Florida State (24-8). Nausia Woolfork and Nicki Ekhomu each had 17 for the Seminoles, who have never won the ACC tourney title.

Konig was chosen the tournament's most outstandin­g player.

NO. 18 DEPAUL 83, SETON HALL 80

CHICAGO — Lexi Held scored 22 points, including a clutch corner 3, four players scored in double figures and DePaul survived a tense final few minutes to beat Seton Hall.

Depaul (27-5), the tournament's top seed, advances to Monday's championsh­ip game, facing either St. John's or Marquette.

Chante Stonewall added 18 points, making three from distance, and grabbed seven rebounds for DePaul.

Desiree Elmore led the Pirates (19-12) with 26 points on 12-for-16 shooting, adding 13 rebounds.

 ?? AP Photo/Richard Shiro ?? Mississipp­i State's Rickea Jackson (5) shoots while defended by South Carolina's Aliyah Boston (4) during a championsh­ip match at the Southeaste­rn Conference women's basketball tournament Sunday in Greenville, S.C.
AP Photo/Richard Shiro Mississipp­i State's Rickea Jackson (5) shoots while defended by South Carolina's Aliyah Boston (4) during a championsh­ip match at the Southeaste­rn Conference women's basketball tournament Sunday in Greenville, S.C.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States