Howard helps Kentucky eliminate Florida

NO. 17 KENTUCKY 73, FLORIDA 64

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Rhyne Howard scored 27 points, seven in the last three minutes when 17th-ranked Kentucky outscored No. 12 seed Florida 14-4 to earn a 7364 victory in the second round of the SEC Tournament on Thursday.

That ended an entertaining duel with Florida’s Kiki Smith, who scored a career-high 36 points, the ninth-highest game in tourney history.

The Wildcats (17-7) advance to face fourth-seeded Georgia in the quarterfinals today.

KeKe McKinney added 10 points and eight rebounds for Kentucky, including a key three-pointer in the closing run. The Wildcats outscored the Gators 27-15 in the fourth quarter when Howard, a junior just named SEC player of the year for the second time, also contributed three of her four assists. She had two of her four steals in the last three minutes.

Smith, who surpassed 1,000 career points in a first-round win over Auburn, also led the Gators (11-13) with nine rebounds.

She made 5 of 7 free throws while her teammates were 3 of 9 and was 3 of 6 from three-point range for a team that finished 4 of 17.

Florida took a 17-15 lead after an entertaining first quarter that saw Smith score 15 points and Howard 10. Smith had 18 and Howard 16 as the Wildcats took a 33-32 lead at the half.

Smith outscored Howard 11-2 in the third quarter and Florida regained the lead 4946 entering the fourth.

In other SEC games, Ariyah Copeland scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and seventh-seeded Alabama turned back 10th-seeded Missouri 8274. Alabama (16-8) faces second-seeded and seventh-ranked South Carolina in the quarterfinals. Missouri (9-11) weathered Alabama’s red-shot start to tie the game at 71 on Haley Troup’s three-pointer with 5:14 to play. Allie Craig Cruce answered with a three-pointer, her only points of the game and Copeland had a three-point play. Meanwhile the Tigers were just 1 of 10 to finish the game. Megan Abrams added 19 points, Jordan Lewis 16 and Hannah Barber and Jasmine Walker 11 each for Alabama. … Ryann Payne scored 17 points off the bench and eighth-seeded

LSU ended a five-game losing streak with a 71-62 win over ninth-seeded Mississippi State. The Tigers (9-12), who lost to the Bulldogs 68-59 a week earlier, earned a date with top-seeded and second-ranked Texas A&M. LSU handed the Aggies their only loss of the season, 65-61 in overtime on Jan. 14. Khayla Pointer, Coach Nikki Fargas’ niece, scored 14 points for LSU and Sarah Shematsi joined Payne to give the Tigers a huge advantage in bench points by adding 13. LSU’s reserves had a 34-15 advantage. Jessika Carter and Rickea Jackson both had 14 points for Mississippi State (10-9).

In other games involving Top 25 teams, Diamond Miller scored eight of her 17 points in the first quarter to help No. 8 Maryland start strong and Ashley Owusu had 22 points in an 88-63 victory over No. 12 Michigan that clinched a share of the Big Ten title in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Terrapins (20-2, 16-1 Big Ten) can win the conference championship outright by ending the regular season with a win against Penn State (9-13, 6-12) at home on Saturday. The Wolverines (13-4, 8-4) were led by Naz Hillmon, who had 19 points. … Ashten Prechtel had 15 points and 11 rebounds to lead Stanford to a 92-53 victory over Southern California in Las Vegas. Haley Jones and Hannah Jump each had 14 points, and Lacie Hull added 10 points for the Cardinal (23-2, 192). Alissa Pili led USC (11-12, 8-10) with nine points. … Trinity Baptiste had 13 of her 17 points in the first half, and No. 11 Arizona beat Washington State 60-44 in Las Vegas. The second-seeded Wildcats (16-4) pulled away with an 11-0 run in the third quarter capped at 42-24 on Aari McDonald’s layup with 1:42 left. Washington State got the deficit no closer than 14 the rest of the way. The No. 7 seed Cougars (12-11) had 20 of their 26 turnovers in the first half but only trailed 29-21 at the break. … Masseny Kaba scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds and Central Florida stymied No. 15 South Florida 58-45 to close the regular season. The Knights put on a defensive display, holding the Bulls to a season low in scoring as well as shooting at 25.5% (14 of 55). Brittney Smith scored 13 points, Diamond Battles 11 with seven assists and Alisha Lewis scored 10 for the Knights (14-3, 12-2). Elena Tsineke scored 15 points for USF (16-2, 13-2), which won 65-52 at home on Tuesday. … Freshman Talia von Oelhoffen had 19 points and Oregon State advanced in the Pac-12 tournament with a quarterfinal 71-64 victory over No. 19 Oregon in Las Vegas. Aleah Goodman added 13 points and seven assists for the Beavers (12-6). Taylor Mikesell had 24 points for the Ducks (13-9), who had never before played their in-state rivals in conference tournament.