A&M goes on the offensive, whips LSU

NO. 2 TEXAS A&M 77, LSU 58

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Texas A&M Coach Gary Blair expected a letdown when his second-ranked Aggies opened the SEC Tournament after winning their first regular-season league title Sunday.

He also expected his deep, talented group to play their way out of it.

Kayla Wells had 16 points while Alexis Morris added 13 off the bench as Texas A&M pulled away to beat LSU 7758 on Friday.

It was the first game since the Aggies (23-1) beat No. 7 South Carolina 66-57 and cut down the nets in celebration of the title. Blair knew it’d be a bumpy start against LSU.

“We expected a letdown,” Blair said. “But we did not panic.”

Instead, Blair called on his bench, particularly Rutgers transfer Morris to gain a working margin and advance to the tournament semifinals for the fourth time in the past five years. They’ll play No. 16 Georgia, which topped Kentucky 78-66 later Friday.

Facing LSU (9-13) to start tournament play had to be a scary prospect for Texas A&M. Its only loss this season came to the Tigers 65-61 in overtime in January. LSU also limited the Aggies to their lowest point total of the season despite losing 54-41 in the rematch last month.

“It took us a little while to get going,” Aggies forward Ciera Johnson said. “Then we did what we needed to do.”

That happened right before halftime as Wells and Morris jump-started the offense to put away the Tigers.

Leading 24-22 with 1:54 left in the second quarter, Wells and Morris had four points apiece for a 32-26 Aggies edge at the break.

“I thought our defense really failed us today,” LSU Coach Nikki Fargas said.

Khayla Pointer had 26 points to lead the Tigers.

NO. 7 SOUTH CAROLINA 75, ALABAMA 63

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Zia Cooke scored 22 points, Aliyah Boston had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and No. 7 South Carolina withstood a late charge from Alabama.

The Gamecocks (20-4) led by 27 points halfway through the second quarter but saw most of that margin disappear down the stretch after Ariyah Copeland drew Alabama (16-9) within 66-59 with 5:07 to go.

South Carolina was running Alabama out of the building with a 12-0 start and eventually leading 39-12 before Alabama’s steady surge nearly caught the Gamecocks napping. Still, they finished things off for their 19th consecutive win over Alabama — including three this season.

NO. 14 TENNESSEE 77, MISSISSIPPI 72

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Rennia Davis had a career-high-tying 33 points and 14 rebounds and No. 14 and third-seeded Tennessee advanced to the SEC tournament semifinals for the first time in five years with a 77-72 win over 11th-seeded Mississippi on Friday night.

The Lady Volunteers (16-6) will face No. 7 and second-seeded South Carolina today.

Rae Burrell had nine of her 18 points in the fourth quarter when Tennessee outscored the Rebels 28-15.

The Lady Vols had their largest lead at 73-64 with 2:51 left. Ole Miss (11-11) scored the next six points and kept it close until Davis sealed the win on a pair of free throws with four seconds left.

Jordan Horston added 12 points for Tennessee, including a buzzer beater from beyond half court at the end of the first quarter.

NO. 16 GEORGIA 78, NO. 17 KENTUCKY 66

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Jenna Staiti and Maya Caldwell scored 20 points each and 16th-ranked Georgia beat No. 17 Kentucky.

Fourth-seeded Georgia (19-5) has won six of its last seven games.

As has been the case all season, Georgia’s four senior starters led the Lady Bulldogs’ scoring Friday with Que Morrison adding 14 points and Gabby Connally 13. Stati became the eighth player in program history to reach 1,000 career points, 500 rebounds and 150 blocks.

Georgia took off to a 13-2 lead and led the entire way. Caldwell had 13 points in the first half as the Lady Bulldogs went into the break ahead 35-20. Rhyne Howard had 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting but the rest of the Wildcats were only 3 of 20 at halftime.

The Wildcats (17-8) rebounded to score 27 points in the third quarter but still trailed by 11. Howard finished with 33 points.

TOP 25 WOMEN NO. 3 N.C. STATE 68, VIRGINIA TECH 55

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Elissa Cunane scored a season-high 27 points and had nine rebounds to help North Carolina State beat Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals.

Jada Boyd added 13 points off the bench for the second-seeded Wolfpack (18-2).

Elizabeth Kitley had 20 points and nine rebounds for the Hokies (14-9).

NO. 4 STANFORD 79, OREGON STATE 45

LAS VEGAS — Cameron Brink scored a career-high 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead No. 4 Stanford into the Pac-12 Tournament title game with a victory over Oregon State.

Brink finished 9 of 13 from the floor while adding four blocks.

Kiana Williams had 20 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists for Stanford (242). Aleah Goodman scored 12 points and Taylor Jones pulled down 13 rebounds to lead Oregon State (11-7).

NO. 5 LOUISVILLE 65, WAKE FOREST 53

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Freshman Hailey Van Lith scored a season-high 24 points and Louisville beat Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals.

Van Lith made 9 of 15 shots and hit 6 of 10 three-pointers for the Cardinals (22-2). Ivana Raca had 13 points for Wake Forest (12-12).

NO. 24 RUTGERS 71, NO. 22 OHIO STATE 63

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Arella Guirantes scored a career-high 20 points with 10 rebounds and No. 24 Rutgers (14-3, 10-3) beat 22nd-ranked Ohio State.

With the win, Rutgers secures the Big Ten’s No. 3 seed to the conference tournament which starts next week.

Braxtin Miller scored 19 points and Jacy Sheldon 15 for Ohio State (13-7, 9-7).

NO. 23 MISSOURI STATE 87, EVANSVILLE 54

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Jasmine Franklin (Fayetteville) and Sydney Wilson had 16 points apiece and Missouri State beat Evansville to open a two-game set.

The back-to-back Missouri Valley Conference regular-season champion Bears (19-2, 15-0) extended their winning streak to 15.

Abby Feit scored 16 points for Evansville (6-15, 2-14).

TOP 25 MEN NO. 20 LOYOLA-CHICAGO 73, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 49

ST. LOUIS — Freshman Jacob Hutson had 13 points and Lucas Williamson and Braden Norris each added 11 and No. 20 Loyola-Chicago earned a victory over Southern Illinois in the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

Loyola (22-4) opened the game on a 10-0 run before Anthony D’Avanzo scored the Salukis’ first basket 5:23 into the game.

The Ramblers have won three consecutive games against Southern Illinois (12-14) after sweeping a two-game set in Chicago to close out the regular season.

D’Vanzo led Southern Illinois with 18 points and freshman Dalton Banks, making his first career start in place of Jones, added 12 points.