Reserves give South Carolina boost

NO. 1 SOUTH CAROLINA 77, OLE MISS 59

OXFORD, Miss. — Bianca Cuevas scored a career-high 21 points and No. 1 South Carolina beat Mississippi 77-59 on Sunday.

South Carolina (21-0, 9-0 SEC) got off to a slow start, trailing by nine points in the first half, before rallying to take a 36-29 halftime lead.

Cuevas, a 5-6 reserve freshman, gave the Gamecocks a spark during their first-half struggles with nine points in only 7 minutes.

Tiffany Mitchell and A’ja Wilson each scored 11 points, and Elem Ibiam and Alaina Coates had 10 apiece. South Carolina backups combined for 43 points.

Ole Miss (14-8, 4-5) has lost four consecutive. Erika Sisk and Shandricka Sessom both scored 12 points to lead the Rebels. Tia Faleru led all players with 13 rebounds.

The Gamecocks struggled to score early, shooting 10 of 26 (38.5 percent) in the first half.

They trailed for a large chunk of the half, but an 8-0 run just before halftime gave the Gamecocks the 3629 halftime advantage. South Carolina took advantage of Ole Miss’ foul trouble — the Rebels had 17 fouls in the first half.

Ole Miss managed to stay within striking distance until early in the second half. Faleru — the Rebels’ leading scorer and rebounder — went to the bench with four fouls with more than 16 minutes left in the game.

Without the 6-foot-1 senior, the Rebels didn’t have much chance to stop South Carolina’s inside game. The Gamecocks knew it, continually feeding the post for easy layups. Cuevas — who came into Sunday’s game averaging just 5.5 points — added some outside scoring.

South Carolina shot 14 of 25 (56 percent) in the second half to slowly pull away for the relatively easy victory.

NO. 10 KENTUCKY 80, NO. 21 GEORGIA 72

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Jennifer O’Neill scored 21 points to lead No. 10 Kentucky over No. 21 Georgia.

O’Neill, a senior, scored eight of Kentucky’s final 10 points, including a clutch three-pointer with 1:27 remaining to give the Wildcats a 73-72 lead. Kentucky (17-5, 6-3 SEC) overcome a furious rally by the Bulldogs in the second half.

Kentucky, coming off a 73-72 loss to sixth-ranked Tennessee, got 16 points from Makayla Epps.

Georgia (17-5, 5-4) was without leading scorer Shacobia Barbee (11.6 points per game), who broke her leg in a 59-51 loss to Tennessee last Sunday in Knoxville.

Tiaria Griffin led the Bulldogs with 23 points.

NO. 6 TENNESSEE 79, NO. 18 MISSISSIPPI STATE 67

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Cierra Burdick scored a career-high 24 points and had 8 rebounds and 6 assists.

The Lady Vols (19-3, 9-0 SEC) are 36-0 against Mississippi State (22-3, 7-3).

Bashaara Graves added 17 points, including nine consecutive during an 11-0 run early in the second half, as Tennessee won its 17th consecutive home game. Isabelle Harrison had 11 points and nine assists.

Tennessee hasn’t lost at home since falling 75-71 to Kentucky on Feb. 16, 2014.

Victoria Vivians had 17 points to lead Mississippi State.

NO. 12 TEXAS A&M 78, AUBURN 45

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Courtney Williams scored a career-high 23 points to lead Texas A&M to its 14th consecutive victory at home.

Williams was 10 of 18 from the field and had all of her points by the 9:25 mark of the second half.

Courtney Walker had 13 points and seven rebounds for Texas A&M (17-5, 5-3 SEC).

Tra’Cee Tanner and Brandy Montgomery scored 10 points apiece for Auburn (9-13, 0-9).