Lady Vols reach SEC semifinals
GREENVILLE, S.C. — There will be a rematch.
Tennessee rallied, then held on for a 77-72 win against Ole Miss on Friday night in the last quarterfinal of the Southeastern Conference women’s basketball tournament, setting up a semifinal meeting today with South Carolina, which passed its own survival test in a 75-63 win against Alabama.
Georgia and Texas A&M will meet in the day’s first semifinal at 4 p.m., with the second semifinal set to begin 25 minutes after that one ends.
Rennia Davis had 33 points and 14 rebounds to lead 14th-ranked and third-seeded Tennessee (16-6), while Rae Burrell added 18 points with seven rebounds and Jordan Horston 12 points with five assists for the Lady Volunteers, who trailed 41-37 at halftime. Donnetta Johnson scored 20 points to pace the 11th-seeded Rebels (11-11).
On Feb. 18, the Lady Vols beat South Carolina 75-67 in Knoxville when the Gamecocks were ranked second.
› South Carolina 75, Alabama 63
GREENVILLE, S.C. — Zia Cooke scored 22 points, and Aliyah Boston added 16 with 13 rebounds as the seventh-ranked, second-seeded Gamecocks withstood a late charge seventh-seeded Alabama.
The Gamecocks (20-4) led by 27 points halfway through the second quarter, but most of that margin disappeared down the stretch after Ariyah Copeland drew the Crimson Tide (16-9) within 66-59 with 5:07 to go.
However, Destanni Henderson followed with her third 3-pointer and Cooke added a bucket to build back the double-digit edge as South Carolina advanced to the tournament semifinals for the sixth time in seven years.
South Carolina was running Alabama out of the building with a 12-0 start and eventually led 39-12 before the Tide’s steady surge nearly caught the Gamecocks napping. Still, they finished things off for their 19th straight win over Alabama, including three this season.
› Georgia 78, Kentucky 66
Maya Caldwell and Jenna Staiti scored 20 points each as 16th-ranked, fourth-seeded Georgia beat 17th-ranked, fifth-seeded Kentucky for its sixth win in seven games, with the lone loss in that stretch a 62-58 home defeat to the Wildcats a little more than a week earlier.
As has been the case all season, Georgia’s four senior starters — all pursuing master’s degrees — led the scoring for the Lady Bulldogs (19-5), with Que Morrison adding 14 points and Gabby Connally 13. Besides Stati becoming the eighth player in program history to reach 1,000 career points, 500 rebounds and 150 blocks, she posted her ninth double-double this season and the 16th of her career.
Georgia took off to a 13-2 lead and never trailed, heading into halftime up 35-20.
Two-time reigning SEC player of the year Rhyne Howard scored the final 13 points for the Wildcats (17-8), with the Bradley Central High School graduate’s last basket getting them within eight. She finished with 33 points, matching her season high and moving her into seventh in program history with 1,613 career points. Chasity Patterson added 11 for Kentucky.
Georgia scored 21 points off turnovers and went 23-of-29 on free throws to Kentucky’s 7-of-10.
› Texas A&M 77, LSU 58 Kayla Wells scored 16 points and Alexis Morris added 13 off the bench as the top-seeded Aggies (23-1) — the nation’s second-ranked team — opened their time at the SEC tournament by earning their fourth league semifinal berth in five years.
LSU (9-13) beat Texas A&M 65-61 in overtime in January, and the Tigers also limited the Aggies to their lowest point total of the season despite losing 54-41 in the rematch last month. It took until just before halftime for the Aggies to find the offense to put away the eighth-seeded Tigers this time.
With Texas A&M ahead 24-22 with 1:54 left in the second quarter, Morris and Wells had four points apiece for a 32-26 edge at the break. The Aggies duo was at it again in the third, when Wells had five points and Morris seven as the Aggies pushed the margin to 49-38.
LSU could not respond and failed to advance past the quarterfinals for the sixth straight season. Khayla Pointer had 26 points to lead the Tigers.