Lady Dawgs, Kentucky reach SEC quarterfinals
GREENVILLE, S.C. — Diamond Battles scored 14 of her 18 points in the second quarter, Alisha Lewis had a careerhigh 12 assists with eight points and five steals, and No. 7 seed Georgia eased past No. 10 seed Auburn 63-47 in the second round of the Southeastern Conference women’s basketball tournament Thursday.
Georgia (21-10) moves on to Friday’s quarterfinals to face fourth-ranked, secondseeded LSU (27-1), which won the teams’ lone regularseason meeting on Feb. 2, when Angel Reese had 23 points and 14 rebounds in an 82-77 overtime victory in Baton Rouge. The Lady Bulldogs have won eight of their past 10 games, with the losses in that stretch to LSU and top-ranked South Carolina.
Battles missed her first four shots against Auburn (15-14) before settling down to help Georgia take a 38-27 lead. Lewis set her career high in the first half with nine assists.
Georgia shot 1-for-13 from the field in the third quarter with seven turnovers but led 47-35 entering the fourth as Auburn went scoreless in the final four minutes of the third.
Aicha Coulibaly scored 13 points and Sydney Shaw added 12 for the Tigers, who shot just 32% with 18 turnovers. › Kentucky 71, Alabama 58 The Wildcats (12-18), who are the reigning SEC tournament champions but also the lowest seed in this year’s 14-team bracket, added to a chaotic first two days in Greenville with their upset of No. 6 seed Alabama (20-10).
A day after taking down No. 11 seed Florida in a first-round game with four ejections for each team due to a first-half scuffle, Kentucky again looked past its regular-season struggles and sent the Crimson Tide home quickly.
Jada Walker scored 24 points with seven assists and Maddie Scherr added 19 points with six blocks for Kentucky, which will face No. 3 seed Tennessee (21-10) in Friday’s last quarterfinal. The Lady Volunteers beat the Wildcats 83-63 on Sunday in Lexington to close the regular season.
Aaliyah Nye’s 15 points led Alabama.
› Texas A&M 79, Mississippi State 72
Sydney Bowles made six 3-pointers for the second straight day, scoring 19 points to lead the 13th-seeded Aggies (9-19) past fifth-seeded Mississippi State (20-10).
Bowles starred in Wednesday’s 77-70 first-round win against Vanderbilt by making half of her 12 shots from long range, but she was more efficient this time, going 6-for-8 from behind the arc. Aaliyah Patty added 15 points and Jada Malone had 12 for the Aggies, who lost to the Bulldogs twice during the regular season by a combined 34 points.
The Aggies, the first 13th seed to reach the SEC quarterfinals in tourney history, will take on No. 4 seed Ole Miss (22-7) in Friday’s second game.
Jessika Carter scored 18 points to lead Mississippi State, which led 25-19 after the first quarter behind 10 points from Carter but was down 37-30 at halftime after the Aggies scored the first 16 points of the second quarter.
› Arkansas 85, Missouri 74 Chrissy Carr set career highs with six 3-pointers and 34 points as the eighth-seeded Razorbacks (21-11) rallied to beat ninthseeded Missouri (17-13) and earn a daunting challenge in the quarterfinals, where they’ll face reigning national champion South Carolina (29-0) at noon Friday.
The top-seeded Gamecocks will return to the court for the first time since Sunday’s home win against Georgia to finish a regular season undefeated for the first time in program history.
Handing them that first loss is likely to be a tall order for the Razorbacks. In the first Arkansas-South Carolina matchup this season on Jan. 22, the host Gamecocks won 92-46 and set an NCAA record with their plus-57 advantage in rebounds, 74-17.
Against the Tigers, Arkansas trailed by 11 points with 51 seconds left in the third quarter, but Carr closed the period with a 3 and the Razorbacks started the fourth on a 21-3 run, including 16 straight points. Missouri went 6:37 without scoring in the fourth, and Arkansas made 10 free throws in the final 90 seconds to secure the victory.