Carr scores 34, Arkansas rallies by Missouri in SEC Tournament
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Chrissy Carr set career-highs with six 3-pointers and 34 points and No. 8 seed Arkansas rallied to beat ninth-seeded Missouri 85-74 on Thursday to advance to the SEC Tournament quarterfinals.
Arkansas (21-11) will take on the No. 1 team in the country South Carolina on Friday. The Gamecocks set a NCAA record in the first meeting, a 92-46 win on Jan. 22, with a plus-57 advantage on the boards.
Arkansas trailed by 11 points with 51 seconds left in the third quarter. But Carr closed the third with a 3-pointer and the Razorbacks started the fourth on a 21-3 run, including 16 straight points. Makayla Daniels made two 3-pointers during the run — the first to tie it at 67-all and the second for a fivepoint lead.
Missouri went 6:37 without scoring in the fourth quarter and Arkansas made 10 free throws in the final 90 seconds to secure it.
Samara Spencer finished with 19 points and Daniels added 17 points for Arkansas. Carr entered averaging just 11.4 points per game — with a season-high 22 points coming against Little Rock on Nov. 20. Carr also had three games this season with five 3-pointers.
Lauren Hansen scored 19 points, Hayley Frank added 14 and SaraRose Smith had 13 for Missouri (17-13).
Arkansas has won 10 straight in the series, including a 61-33 victory earlier this month for the least defensive points allowed in a SEC game in program history. Missouri's last win against Arkansas came on Feb. 28, 2019.
TEXAS A&M 79, MISSISSIPPI STATE 72
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Sydney Bowles made six 3-pointers for the second straight day in scoring 19 points to lead 13th-seeded Texas A&M to a win over fifth-seeded Mississippi State in the second round of the SEC Tournament.
Bowles followed up her six 3s against Vanderbilt by going 6 of 8 from the arc. Aaliyah Patty added 15 points and Jada Malone added 12 for the Aggies (9-19), who lost to the Bulldogs (20-10) by 16 and 18 points in two regular-season meetings.
The Aggies, the first 13th seed to reach the SEC quarterfinals, will take on fourth-seeded Mississippi on Friday.
Jessika Carter scored 18 points and Jerkaila Jordan and Debreasha Powe 12 each for the Bulldogs.
Bowels' final 3-pointer put the Aggies up 73-64 with three minutes to go. The Bulldogs got within three but Kay Kay Green hit a second-chance 3-pointer after Malone grabbed the offensive rebound for a six-point edge with 1:17 left. After two Bulldogs free throws, Bowles added a free throw and Malone added a final bucket after the Aggies snagged an errant inbounds pass.
Tineya Hylton scored twice in the final 13 seconds of the third quarter and the Aggies, who got three Bowles 3s in the period, led 62-53 heading into the fourth quarter.
Mississippi State led 25-19 after the first quarter behind 10 points from Carter but in the second quarter they went 1 of 11 and the Aggies scored the first 16 points and led 37-30 at halftime.