Auburn downs Arkansas in SEC Tournament
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Sydney Shaw, JaMya Mingo-Young and Mar'shaun Bostic each scored 11 points and No. 7 seed Auburn beat 10th-seeded Arkansas 67-48 on Thursday in the second round of the SEC Tournament.
Auburn (20-10) advances to play eighthranked LSU on Friday in the quarterfinals. The teams split the regular-season series, with LSU claiming the most recent game, 71-66, on Feb. 22. Auburn's win on Jan. 14 was its seventh over a defending national champion in program history.
Shaw was the first player for Auburn to reach double-digit scoring when she made a 3-pointer with 4:34 left in the fourth for a 61-43 lead following a 10-0 run.
Mingo-Young also had eight rebounds, eight assists and just one turnover for Auburn. Honesty Scott-Grayson, Auburn's leading scorer at 18.3 points per game, was held to just six points on 3-of-11 shooting.
Arkansas was without leading scorer Taliah Scott (family issue) and leading rebounder Saylor Poffenbarger (concussion protocol).
Freshman Jenna Lawrence made her first start and finished with 13 points for Arkansas (18-14). Samara Spencer and Makayla Daniels also scored 13 points.
Auburn scored 12 straight points in the second quarter to take a 33-22 lead on Shaw's 3-ponter with 1:05 left. Arkansas scored the final five points of the half, capped by Spencer's 3-pointer just before the buzzer to make it 33-27.
It was Auburn's first double-digit victory in the SEC second round or later since 2014.
TENNESSEE 76, KENTUCKY 62 GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Sara Puckett scored 22 points, Tess Darby had her first double-double and fifth-seeded Tennessee pulled away from 12th-seeded Kentucky in the second half for a win in the SEC Tournament.
The Lady Vols (18-11) face fourth-seeded Alabama in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Darby, a senior, came off the bench and scored all 10 of her points in the second half to go with a career-high 10 rebounds. Jewel Spear also had 10 points.
Saniah Tyler had 17 points for the Wildcats (12-20).
Ajae Petty scored 12 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for her 18th double-double of the year and 20th for her career. Eniya Russell added 11 points.
Darby hit a 3-pointer to cap a 10-0 run through the middle of the third quarter for a 45-35 lead. Spear also had a 3. Darby added another 3 and had eight points in the quarter for a 53-44 lead heading into the fourth.
The Lady Vols got the lead to 14 but Tyler scored five points to cut the deficit to 63-54 with 4 1/2 minutes to go. Rickea Jackson and Jillian Hollingshead answered and the lead stayed in double figures.
After a horrible shooting first half, Tennessee shot 61% in the second half (19 of 31), including 5 of 10 from 3-point range. Kentucky finished 4 of 17 behind the arc and shot 35.5% (22 of 62).