Mississippi St. ousts A&M; Baylor, UT advance in Big 12

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Victoria Vivians scored 22 points, and second-ranked Mississippi State remained in position to add a Southeastern Conference tournament title to its regular-season championship, beating No. 15 Texas A&M 70-55 in the semifinals Saturday.

The Bulldogs (32-0) reached the title game for the third consecutive year and extended the nation’s longest active win streak to 32 games. They will play South Carolina on Sunday.

Chennedy Carter, the SEC freshman of the year, led the Aggies (24-9) with 27 points.

In the other semifinal game, A’ja Wilson had 21 points and 11 rebounds to lead eighth-ranked South Carolina to a 71-49 rout of No. 19 Georgia.

The three-time defending tournament champion Gamecocks (25-6) will try to do something no SEC team has managed — win four consecutive tournament crowns. BIG 12

Baylor might be OK without injured point guard Kristy Wallace.

Kalani Brown scored 26 points to help the third-ranked Lady Bears beat Kansas State 83-54 at Oklahoma City in the Big 12 quarterfinals.

Wallace, an all-conference and all-defense selection who averaged 12.9 points, 5.3 assists and 5.0 rebounds, tore her right anterior cruciate ligament in Baylor’s victory over West Virginia on Monday. Freshman Alexis Morris stepped in at point guard for Wallace on Saturday and had six points and three assists in 38 minutes.

Brown, a 6-7 center who was named Big 12 Player of the Year earlier in the week, made nine of 12 shots and had 13 rebounds to help steady the Lady Bears (29-1).

Baylor advanced to play TCU — a 90-83 winner over Oklahoma — in Sunday’s semifinals.

Later in the day, Ariel Atkins scored 25 points to send No. 7 Texas into the semifinals with an 81-69 victory over Iowa State.

Jatarie White had 18 points and 12 rebounds to help the Longhorns (25-5) advance to play West Virginia, which beat Oklahoma State 69-60. AMERICAN ATHLETIC

Fifth-seeded Houston was outscored by double digits in the first quarter and again in the fourth en route to a 98-72 loss to No. 12 Tulsa in the first round of the American Athletic tournament at Uncasville, Conn.

Angela Harris scored 27 points for the Cougars (20-11). ATLANTIC COAST

Fourth-ranked Louisville and No. 5 Notre Dame won their semifinals to advance to the Atlantic Coast Conference title game at Greensboro, N.C.

Sam Fuehring scored 15 points to lead the top-seeded Cardinals past North Carolina State 64-59.

Marina Mabrey scored a season-high 27 points as the Fighting Irish rallied from eight points down in the third quarter to win 9080 and keep kept alive their quest for a fifth consecutive ACC tourney title. OHIO VALLEY

Julie McCabe had 19 points and 10 rebounds, and No. 22 Belmont became the first team to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, beating Tennessee-Martin 63-56 in overtime in the Ohio Valley Conference title game at Evansville, Ind. RICE 47, NORTH TEXAS 45

Erica Ogwumike had 17 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Owls past the Mean Green at Tudor Fieldhouse.

From staff and wire reports