Mississippi State, S. Carolina meet today in SEC title game

SEC WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT NO. 2 MISSISSIPPI STATE 70, NO. 15 TEXAS A&M 55

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The No. 2 Mississippi State Bulldogs are back in the SEC Tournament championship for a third consecutive year.

This time, they want a championship to pair with their regular-season title.

Victoria Vivians scored 22 points and No. 2 Mississippi State beat No. 15 Texas A&M 70-55 on Saturday in the semifinals.

The Bulldogs (32-0) extended the nation’s longest active winning streak to 32 games to reach the title game for a third consecutive year. They will play No. 8 South Carolina, a 71-49 winner over No. 19 Georgia, today.

“We’ve been here before though,” Mississippi State Coach Vic Schaefer said. “We know what it feels like to be here. We’d like to have it end a little differently, and that’s our challenge right now.”

Mississippi State reached the tournament championship game for the fourth time overall by beating Texas A&M for a second consecutive year. Yet the Bulldogs have never taken home the title, and Vivians said they will need to start better than they have through two games at this tournament.

“We cannot let them punch first,” Vivians said of whoever they play next. “And we have to play great defense and play our game.”

Teaira McCowan matched her season-low with only six points for the Bulldogs, but she grabbed 13 rebounds. Morgan William added 15 points, and Roshunda Johnson had 13.

“It’s not what she scores, it’s her presence in that lane,” Texas A&M Coach Gary Blair said of McCowan. “That’s a big aircraft carrier in there that does a good job for them to allow them to play their four-guard offense.”

Playing its third game in as many days, Texas A&M (24-9) snapped a four-game winning streak with the Aggies’ first loss since Mississippi State beat them Feb. 18 in Starkville.

Chennedy Carter, the SEC freshman of the year, led the Aggies with 27 points. Anriel Howard grabbed 17 rebounds but was held to 4 points on 2-of-9 shooting guarded by Vivians.

Texas A&M dominated on the boards early with Carter scoring nine points in giving the Aggies an 18-15 lead after the first quarter.

“They weathered the storm just like they did (Friday) against Kentucky,” Blair said of the Bulldogs. ” They weathered the storm and then saw what was going to work.”

Mississippi State pounced in the second quarter with a 16-4 run going into halftime. They forced five turnovers, the worst when Carter let the ball roll at midcourt with Morgan William racing by to pick it up for an easy layup. The Aggies missed nine of 10 shots before Danni Williams’ jumper just before the buzzer to trim Mississippi State’s lead to 36-28.

Carter hit a three with 7:21 left in the third to pull the Aggies within 38-33. That’s when Vivians took over and knocked down three consecutive three-pointers, and Johnson added a three to finish off a 12-2 run, giving Mississippi State its biggest lead at 50-35 with 4:25 left.

The Bulldogs led by as much as 19 in the fourth quarter.

NO. 8 SOUTH CAROLINA 71, NO. 19 GEORGIA 49

A’ja Wilson had 21 points and 11 rebounds to help No. 8 South Carolina rout No. 19 Georgia to reach the SEC Tournament championship for the fourth consecutive year.

Wilson came off the bench for a second consecutive game after a bout of vertigo kept her out of the regular-season finale and had her questionable for the tournament. The three-time SEC player of the year came in needing five points to become the Gamecocks’ career scoring leader scorer, and Wilson managed that with three quick buckets in the first quarter.

Now three-time defending tournament champ South Carolina (25-6) will play No. 2 Mississippi State for something no SEC team has ever managed — a fourth consecutive title.

Doniyah Cliney and Mikiah Herbert Harrigan added 14 points apiece for South Carolina.

Georgia (25-6) heads home missing out on the championship game yet again. A four-time tournament champ, the Bulldogs haven’t played in the title game since 2004.

Mackenzie Engram led the Bulldogs with 10 points.

Georgia scored the first four points of the game and led 8-4 on a pair of free throws by Taja Cole with 6:12 left. That’s when Wilson, who came off the bench with 6:52 to go, got going. Wilson missed her first bucket, then knocked down three consecutive. Caliya Robinson tipped in a bucket for Georgia’s last lead at 12-11 before Wilson’s layup put South Carolina ahead to stay.

South Carolina led 16-12 after the first quarter and led by as much as 16 in outscoring Georgia 19-9 in the second for a 35-21 halftime lead. The Gamecocks led 53-37 after three quarters and led by as much as 23 in the fourth.