Russell, Kentucky beat UGA 64-50 in SEC Tournament

Javyn Nicholson scores 23 to lead Georgia in defeat.

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Eniya Russell scored 19 points, Ajae Petty added 11 points and 14 rebounds for her 17th double-double of the season and No. 12 seed Kentucky beat 13th-seeded Georgia 64-50 on Wednesday in the opening game of the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Greenville.

Kentucky (12-19) advances to play No. 5 seed Tennessee today in the second round. The Wildcats improved to 7-1 in their last three SEC Tournament appearances after winning the title in 2022 and reaching the quarterfinals in 2023.

Kentucky missed its first six shots of the game until Russell got going, scoring 10 points in the first quarter to help build a 21-14 lead. The Wildcats led 36-22 at the break for its largest halftime lead of the season against an SEC opponent. Petty controlled the paint with eight points and nine rebounds to help Kentucky hold a 25-13 edge on the glass.

Georgia missed seven straight shots spanning the fourth-quarter break as Kentucky extended its lead to 16 points. The Bulldogs got as close as nine points the rest of the way as Kentucky didn’t make its first field goal of the fourth until Russell’s layup with 1:20 left.

Brooklynn Miles had 11 points, five rebounds and five assists for Kentucky. Maddie Scherr, Kentucky’s second-leading scorer, was out due to concussion protocol.

Javyn Nicholson led Georgia (12-18) with 23 points. The Lady Bulldogs were outrebounded 41-25 and missed all 11 of their 3-point attempts.

Big 12: Oklahoma was a game above .500 three days before Christmas, and there seemed few reasons to believe the Sooners would turn around their fortunes when their last run through the Big 12 Conference began the following week. More than two months later, Jennie Baranczyk’s team has lost only three more times.

Led by Skylar Vann and Payton Verhulst, the No. 19 Sooners (21-8) rolled to their first Big 12 regular-season title since 2009 before they join Texas in departing for the SEC next season. That also gave Oklahoma the No. 1 seed when the conference tournament begins today in Kansas City, Mo.

The Sooners earned a double bye as the 14-team Big 12 Tournament begins. Oklahoma will play the TCU-Oklahoma State winner Saturday night as it seeks its first Big 12 tourney title since back-to-back championships in 2006 and ‘07.

The second-seeded Longhorns (27-4), who will play the BYU-Kansas winner Saturday night, are the Big 12′s highest-ranked team at No. 6 in the AP Top 25 this week. In all, there are four teams in the poll and three more receiving votes, and each of those seven are almost certain locks when the NCAA Tournament selection committee meets to decide its field.