No. 1 S. Carolina tops Texas A&M in SEC quarters

GREENVILLE, S.C. — South Carolina coach Dawn Staley spent all season teaching her young, undefeated team. Those les- sons, she stressed, must carry into the SEC Tournament if the top-ranked Gamecocks hope to achieve their cham- pionship goals.

Kamilla Cardoso scored 17 points and Tessa Johnson 13 as South Carolina beat ninth- seeded Texas A&M 79-68 Fri- day at the SEC Tournament and reached 30 wins for a third straight season.

The Gamecocks (30-0) will play fifth-seed Tennessee in today’s semifinals.

It was no walkover for usu- ally sharp South Carolina. The team had 10 turnovers in the first quarter and finished with a season-worst 24. The offense took a bit to warm up after nearly a week off since its last game, and Sta- ley grew visibly frustrated as the period wore on.

“I don’t think they met the moment,” Staley said.

Aicha Coulibaly had a career-high 32 points, 26 in the second half, to lead Texas A&M (19-12), which lost its fifth straight to South Carolina.

After getting pushed at times by the Aggies, the Game- cocks responded with Cardoso dominating down low and the team relying on defense to open up a 14-point lead in the third quarter.

South Carolina leads the SEC in defense and held the Aggies to 30% on 3-pointers (6 of 20) and forced 14 turnovers.

“Yes, we won a lot of basketball games, but there are a lot of things we need to work on, a lot of deficien- cies that we need to work on,” Staley said. “This team has responded time in and time out, and they’re going to have to respond now that’s it’s win or go home situation.”

SEC Tennessee 83, Alabama 61

Jewel Spear scored 24 points, going 6 of 6 on 3-point- ers, and Rickea Jackson had 22 points and nine rebounds as No. 5 seed Tennessee beat fourth-seeded Alabama 83-61 on Friday in the SEC Tourna- ment in Greenville, S.C.

Tennessee notched its 17th 20-point win in the SEC Tour- nament in program history, with South Carolina the next closest at 11. The Lady Vols also had multiple players score 20-plus in a game for the fifth time this season.

Tennessee (19-11) advances to the semifinals to face No. 1 South Carolina today. The Lady Vols lost to the Game- cocks at home 66-65 on Feb. 15 and 76-68 on the road March 3.

Sarah Ashlee Barker had 17 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals for Alabama (23-9). Loyal McQueen added 15 points.

BIG TEN Maryland 82, No. 4 Ohio State 61

Shyanne Sellers had 25 points, eight rebounds and seven assists to lead Mary- land’s upset of third-ranked and regular-season champion Ohio State 82-61 in the quar- terfinals of the Big Ten Tour- nament on Friday in Minne- apolis.

Brinae Alexander and Jakia Brown-Turner each scored 19 points, and Faith Masonius added 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Terrapins (1912), who delivered the type of statement performance that ought to push them toward the safe side of the bubble for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Maryland advanced to the semifinals today, the 10th time in 11 years the Terrapins have done so.

Rebeka Mikulasikova scored 16 points and Taylor Thierry had 13 points for the Buckeyes (25-5), whose quest for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament took a hit.

ACC No. 14 Notre Dame 77, No. 24 Louisville 68

Sonia Citron scored 26 points, Hannah Hidalgo added 21, and both players made double-digit free throws to help No. 14 Notre Dame hold off No. 24 Louisville 77-68 on Friday in the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, N.C.

Fourth-seeded Notre Dame (24-6) advances to the semifinals today.

Hidalgo and Citron scored the opening five points of the third quarter to extend Notre Dame’s lead to 22 points.

Curry scored a season-high 26 points, 15 coming in the fourth quarter, for Louisville (24-9). Sydney Taylor added 13 points,

BIG 12 No. 17 Baylor 71, Texas Tech 60

Sarah Andrews scored 13 points, Aijha Blackwell had 11 points and nine rebounds, and No. 17 Baylor beat Texas Tech 71-60 on Friday in the Big 12 Conference Tournament for its sixth straight victory in Kansas City, Mo.

Baylor (24-6), a No. 5 seed, advances to the quarterfinals today against No. 4 seed Iowa State. .

Jasmine Shavers led Texas Tech (17-16) with 20 points and Bailey Maupin added 15.

TCU 68, Oklahoma State 66

Una Jovanovic scored a season-high 22 points, Sedona Prince made the go-ahead free throws with 29 seconds left, and ninth-seeded TCU beat eighth-seeded Oklahoma State 68-66 in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament on Friday.

The Horned Frogs (20-10) advance to take on top seed and 19th-ranked Oklahoma in a quarterfinal today.

Quincy Noble made four 3-pointers and scored 26 points to lead the Cowgirls (14-16).

CHRIS CARLSON/AP South Carolina center Kamilla Cardoso, who scored 17 points, drives to the basket against tight defense in a win against Texas A&M on Friday.