AUBURN, Ala. - Senior Monique Cardenas scored a career-high 19 points and sophomore Vanessa Hayden contributed 15 points with 18 rebounds leading 15th-ranked Florida to a 70-61 victory over 17th-ranked Auburn at Beard-Eaves Coliseum.

"This was a great win for us on the road against a top-25 team in the SEC," UF head coach Carol Ross said. "I loved the effort of our players and how they bounced back from a tough and humbling loss to Tennessee in our last game."

The win evened Florida's SEC record to 1-1, and 11-4 overall, while the Tigers fell to 12-2 overall and 0-1 in SEC action.

This was the second most points Auburn has allowed this season. Iowa State tallied 80 in overtime handing the Tigers their only other loss this year.

Auburn ripped out of the halftime locker and hit two quick shots to cut UF's 9-point lead to five (35-30) but the Lady Gators answered with jumpers from Courtney Cooper and Monique Cardenas. After the teams traded baskets, Auburn went on an 8-1 run to 14:28 remaining in the game. Brandi McCain, who finished the game with 11 points, then hit a 3-pointer for Florida, but the Tigers went on an 8-2 run to take their first lead of the game (50-49) with 11:31 to go. AU continued that spree with another bucket and a pair of free throws to take a 54-49 advantage with 10:05 to go.

UF's leading scorer and rebounder Vanessa Hayden was whistled for her third personal foul with 16:45 remaining and the Lady Gators leading 41-35. With Hayden on the bench, Auburn outscored UF 19-8 to take the lead.

Hayden re-entered the game and Florida chipped away at Auburn's five-point lead with shots in the paint and from the free throw line, hitting 11-for-12 during a 20-5 game-ending run to re-take the lead and build a 70-59 advantage.

"When Vanessa went out of the game we lost control of the paint on both ends of the floor," Ross said. "Even though we had a bad run of defensive rebounding during that stretch, we didn't let the game get too out of control and were able to battle back."

Florida shot a season-high 72.0 percent from the free throw line for the game, hitting 18-of-25. Auburn hit 6-of-10 from the charity stripe.

Auburn's Le'Coe Willingham recorded her ninth career double-double and her second this season with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Carol Smith scored 14 points and Tia Miller added 13 points in a losing cause.

Florida opened the game shooting 2-for-10, while Auburn hit 1-of-10, as the Lady Gators took a 6-3 lead early. Then both teams started heating up from the outside as the Tigers evened the score at 10-all with 11:56 on the first half clock. From there the Lady Gators went on a 10-2 run with scoring from four different players to extend their lead to eight points (20-12).

Carol Smith stopped UF's run with a 3-pointer, but Sherisha Hills answered with a trey and Courtney Cooper followed with a short jumper to give UF a 10-point advantage (25-15) with 6:48 on the clock. Smith tallied another 3-pointer for the Tigers and the two teams traded baskets for the remainder of the half with neither team able to make a run, as the Lady Gators entered the locker room with a 35-26 advantage.

During the opening 20 minutes Florida held a decisive rebounding advantage, collecting 29 compared to Auburn's 16. The Lady Gators also recovered from their early game shooting woes to average 41.9 percent (13-of-31) from the floor in the opening half, while the Tigers shot just 31.4 percent (11-of-35).

No. 14 South Carolina 79, Mississippi State 64

STARKVILLE, Miss. --­ The 14th ranked South Carolina Gamecocks held off Mississippi State's comeback efforts with a 79-64 win over the Lady Bulldogs at Humphrey Coliseum Sunday afternoon.

With the win, USC (15-1, 2-0) extended its nine-game winning streak to 10 games. It was the first time in six meetings that the Gamecocks had defeated the Lady Bulldogs (10-5, 1-1 SEC) in Starkville.

USC led from the opening tip and led 39-24 at the intermission. The visitors from Columbia led by as many as 19 in the final 29 minutes. MSU cut the lead to five (58-53) with Tan White's jumper with 8:41 remaining, but USC pushed the lead back out to 11 two minutes later on Shaunzinski Gortman's three-pointer.

"Coming from behind takes a lot of energy and maturity and players that have done it before," said Lady Bulldog head coach Sharon Fanning. "We have a lot players that have never been in that situation before. Hopefully we'll learn and improve for our next game."

The Gamecocks placed four players in double-digits, led by junior forward Petra Ujhelyi who poured in 20 and had 18 at the half. Jocelyn Penn added 17 points, while Cristina Ciocan scored 13. Teresa Geter recorded a double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 10 boards.

South Carolina shot lights out in the first half, shooting 60 percent (18-30) from the field, but State held them to 37 percent in the second half.

"We are fortunate to come out of here with a win," said USC head coach Susan Walvius. "What Mississippi State did in the second half that was so effective is they crashed the boards hard. They rebounded and they got second and third shot opportunities."

White, a freshman guard from Tupelo, Miss., led MSU with her fourth double-double this season (25 points, 10 boards). She has reached double-digit scoring in all 15 games this season. White, who was the only player that played all 40 minutes, led the team in assists and steals, each with three.

LaToya Thomas was the only other Lady Bulldog in double digits, having scored all 16 of her points in the second half. That total pushed her double-digit scoring streak to 78 games. The 6-0 forward from Greenville, Miss., also had eight rebounds, three steals and two assists in her 33 minutes of action.

Junior transfer Renae Jones returned to the starting line-up after sitting out two games and only playing five minutes against Kentucky due to a sprained ankle. She played 20 minutes and chipped in three points and one rebound. Sophomore Seneca Anderson saw 16 minutes and tallied eight points and three boards.

Ole Miss 81, Arkansas 46

OXFORD, Miss. - The Lady Rebels used a balanced attack that saw five players score in double digits as Ole Miss (9-5, 1-0 SEC) defeated Arkansas, 81-46, to win its Southeastern Conference opener on Sunday. Sherika Wright led all scorers on the night with 16 points for Ole Miss.

"It’s a great way to start our SEC schedule," said Ole Miss head coach Ron Aldy. "I’m really proud our team was able to come back from a disappointing loss at Temple and put forth the effort we did today. We played as well as we have all season."

The Lady Rebels stormed out to a 45-19 halftime lead behind the hot shooting of sophomore Tenisha Gist who had 11 points off the bench on a perfect shooting performance. Gist hit 3-for-3 from the perimeter in the first half to spark the Lady Rebels.

Arkansas (9-4, 0-1 SEC) made a little run to open the second half, but the Lady Rebel defense quickly tightened up and Ole Miss started a run of its own to hold onto the large lead that would result in the 35 point victory.

TaShondrea Moton scored 14 points for the Lady Rebels, while Gist and Ally Kelly both added 13 points. Saundra Jackson rounded out the double digit scorers for Ole Miss with 10 points. Von Kirk led the team on the boards with nine rebounds and nine points.

"TaShondrea (Moton) has been an added spark for us this season," Aldy said. "She is as good an athlete as you will find in this league. She is finally becoming a basketball player to match her athleticism. She does so much for us with her hustle, she doesn’t need to score. Tonight she was able to do a little of everything for us."

Ole Miss shot 46 percent from the floor for the game, and 43 percent from three-point range. The Lady Rebels out-rebounded the Lady Razorbacks 48-36 for the game and forced Arkansas into 21 turnovers.

Kiesha Beard led Arkansas with eight points for the game, while Dana Cherry pulled down nine rebounds. The Lady Razorbacks shot 28 percent from the floor on the night.

Ole Miss will return to action on Thursday, Jan. 10, when they travel to Mississippi State. Game time is set for 7 p.m. at Humphrey Coliseum.

Kentucky 63, Alabama 62

Tuscaloosa, Ala. - SeSe Helm scored a team-high 23 points en route to Kentucky’s 63-62 thrilling victory over Alabama on Sunday in Coleman Coliseum. It was UK’s first win over the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa since 1990.

Kentucky (8-6, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) led 26-25 at the half and jumped out to a nine-point lead in the second stanza, 56-47, before Alabama (10-4, 0-1 SEC) began its comeback late in the game. The Tide used two of senior Shondra Johnson’s game-high 25 points to pull within three, 63-60, with less than a minute remaining. Alabama was forced to foul, sending senior LaTonya McDole to the line for one and the bonus. McDole missed the front end and it was rebounded by Alabama. However, the Tide couldn’t convert on the other end and was forced to foul again. This time, Helm, who is an 84.9 percent free-throw shooter, stepped up to the line. She also missed the front end of the bonus, but the Cats held on for the win.

"This win was so huge for us," UK Coach Bernadette Mattox said. "We needed this win to prove to our kids that we can win the close game. I also can’t say enough about SeSe’s play today. We fought hard all the way to end and I am very proud of this basketball team."

Following Helm in the scoring column was McDole and Rita Adams with eight points each. The Cats shot 50 percent from the floor compared to UA’s 40.4 percent, including a season-low 10 percent from behind the arc.

"Our kids really played great defense tonight," Mattox said. "We held a team that usually shoots 40 percent and hits almost six three-pointers a game to only one "three" today. They really executed the scouting report and played intense defense."

The biggest margin of the game came at the charity stripe. Alabama went 19-of-30 from the free throw line while Kentucky hit 5-of-10.

The Cats have now won four of the last five meetings against Alabama and close in on UA’s 13-12 lead in the all-time series. UA is 8-3 when playing in Tuscaloosa with UK’s last victory in Coleman Coliseum coming on Dec. 17, 1990 (74-58).