KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The biggest lesson Tennessee freshmen have to learn is how to get more playing time.

No matter how well they can shoot or how fast they can run, coach Pat Summitt must see them working hard in practice.

Freshman reserve Michelle Munoz, daughter of NFL Hall of Famer Anthony Munoz, has it figured out now.

In 15 minutes on the floor, she scored 14 points with perfect shooting and second-ranked Tennessee beat Alabama 82-57 Sunday.

``Bottom line, Michelle Munoz has been practicing with greater intensity. Players can always say they want a chance. The best place to get a chance is in practice because you see them more in practice than you ever see them in games,'' Summitt said.

Once players earn that chance, they have to produce in a game.

``I can live with some mistakes, but I can't live with lack of effort very long. Low tolerance there,'' Summitt said.

Munoz, who did not play in the previous two games and had limited time this season, was 3-for-3 from the floor and 8-of-8 from the foul line.

``I just knew when she called upon me I wanted to go out there and play my best. My shots happened to fall, and it was a nice afternoon,'' Munoz said.

The Lady Vols (16-1, 5-0 Southeastern Conference) beat Alabama for the 25th straight time. Tennessee has won 36 consecutive league games at home.

April McDivitt scored 13 points, all in the second half, and freshman Brittany Jackson added 12 points for Tennessee.

The Crimson Tide (11-7, 1-4) battled the Lady Vols hard defensively, but couldn't match Tennessee's offense as both teams kept up a frenetic pace most of the game.

Alabama got as close as one point with 4:34 left before halftime but was outscored 15-3 the rest of the way and trailed 40-24 at the break.

``I thought for about 16 minutes we executed our plan as efficiently as we are probably capable of doing, and then we went through that one stretch right there in the first half,'' Alabama coach Rick Moody said. ``Once you get behind up here in this place, it's very difficult to come back.''

Early in the second half, Alabama cut the lead to nine after Beth Vice's fifth 3-pointer of the game with 14:24 remaining. But the Crimson Tide couldn't get any closer as Tennessee continued to pull away.

Alabama's leading scorer, senior Shondra Johnson, did not play because of a hamstring injury.

Vice finished with 22 points and was 6-of-12 from beyond the arc.

After trailing by as many as nine in the first 7 1/2 minutes, Alabama used a 9-0 run to tie it at 16.

Munoz then came off the bench to spark the Lady Vols. She had a basket and then made a pair of free throws after Moody was called for a technical foul with 6:22 left in the first half.

Munoz's brother, Michael, is an offensive lineman at Tennessee.

Vice hit a 3 to cut it to 22-21 two minutes later, but Munoz grabbed Michelle Snow's missed shot, scored inside and made the free throw a the three-point play to put Tennessee back up by four. From there, Alabama scored just three more points the rest of the half.

Munoz added two more free throws, and Jackson had a 3 and a three-point play to help Tennessee cushion its lead.

No. 7 Vanderbilt 64, Georgia 47

KEITH PARSONS
AP Sports Writer

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) - Seventh-ranked Vanderbilt held No. 16 Georgia scoreless for more than 11 minutes in the first half, cruising to a 64-47 victory Sunday behind Zuzana Klimesova's 23 points.

Chantelle Anderson added 14 for Vanderbilt (18-3, 4-1 Southeastern Conference), which won its sixth straight.

The Commodores broke away with a 23-0 burst in the first half.

Jessica Pierce had 11 for the Lady Bulldogs (13-4, 2-3), who've lost four of six. They shot only 20 percent in scoring just 14 points in the opening half, their second-worst total ever _ they scored 12 points Jan. 16, 1994, at Vanderbilt.

Kara Braxton, Georgia's leading scorer, didn't start for the first time since Dec. 4. She played just 18 minutes and scored 10 points. She had been averaging 16.6.

After Georgia got to 16-12 on Pierce's 3-pointer with 11:12 left before halftime, the Commodores scored 23 unanswered points. The Bulldogs missed 14 straight shots and had two turnovers during the stretch.

Whitney Law finally ended the dry spell with a jumper with 5.5 seconds left in the half. Klimesova made 7-of-8 free throws during the run and finished 12-of-14 from the line.

Christi Thomas scored six straight points to start the second half, part of a 10-0 Georgia spurt. The Bulldogs eventually got within nine but seemed to tire at that point. Vanderbilt regained control with eight straight, including 3s from Klimesova and Jenni Benningfield.

Georgia got no closer than 14 after that.

Bulldogs starter Ebony Felder missed the game with flu-like symptoms. She'll be re-evaluated Monday.

No. 8 South Carolina 78, Kentucky 49

PETE IACOBELLI
AP Sports Writer

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - No. 8 South Carolina kept its head _ and its fans _ against Kentucky after a disappointing loss to Tennessee three days earlier.

``It was hard for me to get over it right away,'' point guard Christina Ciocan said after the Lady Gamecocks' 78-49 victory over the Lady Wildcats on Sunday.

There was a question how the Lady Gamecocks (17-2, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) might respond after losing a showdown with the second-ranked Lady Vols 80-61 Thursday night in front of a record-crowd of 12,168.

``But we came back in practice very hard Friday morning and talking about Kentucky,'' Ciocan said. ``I decided that's what we had to do, focus on Kentucky.''

That's what South Carolina's fans did, too. There were 5,227 in attendance, more than five times the people who normally show up and the fourth-largest crowd in school history.

Lady Gamecocks coach Susan Walvius said it was as gratifying to see this group as the full house from three nights ago.

``The fans that were here today, they were not about Tennessee and a Top 10 game,'' she said. ``That meant a lot to the young women on our team.''

Jocelyn Penn scored 19 points to lead South Carolina to its largest margin of victory in 11 seasons of SEC play, surpassing two 25-point wins, including a 91-66 defeat of Arkansas on Jan. 13.

Walvius said she reminded her team that despite the Tennessee loss ``but we still potentially are in the running for an SEC championship and we can't slip up at home. ... I think we did a pretty decent job with that.''

Kentucky (8-10, 1-5) could not match South Carolina's speed, accuracy or defensive pressure. The Lady Wildcats had 13 turnovers and made only nine field goals in the first 20 minutes.

SeSe Helm, Kentucky's leading scorer and sixth in the SEC at nearly 18 points a game, was held to 11 points on 3-of-10 shooting. The Lady Wildcats had their lowest scoring output of the season.

``I thought we did well defensively, they just made some shots they hadn't made all year,'' Kentucky coach Bernadette Mattox said. ``That's what happens with teams that are on a high, you're ranked, kids are pumped.''

Tatyana Troina finished with 11 points and Shaunzinski Gortman had 10 for South Carolina.

Penn, South Carolina's leading scorer, again was unstoppable going 8-of-9 from the floor. She said she put aside the Tennessee loss quickly, wanting to get back to winning. ``We wanted to go out and do everything that we didn't do'' against Tennessee, Penn said. ``I think we accomplished that.''

Rita Adams, who hit 7-of-10 shots for 18 points to lead Kentucky, was the only effective starter against South Carolina.

The other four - LaTonya McDole, Keiko Tate, Helm and Danyelle Payne - combined to go 3-of-22.

Adams didn't think South Carolina did anything special to shut down the Lady Wildcats, who have lost four straight. ``I just think we have to take our time, get collected and make the shots,'' Adams said.

Troina had eight points, including two 3-pointers as South Carolina opened a 20-6 lead in the first eight minutes.

When the Lady Wildcats closed to 20-11 on a 3-pointer by Rita Adams and a basket by Shambrica Jones, South Carolina ended the half with a 23-8 surge to lead 43-19.

Gortman, a South Carolina starter who played only three minutes of the first half after aggravating a left hamstring injury, hit a 3-pointer with 17:45 left that stretched the lead to 50-22.

Penn had three straight baskets, Troina hit her third 3-pointer and Christina Ciocan sank a basket to make it 61-29 four minutes later. Kelly Morrone's 3-pointer with 6:34 left gave the Lady Gamecocks a 73-38 lead.

South Carolina has its most victories in a season since going 17-10 in 1992-93.

LSU 65, Arkansas 55

BATON ROUGE - Aiysha Smith had 18 points and 17 rebounds to lead the LSU Lady Tigers to a 65-55 win over the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks in Southeastern Conference women's basketball.

The Lady Razorbacks, 10-7, dropped to 1-4 in league play while LSU, 10-6, moved to 3-2.

Arkansas struggled from the field in the first half, hitting only 37.9%. In the second half, Arkansas couldn't hold the ball with 12 of its 17 turnovers.

"When you hold LSU to 35% from the field, you have a chance, but we didn't make the key plays at the end," UA head coach Gary Blair said.

The Lady Tigers shot only 36.2% for the game and 30% in the second half. Arkansas struggled early with only 20% before finishing the first half at 35.3% -- the exact figure they hit for the entire game.

Arkansas fixed its field goal percentage early in the second half, but lost control of the basketball as six early turnovers aided LSU to a 14-point lead, 54-40, with 10 minutes to play.

Blair went to his bench, sitting down four of the five starters. Behind six points from Lakishia Harper and three from Kiesha Beard, Arkansas mounted a 9-1 run to cut the spead to four, 55-51, with five minutes to play.

"I was hoping the starters could see that Kela (Peterson), (Shanna) Harmon and Beard were playing hard," Blair said. "I hoped that we would be setting up to press hard in the final minutes, but you've got to make shots or free throws to start the press."

Temeka Johnson's drive to the goal and foul by Beard stemmed the Arkansas run with 4:30. The Lady Tigers got back to a eight-point lead on free throws before India Lewis' trey with 1:39 to play cut the spread to five, 60-55, at 1:39.

"We had no answer for their point guard," Blair said of LSU's Johnson. "We backed off her defensively, but she still beat three different people to the basket."

Arkansas had the chance to cut the lead to a bucket following a Lady Tiger miss, but a crucial turnover with 1:20 to play led to a Johnson jumper which iced the game for LSU.

"We get it to five and throw it away," Blair said. "There's no excuse for that."

Poor shooting by Arkansas gave LSU a seven-point lead early, but Shameka Christon's jumpers launched the Lady'Backs on a 10-3 run to tie the game at 23-23, with 3:44 in the half.

Arkansas' offense hit the wall and Scholanda Dorrell hit the trey twice in an 8-0 run by the Lady Tigers in the final minutes of the half. A buzzer-beating trey by Lewis was the only scoring for the Lady'Backs in the last 3:44.

Christon and Dana Cherry were coming off big games on Thursday, but shot poorly at the Maravich Center. Christon had 10 points, but only 5-of-14 from the field. Cherry was 2-of-12 for the game with only four points, but added eight rebounds.

"I'll take their shots any day," Blair said. "Those two had the looks, but today they just weren't falling."

Lewis finished the game as Arkansas' leader with 16 points, with Harper coming off the bench for 10 points, all in the second half.

Beard led Arkansas on the boards with nine before fouling out in the closing minutes, followed by Christon and Cherry with eight each.

Johnson added 17 points for LSU, followed by 12 from Dorrell.

Arkansas continues on the road at Mississippi State on Thursday, Jan. 24, in Starkville, Miss. The Lady Bulldogs lost by 20, 81-61, at Auburn on Sunday.

Auburn 81, Mississippi State 61

AUBURN, Ala. - Carol Smith scored 15 of her career-high 27 points in the second half to lead the 19th-ranked Auburn women’s basketball team to an 81-61 victory over Mississippi State on Sunday afternoon in Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum.

The Tigers (14-4, 2-3 SEC), who led 36-32 at the half, used a 10-2 run early in the second half to pull away from the Lady Bulldogs (12-6, 3-2 SEC). Auburn’s largest lead was the 20-point difference at the final buzzer.

Le’Coe Willingham added 18 points and a team-high seven rebounds for the Tigers, who out rebounded MSU 41-30. Natasha Brackett had 16 points and seven rebounds as well, while Kerdu Arbet chipped in with a career-high 10 points.

"We played very well today," Auburn head coach Joe Ciampi said. "These players did more than you could ever ask considering the recent injuries that have occurred. Carol seemed to get in the flow and once we noticed that, we went to her."

LaToya Thomas led the Lady Bulldogs with 19 points and 13 rebounds, while Tan White also scored 19 in the loss. White also added eight rebounds and seven assists.

"Tan White is the real deal," Ciampi said. "She got us early on, so we made an adjustment and tried to keep her in front of us."

The Tigers took the lead for good with 3:57 second to play in the first half when Brackett nailed a jump shot to put Auburn up 30-29. Auburn then climbed to a 10-point lead with 14:11 left in the second half on a Willingham lay-up and MSU would not get any closer than that the rest of the way.

Auburn shot 50.9 percent from the floor on 29 of 57 and also hit 18 of 24 free throws, including 14 of 16 in the second half. MSU hit 38.7 percent from the floor (24-62) and were three of 20 from three-point land.

Auburn travels to Tuscaloosa on Thursday to face Alabama at 7 p.m. CST in Coleman Coliseum.

No. 18 Florida 75, Mississippi 73

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Mississippi's Saundra Jackson casually tossed the ball out of bounds as time expired, putting a bizarre ending on No. 18 Florida's 75-73 victory Sunday.

Florida's Brandi McCain missed the front end of a 1-and-1, and Jackson grabbed the rebound. Seeing that no other player had jumped into the lane, Jackson assumed it must have been a two-shot foul and tossed the ball to the referee, who was standing out of bounds.

McCain led the Gators (13-5, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) with 17 points. After playing just four minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, Vanessa Hayden never left the court in the second half and finished with 16 points and eight rebounds.

Sherika Wright led Mississippi (9-9, 1-4) with 21 points, including a 3-pointer with 3.2 seconds left to cut the Florida lead to 2.

With Hayden out, Mississippi led by as many as 10 in the first half, but Florida opened the second half on a 12-4 run and held off a late rally by the Rebels.