SEC Women's Basketball Roundup - 11/30

Saturday, November 30, 2002
 
Vanderbilt 91, Youngstown State 60

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Chantelle Anderson's 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Ashley McElhiney's 14 points and 11 assists carried No. 9 Vanderbilt past Youngstown State 91-60 Saturday at the First Tennessee Tournament.

Vanderbilt (3-0) will face the winner of the Central Michigan-Harvard game in Sunday's championship.

The Commodores trailed by a point 2 1/2 minutes into the game, before going on a 15-2 run and taking a 20-8 lead. From there, they extended the margin steadily, leading 52-26 at halftime and 70-40 eight minutes into the second half.

Barb Fabianola hit a pair of 3-pointers to help Youngstown State (1-2) cut the deficit to 74-50 with nine minutes to play, but Vanderbilt regrouped and led by as many as 33 points in the final minute.

McElhiney scored 11 points in the first half en route to her third career double-double. Anderson has 11 double-doubles.

Vanderbilt had four other players score in double digits: Jenni Benningfield and Ashley Earley with 13 each, and Tia Battle and Hillary Hager with 12 apiece.

Fabianola finished with a game-high 20 points (including 6-for-9 on 3-pointers), and Tara Fleming added 12 for Youngstown State.


Ole Miss 91, Morgan State 47

CHICAGO, Ill. –- Sophomore center Amber Watts led five players in double figures with 20 points as Ole Miss cruised past Morgan State, 91-47, in the opening round game game of the UIC Thanksgiving Tournament on Saturday. Watts connected on 8-of-11 shots from the field and 4-of-6 from the free throw line and also grabbed nine rebounds and three steals for the Lady Rebels.

"Amber established an inside presence for us early," said Ole Miss head coach Ron Aldy. "She not only opened things up on the offensive end of the floor, but she really set the tone on the defensive end of the floor with some steals and blocks."

Ole Miss jumped out to an early 12-2 lead behind six points by Watts and never looked back. The Lady Rebels controlled the boards as they out-rebounded the Lady Bears, 61-34, and also forced 23 Morgan State turnovers.

"The rebounding factor was something we felt like we could control," said Aldy. "Amber set the bar and all of the other girls matched her intensity. I was very pleased with our rebounding today, I thought it was the key to the game."

Joining Watts in double figure scoring was freshman forward Ellen Buchanan (15), junior guard Tenisha Gist (13), sophomore guard Elizabeth Cansdale (12), and junior forward Erin Newsom (11). Junior forward Tia Watson and freshman guard Ashley Johnson added seven points a piece.

Watson led the Lady Rebels on the boards with 10. Watts grabbed nine rebounds, Gist had seven and senior forward Leah Henley and Newsom collected six rebounds each. Gist led Ole Miss with eight assists and Watson dished out four.

Tamara Haulcy and Erinn Coleman scored 12 points a piece to lead Morgan State. Collea Coleman pulled down five rebounds and Lisa Turner dished out three assists for the Lady Bears.

Ole Miss shot 42.3 percent from the field and 68.4 percent from the free throw line. The Lady Rebels handed out 25 assists and had 10 steals.

Morgan State was held to 24.6 percent shooting from the field, including just 14.3 percent from the three-point line. The Lady Bears committed 23 turnovers and dished out 10 assists.

Ole Miss will play the host Illinois-Chicago Flames in the championship game of the tournament Sunday at 3:30 p.m. at the UIC Pavilion.


Auburn 77, Belmont 59

AUBURN -- Natasha Brackett scored 19 points, Mandisa Stevenson added 14 and Tia Miller pulled down 10 boards to go along with 10 points as the Auburn Tigers defeated Belmont 77-59 to win the Auburn Thanksgiving Classic here Saturday at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.

Belmont lead much of the first half until a three-pointer from Miller with 8:54 left in the first gave the Tigers a one-point lead. The Tigers never looked back as they stretched the first half lead to seven, 36-29.

"Belmont is a scrappy team," Auburn head coach Joe Ciampi said. "After watching them, we knew that they could be an effective team. They have a group of great shooters and they live and die by the three.

"In the second half we decided to make some defensive changes," Ciampi said. "We started to pick up our game with some steals and Natasha Brackett was key in leading the way for the change. Being able to make adjustments in the game shows how much this team is growing and they will continue to do so as the season goes on."

The Tigers opened the second half with a 10-4 run for a 15 point lead and went on to win 77-59.

Auburn returns to action Tuesday, December 3, when they play UAB. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.


South Carolina 54, Boston College 51

CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) -- Cristina Ciocan scored 18 points, and unbeaten South Carolina upset No. 18 Boston College 54-51 Saturday to win the St. Thomas division of the Paradise Jam tournament.

Jocelyn Penn had 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Gamecocks (4-0), who never trailed. They led 26-24 at the break, and started the second half with a 6-2 run.

Jessalyn Deveny led Boston College (3-1) with 18 points, and Becky Gottstein added 15. Both had seven rebounds.

South Carolina led by as many as nine points twice in the second half, the last time at 53-44 with 4:14 remaining. The Eagles made a late surge, scoring seven of the game's final eight points, but ran out of time.


LSU 68, Florida Intl. 54

MIAMI -- The third-ranked LSU women's basketball team shook off a pesky Florida International team late in the second half to win the FIU Thanksgiving Classic, 68-54, on Saturday evening in Golden Panther Arena.

The Lady Tigers (5-0), who played their fifth game in eight days in four different cities, led by as little as five late in the second half but pulled away down the stretch to beat Florida International (2-2).

Doneeka Hodges led four Lady Tigers in double figures with 14 points, while Aiysha Smith added 13, Seimone Augustus had 12, Temeka Johnson had 11 and Ke-Ke Tardy had nine point.

LSU shot only 42 percent from the field (28-67).

The Lady Tigers scored the first 10 points of the game before FIU tied the game at 21-21. LSU led 34-26 at halftime. In the second half, FIU got no closer than four.

The Lady Tigers advanced to the championship of the four-team tournament by defeating Washington State, 87-50, on Friday evening. Washington State and Virginia Tech will meet in the third-place game immediately following the LSU-FIU contest.

LSU returns to action on Saturday, Dec. 7, when the Lady Tigers take on Alabama A&M at 7 p.m. in the Maravich Assembly Center.


Arizona 70, Georgia 49

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- Arizona's Julie Brase scored 16 points Saturday to help bring the Wildcats to a 70-49 victory over Georgia.

The Bulldogs (2-1) couldn't find their shooting touch and appeared a step slower than Arizona. Arizona's guards took advantage with open jumpers from the outside and its front line scored inside easily.

Arizona's balanced offensive attack never let up after building an 18-point lead at halftime.

Arizona's Dee-Dee Wheeler and Krista Warren finished with 12 points each, while Shawntinice Polk added 10 points and 17 rebounds.

Kara Braxton led Georgia with 11 points, followed by Christi Thomas at 10 points.

Georgia scored only eight points in an 11 minute span in the second half.


Tennessee 96, Army 44

SAN JUAN, Puerto (AP) -- Kara Lawson led a barrage of 3-point baskets, scoring 20 points as fourth-ranked Tennessee beat Army 96-44 Saturday in the second round of the San Juan Shootout.

Lawson made four of six 3-point attempts, and Tennessee (4-1) wound up 12-of-23 from beyond the arc. Gwen Jackson made three-of- four from long range and scored 13 points to surpass the 1,000 for her career.

Army (1-3) started well, taking a 6-4 lead. But Tennessee quickly found the range and a 16-point run included two 3-pointers by Brittany Jackson. The Lady Vols had a 25-8 lead with 12:03 remaining in the first half.

The Lady Vols play Saint Louis on Sunday for the tournament championship. Army faces the Puerto Rico-Mayaguez in the consolation game.

Saint Louis beat the Puerto Rico-Mayaguez 90-32 earlier Saturday

Freshman Shanna Zolman added 15 points for Tennessee. Katie Macfarlane paced Army with 12 points.


Duke 74, Arkansas 72 OT

CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) -- Amanda Beard made two free throws with one second left in overtime to complete a 27-point performance, and top-ranked Duke escaped with a 74-72 victory Saturday over No. 17 Arkansas.

The victory gave Duke (5-0) the championship of the St. John division of the Paradise Jam. Arkansas (4-1), which got 19 points from Shameka Christon, had a chance to tie the game, but Lakisha Harper's desperation shot hit the backboard and rim and bounced away as time expired.

The Lady Razorbacks had a 61-59 lead with 2:51 left in regulation. But Mistie Bass made a layup to tie the score. Beard had two chances to win the game in regulation, but missed from the foul line with 17 seconds left and again with 11 remaining.

Iciss Tillis and Bass had 13 points apiece for the Blue Devils, and Tillis pulled down 10 rebounds.

India Lewis added 15 points for the Lady Razorbacks, who also got 14 from Harper and 11 from Rochelle Vaughn.


Alabama 69, Stephen F. Austin 56

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks (0-3) were able to limit their turnovers Saturday afternoon, but they couldn't keep Alabama (4-0) off the glass as the Crimson Tide handed SFA a 69-56 setback to drop the Ladyjacks to 0-3 to start the year.

Saddled with turnovers the first two games of the season, Lee Ann Riley's Ladyjacks held their turnover total to only 12 against Alabama, but couldn't seem to find the range as SFA shot only 26.1 percent (18-69) from the field for the game. Nathesia Wright, who led SFA with 21 points Friday night, exemplified the trouble the Ladyjacks seemed to have Saturday, as Wright went 1-11 from the field and ended the game with only three points. The Ladyjacks were only 3-11 on three point attempts.

San Antonio senior Amy Collins was the only Ladyjack to shoot a decent percentage for the game, connecting on five of 10 field goal attempts to lead SFA with 17 points. She also added six rebounds. Brittany Vinson added 13 points on a five of 16 shooting night, and LaToya Mills added 12 points to round out the double figure scoring for the Ladyjacks. Mills also led SFA with eight rebounds.

SFA connected on only nine of 37 first half field goal shots (.243), while Alabama came out of the blocks hot, shooting .485 for the first half (16-33). Beth Vice was 8-9 from the floor for the Tide as she led them with 24 points. Alabama used Vice and a hot shooting hand to build a 41-28 first half lead and ride that lead to the win.

The Tide outrebounded SFA 48-37 in the contest. Alabama also shot well from beyond the three point arc, making 12 of 20 three point attempts (.600). SFA forced 25 Crimson Tide turnovers on the night and outscored the Crimson Tide 17-6 on points off turnovers.


Washington 88, Kentucky 56

Seattle, Wash. –- Shambrica Jones recorded a career-high 21 points but it wouldn't be enough, as the University of Kentucky women's basketball team fell 88-56 to the Washington Huskies in the championship game of the Seattle Times Husky Classic on Saturday night. Sophomore Sara Potts, who combined for 37 points in the two-day event, was the Cats' lone representative on the All-Tournament team.

The Wildcats (2-1) shot a dismal 34.5 percent from the field in the first half of play en route to a 47-26 half-time deficit. UK would come no closer than five points in the game after the Huskies (3-1) broke out to an early 14-3 lead. UW also held UK center SeSe Helm scoreless for the first time in her three-year career.

"Washington is a very good shooting team and you can't let them have open looks," UK Coach Bernadette Mattox said. "We did a lot of standing around and we got down. It's hard to come back and not make shots. When we started a run in the second half, we let them drop a couple of "threes" on us. We just didn't get it done tonight."

Potts continued her stellar play from the first round against Pacific, hitting 7-of-15 shots from the field, including four three pointers. She accounted for 14 of UK's 26 first-half points and also grabbed a game-high seven rebounds. Jones, who regrouped from a poor performance in UK's opening round game, paced the Cats in the second stanza. Jones heated up the nets for 15 second-half points. The Cats closed the gap shortly after the break, coming within 47-32 on a lay-up from Jones before UW answered with two threes to put UW back on top by 20. The Huskies extended their lead shortly thereafter and the Cats never threatened again.

"I was very pleased with Sara (Potts) and Shambrica (Jones)," Mattox said. "I felt when we penetrated the ball, we got open looks. We did a lot of standing around tonight and we must regain our focus for our next game at Evansville."

After shooting 71.4 percent from the three-point line in the first half, the Huskies made five more trey's to round out their shooting of 45.2 percent for the game. The Cats made 22-58 field goals in the contest, a 37.9 percent tally. Although they dominated the paint in the first round, the Cats were outscored by the Huskies 42-28 around the basket in the championship game. UW outrebounded the Cats 43-27.

The Huskies had three double-digit performances in the contest, led by the tournament's Most Valuable Player Giuliana Mendiola with 21. Loree Payne and Andrea Lalum, who also were named to the All-Tournament team, added 18 apiece for UW.

Washington defeated St. Bonaventure in the first round and has advanced to the tournament championship game in all 16 years of the Seattle Times Classic. UW won its 10th tournament title. UK defeated Pacific 77-61 to advance to the tournament finals.

UK will next face the Purple Aces of Evansville on Dec. 4 at 8 p.m. ET in Evansville.