Official Site of the Southeastern Conference

SEC Women's Basketball Results for Thursday, January 21, 2010

Georgia 53, Tennessee 50

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ATHENS, Ga. (AP) -- Porsha Phillips scored the go-ahead basket off a pass from Ashley Houts with 39 seconds remaining, then added two free throws that clinched No. 8 Georgia's 53-50 upset of third-ranked Tennessee in a rugged Southeastern Conference showdown Thursday night.

Houts led the Lady Bulldogs (18-1, 5-1 SEC) with 12 points and Phillips had 10, but this bruising game was decided at the defensive end. Georgia managed to win even though it missed 16 of its first 19 shots in the second half against the Lady Volunteers (16-2, 4-1).

Tennessee turned the ball over 23 times and couldn't stop the Lady Dogs from stealing it away at the end. Alyssia Brewer converted a three-point play that put the Lady Vols ahead, but Phillips scored the final four points to give Georgia one of its biggest victories in years.

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LSU 69, South Carolina 52

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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Katherine Graham scored 22 of her career-high 24 points in the first half and No. 18 LSU snapped a two-game losing streak by beating South Carolina 69-52 on Thursday night.

Scoring inside and out, Graham hit all eight of her shots in the opening half and surpassed her previous career best of 14 points in the first 10 minutes. The Tigers (14-3, 3-2 SEC) led by as much as 18 and the Gamecocks never came closer than eight points the rest of the way.

LaSondra Barrett and Allison Hightower combined for 24 of LSUs first 26 points in the second half. Barrett finished with 18 points and eight rebounds. Hightower had 16 points.

Kelsey Bone scored 16 for South Carolina (10-8, 3-3), which lost for the first time in four games. La'Keisha Sutton added 14 points.

Valerie Nainima, who came in averaging 18.5 points, managed five.

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Alabama 82, Florida 58

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Tierney Jenkins scored 28 points with 12 rebounds and led Alabama to an 82-58 victory over Florida at Coleman Coliseum in front of 1,367.

Each of Florida’s first five Southeastern Conference games were decided by fewer than 10 points, but Thursday evening’s affair wasn’t close after the Crimson Tide closed the first half on a 10-2 run en route to snapping its five-game losing streak and earning its first conference victory.

Alabama (9-10, 1-5 SEC) opened the second half with a 12-3 that extended its 38-26 halftime lead to 21 points and the Gators (10-9, 3-3 SEC) would never recover.

Sharielle Smith and Azania Stewart both scored nine points to lead Florida, which shot just 31.4 percent from the floor (22-70), including a 22.2 percent three-point mark (4-18). Smith also collected a team-high nine rebounds, helping the Gators to a 43-37 edge on the glass.

Ndidi Madu and Jennifer George scored eight points apiece for Florida, which had 10 different players score during the game.

Alabama hit a blistering 58.2 percent of its shots, the highest mark by a Gator opponent this season. The Tide also nailed 65.4 percent during the second-half, when UF hit just 30 percent. Celiscia Farmer contributed 19 points off the bench for Alabama, while Ericka Russell tallied 18 points and seven assists.
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Kentucky 69, Arkansas 52

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Junior forward Victoria Dunlap (Nashville, Tenn.) had a game-high 22 points, senior forward Lydia Watkins (Hopkinsville, Ky.) grabbed a season-high 12 rebounds, and the 25^th-ranked Kentucky women’s basketball team used a dominating first half to defeat Arkansas 69-52 Thursday night in Memorial Coliseum.

Kentucky (15-3, 3-2 SEC) executed solid rebounding and used a dominant defensive presence right out of the gate to break open a slim five-point lead less than five minutes into the game. The Wildcats went on a 13-3 run to take a 24-10 lead at 11:56 in the first half, thanks to three offensive rebounds and a four-point scoring spurt by reserve point guard Crystal Riley (Memphis, Tenn.).

When the Wildcats weren’t forcing turnovers and getting points in transition, they were upsetting the Razorbacks’ offensive rhythm and forcing bad shots. UK held Arkansas (8-11, 0-6 SEC) to 28.6 percent (8-of-28) shooting and just 21 first-half points, the second-fewest points scored by a UK opponent this season. Nine of the 10 Wildcats that saw action scored at least one point in the first half as UK took a 16-point lead (37-21) and never led by fewer than a dozen points the rest of the game.

Arkansas was led by guard Lyndsay Harris with 14 points and Louisville native C’eira Ricketts added 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds.

The Wildcats had extra incentive to grab a win as former UK football coach Rich Brooks and his wife Karen were honored prior to the game. The coaching staff and team presented him with the game ball from their win over No. 17/16 Vanderbilt on Jan. 10. 

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Ole Miss 66, Mississippi State 58

OXFORD, Miss. -- A strong second-half surge lifted Ole Miss past Mississippi State 66-58 in a Southeastern Conference women’s basketball game played Thursday night at Tad Smith Coliseum.

The Lady Bulldogs dropped their second straight conference game and also suffered its first league defeat on the road. MSU is now 12-7 overall and 3-3 in league play. Ole Miss improved to 13-5 and 4-1. The Lady Rebels snapped a two-game losing streak in the in-state rivalry.

MSU appeared to seize the momentum late in the first half. Neither team led by more than four points before the Lady Bulldogs pieced together a 12-1 run. Bethany Washington and Alexis Rack hit back-to-back 3-point baskets to highlight that run. A jumper by Rack gave the Lady Bulldogs their largest lead at 28-19 with 2:27 remaining before the half.

The Lady Rebels crawled back into the contest with a half-ending 8-3 run. UM’s Bianca Thomas drained a 3-point basket cutting the MSU lead to 31-27 at the intermission.

Ole Miss put its stamp on a fourth straight conference win at home by playing well in the game’s final 20 minutes. The Lady Rebels shot 57.7 percent from the floor in the second half.

The Lady Rebels pulled even in the contest on an old-fashioned 3-point play by Kayla Melson. The converted free throw tied the teams 38-38 with 13:57 left in regulation. From there, a 12-4 run by Ole Miss gave the Lady Rebels the lead for good.

Ole Miss held a 35-25 rebounding advantage. The Lady Bulldogs had 14 assists and 18 turnovers, while the Lady Rebels had 12 assists and 18 turnovers.

Rack paced the Lady Bulldogs with 19 points. Rack also had five assists but committed seven turnovers. Chanel Mokango added 10 points, a team-high five rebounds and three blocked shots.

For Ole Miss, Black and Thomas each shared team-high scoring honors with 15 points apiece. Nikki Byrd scored 12 points, while Melson and Elizabeth Robertson each added 11 points. Byrd had a team-high nine rebounds, while Melson dished out seven assists.

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Vanderbilt 61, Auburn 60

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AUBURN, Ala.(AP) -- Merideth Marsh scored 19 points to lead No. 21 Vanderbilt to a 61-60 victory over Auburn on Thursday night.

Alli Smalley had 19 points for Auburn. Her 3-pointer brought Auburn within one with 46.9 left in the game. Vanderbilt's Tiffany Clarke missed an open layup on the ensuing possession giving the Tigers a chance.

Keke Carrier turned the ball over and Vanderbilt (14-5, 3-3 SEC) held on for its 16th straight win over Auburn (11-8, 2-4).

Carrier was injured earlier in the game and didn't return till the end.

The Commodores took advantage of Carrier's absence and overcame a 36-29 halftime deficit for their third conference victory.

Jence Rhoads added 12 points for Vanderbilt.

Auburn coach Nell Fortner is 0-8 all time against Vanderbilt's Melanie Balcomb.