The top-seeded South Carolina Gamecocks found out who their quarterfinal opponent will be. The Auburn Tigers took down Missouri in first of four second round games of the SEC Women's Basketball tournament.
Auburn outlasted Missouri 47-45 in a sluggish battle after a defensive stand up by two with under 20 seconds left. The Auburn-based Tigers used a total team effort to take down their foes from Missouri, with six different players scoring six+ points. Forward Jazmine Jones led Auburn in scoring with 10 points and added three blocks.
South Carolina and Auburn met in late January in Alabama, a game in which the Gamecocks won 74-58. The Gamecocks used an 18-0 run to close out the first half and were carried by an Alaina Coates double-double to get the win.
As they've done for most of the season, Dawn Staley's squad used their size to overpower Auburn down low, outscoring the Tigers 36-16 in the paint. The hot shooting and efficiency from South Carolina's offense that night was contrasted by a 34.5% shooting night by the Tigers.
The two teams will meet again at 12:00 pm Friday with a spot in the semifinals on the line.
Here's a quick review of the rest of the day's action:
(5) Kentucky Wildcats 79, (13) LSU Tigers 71
The #13 Kentucky Wildcats jumped out to a 12 point lead, but LSU hung tough, refusing to go down easy in game two of Thursday's action. Kentucky expanded its lead to 16 before halftime, and took a 41-29 advantage to the locker room, but Alexis Hyder led LSU for a second straight game to keep it close in the second half.
Hyder led all scorers with 23 points and added 10 rebounds, but it wasn't enough to pull off the upset as Kentucky's guard duo of Makayla Epps and Janee Thompson led the Wildcats with 17 points each.
The fifth seeded Wildcats will take on the four seed #25 Florida in Friday's quarterfinals. LSU will end the year 10-21 overall.
(7) Tennessee Volunteers 68, (10) Arkansas Razorbacks 51
Diamond DeShields and Jaime Nared led the Vols past the Razorbacks in Game #3. The win improved Tennessee to 18-12 overall as they aim to make a late push to solidify a NCAA Tournament bid. DeShields and Nared finished with 15 and 11 points, respectively.
The Vols came out with some much needed intensity to jump out to an early 17-7 lead to end the first frame. DeShields scored eight straight in the third to extend the lead and never looked back from there.
Guard Devin Cosper led the Razorbacks with 20 points, but it wasn't enough as Arkansas will end the year at 12-18 overall.
Tennessee moves on to play the second seeded Texas A&M Aggies Friday night.
(11) Vanderbilt Commodores 54, (6) Georgia Bulldogs 49
The Commodores gutted out a five-point overtime victory and sent the Bulldogs packing in the day's final game. Christi Reed (18 points) and Minta Spears (17 points) led the way for Vandy, who will take on third-seeded Mississippi State in the fourth and final game on Friday evening. Caliya Robinson was the Dawgs' top scorer with seventeen.
Georgia had a 44-38 lead with 1:15 left in the fourth quarter, but the 'Dores scored eight of the quarter's final ten points to force OT, capped by three made free throws by Spears with just over a second remaining. In the extra session, Reed's jumper with 1:43 left broke a 48-48 deadlock; Georgia was held to a single point the rest of the way.
Vandy improves to 18-13 on the season; Georgia falls to 21-9 and will see their NCAA tournament fate put in the hands of the selection committee.