Mike Siroky’s SEC Report: From the Quarterfinals - Let The Big Dogs Run

By Mike Siroky

The SEC quarterfinals, in which the top four debuted, had no surprises. The higher seeds all won, reducing the field to four.

The ranked teams are all in the NCAA eliminations. If the other two may be the gift teams,

 One makes sense because it hit the NCAA standard of the year 15 wins, even in conference.

But t rumored eighth team getting in takes one well below  .500 in the league and overall. As strong as the conference may be, that is a heckuva tug into the NCAAs. The other rumored eight team is at least even on the season.

Two games pitted nationally ranked teams against each other. If the seedings play out, two potential No. 1 seeds in the NCAA eliminations will play again.

Staying worthy the tradition of “if you win all your conference home games you win the title,” that was the difference this season when Texas A&M defended the home court on the last day of the season.

South Carolina had already won all its home games. So head-to-head had to be the decider. Seldom have two teams won all their conference home games.

Texas A&M 77, LSU 58

A&M, No. 2 in the country was the top seed in the SEC tournament. They drew the early bird special to stat the quarterfinals, the Aggies (22-1) vs. the Ben-Gals (9-12).

 A&M secured its first regular season SEC Championship since joining the league in 2012-13 following a 13-1 conference record. The national ranking is a program first, as is the top seed and the one-loss regular and conference seasons.

Senior forward N’dea Jackson is the all-time program rebounds leader, averages 10 a game and starts the defense.

“I did count the rebounds,” Jones said of the record. “I heard my dad yell ‘We did it!’ and I thought that must have been the rebound.

“I really don’t know how I do it, I just go get the ball.”

Aliyah Wilson leads in scoring (13.2), blocks (19) and steals (43). 

Destiny Pitts is the top reserve in the league, voted by conference coaches the SEC 6^th Woman of the Ciera Johnson SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year ,

Anna Dremaine has gained confidence, as the 6-5 impact off the bench. “We all cheer for Anna,” Blair said. “I love Anna’s blocks. Her basket was something you can use to teach.”

‘”In practice, whenever she shoots they are all cheering  even before it goes in. They all know how hard she works, by herself.”

Jordan Nixon is the athletic entity off the bench.

“She looked like Rocky’s sister,” Blair said of Nixon’s bloody injury towards the end of the previous game. “She had stitches and a new uniform,” Blair said of Nixon’s toughness.

Gary Blair, first in league coaching longevity, is  a semifinalist for the Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year.

 The Aggies have a 10-game win streak.

“This is the start of the championship,” Blair said. “We take it one game at a time.”

The Tigers are coming off a 71-62 elimination in the first round Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament. Khayla Pointer scores 18.5 with 86 assists and  25 3s. Faustine Aifuwa scores 11.1 with nine rebounds.

This is their chance to break plateau history of going one-and-done in the tournament. Nikki Fargas finds herself the third longest-serving league coach. Seven of the league coaches have been around in the competitive league for four years or less.

Each team in this matchup has won at home this season. A&M’s only loss was in overtime at LSU in mid-January, the Bengals’ third straight in the series. Looked like Bayou voodoo.

The Aggies won by 14 in February.

.

 Blair said the early morning schedule meant they had a 6:45 a.m. walk-through. “There is no advantage to being seeded No. 1 if you start so early,” he said. “Then, if you win, you have all day to worry about the next one.”

The game started 7-6 LSU. A&M was pushing the tempo. Pointer had five for LSU. Jones had the first two rebounds.

Bodies were hitting the floor. It was a physical game. Nobody had scored in more than two and a half minutes. LSU was shooting 27 percent, LSU 20.

Destiny Pitts came in for A&M.

Ryan Payne, coming off a shoulder injury, had her first game against A&M. Reserve buddy Sarah Shematsi was also in. They had won the game against Florida.

Tiara Young hit a 3 for LSU. Kayla Wells hit one of two free throws. Wilson got the rebound off the miss. It was 10-9.

Aifuwa hit two free throws. 

The Aggies were 3-of-13 from the floor. It was tied at 12-12. The Aggies had their only lead after Johnson hit her second free throw. Their 7-of-8 from the line kept them in it. They had no baskets in the final 2:41. LSU had two 3s, A&M none.

Jones scored, trailing a rush. Then she hit a 3. It was 18-12. It was Jones’ third 3 of the year, much to LSU’s surprise. Time out, Bengals.

They blew the lead out to six, but a Pointer 3 cut that. With a minute to go, it was six again. Wells made two free throws and a jumper to end a 0-5 slumber.

Alexis Morris hit two free throws and A&M was comfortable with a 32-26 lead. Pointer, 3-for-5, had scored 13. Johnson had 10 with no 3s.

Jones had six rebounds. The Aggies led rebounds y that many.

It was a methodical approach to the third quarter as A&M made the advantage a dozen. Three were in double figures, Wells with 12, 6-of-10 at the line. Nixon and Johnson 10 each, Johnson was 4-of-4 at the line. A&M had 19 free throws and one 3. Jones had eight rebounds. 

Florida had 21 from Pointer, 8-of-10 from the line, but her help had yet to arrive. The lead stretched to 15 in the fourth.

LSU was not threatening. Their season would end 9-13. A&M advanced to the semifinals at 23-1, against 5 seed Kentucky

It wound up the blowout it was meant to be, 77-58.

Pointer had 26, 10-of-12 from the line with four 3s, one of three from LSU in double figures.

A&M was wonderful at sharing the ball. Jones, Johnson and Nixon scored 12 each. Wilson had 15 rebounds. 

Wells scored 16, 7-of-12 from the line.

Nixon said, “We took on the challenge. That’s who we are. This is where the lights are the brightest. It’s where everyone wants ot be.

“They were flying around, making us uncomfortable. Then we settled in and that’s who we are.”

Blair said, “Normal slow start then we took control in the second quarter. Morris came in and I got a lot of options.

“We got stability our there. Our defense was outstanding. I threw a couple of wrinkles in when they started man-to-man.

“We made good plays. We started reversing the ball, waiting until eventually we got a good shot.”

“These kids love each other. We keep to the protocols we have to have.”

Nikki Fargas said, “It's a two-possession game in the third quarter. We can’t generate enough offense. Field goal-wise you have looks, you have layups, you have jumpers wide open. We weren’t able to connect on them. 

“In the third quarter we were 2-for-12. That hurt our offensive production. Even though we got to the free-throw line a little bit more, but this game is also about the responsibility of everybody that touches the floor. 

“So if you’re a starter, we need to outplay their starters. If you're a bench player, you need to outplay their bench. What allowed us to win a lot of our ballgames was because we did those things. 

“Today against a very talented Texas A&M team, obviously No. 1 in our league right now, regular season, probably a No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, they showcased why they are. 

“We have, again, to examine how do we fill our stat lines when the ball isn’t bouncing our way. That’s where we’ve been struggling as far as players stepping up their defense.

“ In the past we typically play A&M around in the 50s. Gary and I kid about the team, we kid about this: The team that probably gets to 60 first is going to win. We joke about that. 

“To give up that many points, I thought our defense really failed us today even though our offensive execution in the third quarter really hurt us. 

“You have N'dea Jones and Ciera Johnson, two veteran post players that bring a lot of size. When Trasi got in foul trouble, Aifuwa got in foul trouble the first half, we had to sit them. 

“That’s hard to muster up enough height and size when our two primary post players are sitting on the bench. This game, still with that being said, you got a second half. 

“You can come back and play and really showcase what you're capable of doing. I can't say enough, I just really feel like Pointer needed some more help. I thought this was Rakell Spencer's best offensive shooting night. I felt like Rakell Spencer did everything she could. We just couldn’t get anybody else going. 

“I really thought that that hurt us because we needed other guard play to step up because their post play outplayed ours. 

“But you can’t have them outplaying both. So that’s where I thought our ability to knock down some shots that we had yesterday, we knocked them down; today we did not. “

Despite a sub-.500 record, she is still campaigning for an NCAA invite because she is in the toughest conference.

“To me, I'm looking at the fact we had to cancel two non-conference games due to COVID. That could have played either way with our schedule. Then we get into conference play and we finished eighth in our league. 

“We have quality wins against top-ranked opponents. We've got two wins, against Texas A&M being one and at Georgia. 

“ So we went out and played some talent, and we beat some talent. Again, what metrics are you putting teams in? If you're going to hold teams accountable because of their overall record, that's an interesting concept due to COVID. If a team finished 20-2, they should automatically be in the tournament. 

“Or are you going to stay consistent historically with eight, sometimes nine -- I remember we were 7-9, got a bunch of SEC teams in. We got two top -- potentially overall No. 1s in our league. 

“LSU played Texas A&M three times, we played South Carolina twice. We also have been able to go on the road and showcase that we can beat a Georgia team at their court. 

“I feel like our résumé, if you just look at who we've had to play, if you're saying teams that -- if you have two top-25 wins and you have four top-50 wins, to me, if you’re basing it off of that. I just know that COVID is an interesting year for us. Seven wins in our conference at one point was automatic in. 

“We went with six with a COVID year playing two less games in the non-conference and two less games in conference play. I do feel like this is a tournament team.”

We’ll find out in 10 days if anyone buys her bag of beans.

Blair had more to say.

As always, he praised his opponent and wished them well in future endeavors.

 “Give LSU a lot of credit,” he said

“I thought they played their best game of the year the game before us against Mississippi State. They were just coming off of five losses. I think they're still an NCAA team. When you got somebody as good as Pointer and Aifuwa out there, that says a lot about our league. 

“Nikki has done everything she can with this team. Yesterday's game against Mississippi State, I mean, I didn't sleep at all last night just thinking how could we beat it. But the last basket before the end of the quarter when we were up 13-12, that gave us -- because we couldn't have shot any worse than what we did, but I thought that gave us a boost. I thought we dissected their zone pretty well in the second and third quarter. 

“Man-to-man stuff, we're pretty good at running our stuff against man-to-man. 

“Our kids played well, and again played with that savvy you have to have in the second and the third quarter, which we did. 

“Everything always you look back to the point guard play. Yeah, we struggled a little with some of our turnovers. It doesn't matter how we preach to them about throwing cross-court passes, we still managed to do it. 

“But the smarter we got, the more we started driving the ball. I knew our legs would not be as good. We wanted to drive the ball against their matchup zone or man-to-man. Then obviously when 

Morris came in the ballgame in the second quarter, that sped us up. “It could have been McKinzie Green, could have been Jordan. This time we needed Jordan. It was a great call by (assistant) coach 

Bond to put her in at the time. We got those two easy baskets from her, then her confidence was sky high. 

“She was able to complete the job in the third and fourth quarter. 

“Well, some of you do not remember, (Alexis Morris) won a national championship two years ago at Baylor as a starting point guard at the end of the season. So she knows what it’s all about and 

she’s been great to come in and wait her turn and earn her turn, because Green and Nixon have both played very well this year.

“People seem to forget about that. She’s already won a national championship. She’d like to have another one. It’s going to be fun the next few years knowing our point guards are all back because we can share. 

“Our bench was tremendous. We didn’t give Pitts the shots she needed in the first half, but she hit a big 3 later when we reversed the ball to her. 

“Zaay Green came in, another kid that’s been playing on a pretty good team at Tennessee. She came in and she has just fit into your team like a glove. 

“I cannot wait for next year. Think about what Wilson and Wells did today, my ‘W Girls.’ I said, ‘Drive the ball.’

“She got to the free-throw line 12 times. Normally she’s going to hit 11 out of 12.. She drove the ball, which was very good. Wilson had 15 rebounds. We didn’t need her offense as much, but her rebounds, two blocked shots. 

“This team will do whatever it takes. If it isn’t their night, they’ll defer and find another way to help the team. 

“We wanted to go to Ciera Johnson early. Her first move she made in there, the little baby hook, we kept telling her, ‘That’s your shot, get there, use it. She had a very solid game as well. 

“Don’t forget the charges. I think (Jones) either took two or three, and some were not called. But she throws her body in there so much, she does such a great job whatever the team needs. Before the game I said, ‘Whoever leads this game in taking charge is probably going to win it.’ 

“We got into a little bit of foul trouble, but that was what both teams were trying to do, drive the ball. 

“We were forcing their misses. I just think she just keeps backing game after game after game. I think she's an All-American. Just give her a lot of credit. She brings it every night. God, it's good to have her. “ We were feeling out. Thank heavens they were missing as many shots as we were. It didn’give them momentum at the quarter break. It gave us momentum because we had great shots, particularly underneath, that we just didn't hit due to their size or just us missing it. 

“You always expect that the team that plays on Thursday and has a good win, they feel -- I've been there before. 

“Upsets happen on Friday. It's the best basketball in the country on Friday in the SEC, because all eight teams should be going to the tournament. We expected the letdown. But when you have a veteran team, we do not panic. 

We started dissecting them. Coach (Kelly Bond White) did a great job of her zone offense. (Bob) Starkey is always playing the defense. I get to sub in or do something, whatever I do.”

Then the Warrior Poet showed up.

“This was good for women's basketball. I'm sorry that the normal five to seven to eight thousand are not here to see this in person. But the ones that are here enjoy Greenville because this is a special time and a special town. 

“My 'why' is Special Olympics. On my white tennis shoes, I've done a special Olympic tournament for 28 years, Arkansas and A&M. That's our 'why'. If you could have heard the kids when they were presented the shoes in the practice gym, then he had to get up and talk to each other on why their 'why' was so important, whether it was cancer, losing a loved one, or helping their aunt at home or 

COVID problems that relatives have had. 

“It was a very emotional time. I wish it could have been every team in the country has a 'why', why we're playing today. We’re doing such a good job in men’s and women’s basketball. 

“Why are we playing? Because the country needs us right now. They need hope. They need box scores. They need their television so they can get back and second-guess us poor coaches. But they need to enjoy the 18-to 23-year-olds that are going through their why's. 

“It doesn't hurt for a 75-year-old to have a 'why', as well. “

 

Georgia 78, Kentucky 65

This was supposed tot be an  evenly matched pairing to set the top half of the backet.

It wasn’t. UK proved to be a one trick[MS1]  pony.

The top half of the league backet has No. 1 vs. No. 3 in the semifinal. No team was able to win twice yet, though someone will do that next.

UK had won at Georgia to claim the No. 4 seed then lost it at home to Ole Miss

Howard had 26 points eight days ago, 10-of-16 from the field. UK had won three straight  from Georgia. In four career SEC Tournament games, Rhyne Howard is averaging 25.5 points with 6.7 rebounds , 2.5 assists  two steals and three blocks. Consistency is why she is offered talked about as the best player in the conference.

Georgia’s Maya Caldwell entered the tournament following the best game of her career. Caldwell scored a career-best 27 points off an 11-of-15 shooting effort in her final game, just the second time 

she has scored more than 20 points in her career. 

Kentucky earned a 73-64 win over Florida in the second round Thursday. The Kats were led by  Howard’s 27 points with six rebounds, four steals and four assists. Howard scored nine points in the fourth quarter when the Kats outscored the Gators 27-15 Senior forward KeKe McKinney scored 10 with eight rebound, Freshman guard Treasure Hunt came off the bench with nine points and seven rebounds, hitting a 3.

“Well, the thing about this game, Georgia is a tough team,” said UK coach Ktrya Elzy. “They are aggressive defensively. They're well-coached. We'll be in another dogfight. I do think it does help that we just played them. 

“Obviously there's some things, areas in which we can get better. One key thing we'll have to do is rebound.”

Georgia coach Joni Taylor said, "As a coach, there is only so much that you can control. I think, for us, it's making them feel good, putting them in the right position and, once you put them in the right position, they're the ones that are making plays. 

“Fortunately this year, more times than not, we've had people do that. They'\’ve really been locked in on terms of what we want to do offensively and defensively. 

“We put them in the right positions, and they put themselves in really good positions, and we've been able to take advantage of that. So, again, the experience and maturity of this team helps a lot.

“ It comes to their focus and what they want to accomplish. At this point, it’s going to come down to players making plays, and you’re not going to play anyone in the tournament that you haven’t already played once, and in some cases twice. Players have to make plays.”

Both coaches know they are in the elimination games. They are playing for NCAA positioning as well as this tournament title.

Georgia started on a 9-2 run. senior center Jen Staiti had four and Maya Caldwell three.

UK seemed stuck in neutral. was 1-of-11 ugly, less than 10 percent from the field. Howard had gotten one shot off.

In grew to 15-4. Howard hit a 3. Kyra Elzy threw the bench at Georgia, four substitutes. Georgia stuck by its starters.

Kentucky scored six of the next eight points so it looked respectable at 17-10 by the end of the quarter. Stati had nine. Howard had half of her team’s points. She had the shovel if they were going to dig out. They hit three of the final six.

It was 35-20 at half. UK started the third 9-3 to make it manageable. Howard had scored a dozen.

Caldwell  was up to 16, 6-of-9 with two 3s. It was not a particularly pretty game on either side.

The lead stayed at 15 throughout the third. Just playing even. 

Staiti and Caldwell each had 16. Staiti doubled with 10 rebounds. Georgia had four 3s.

Howard needed some help. Her 20 would not be enough. Patterson chipped in 11 but fouled out. It was 58-47 after three. Each side kicked up the offense in a 50-point third quarter.

It was still a 16-point lead for Georgia inside of three minutes. The multiple scorers were too much.

Howard finished with 34, a lot of selfish points down the stretch. Points are nice, but wins are better.

If you indeed are one of the best players in the league, shouldn’t your team do better than one-and-done?

For Georgia Staiti and Caldwell scored 20,  Morrison 14 and.Connally 13.

 

Georgia is one win away from 20 and gets to play Texas A&M in the semifinals. They lost by a dozen at their place this season. 

UK is 17-8 and would need to win through the first round of the Sweet 16 to get to 20. Kyra Elzy has done a fine job for a first-year coach.

“ I thought Georgia started off extremely aggressive with us, made us play faster than we wanted,” she said.

“We settled for some quick outside shots early instead of playing downhill. We were one shot and out.

 “ We clawed our way back in the third quarter. But at the end of the day we just couldn’t get some crucial stops to get over the hump. Either it was a jump ball that went their way or a foul, we put 

them on the free-throw line. 

“We had played great defense toward the end of the third, gave up an offensive rebound, which I thought was a big momentum break for us. 

“ We’ll go back and watch this game film, learn from it, see what adjustments we need to make. As a coaching staff, we still do have the NCAA tournament. 

“Yes, we’ll definitely be motivated. Obviously we came here to win. It’s not the outcome that we wanted. We have to learn from this. We still have games left to play. We will be an NCAA tournament team. We just got to get better from here. 

“Its a mental reset. It's time tyou can take off. We’ll get some treatment, let our bodies heal from the grind of the SEC season and the tournament. But a chance to refocus our minds and put our eyes back on the prize of the NCAA tournament. 

“This is the time that you take to reflect and see what changes that you want to make heading into the NCAA tournament.

“I'll do a better job of trying to get other people involved in the offense, out of timeouts, dead balls, make those people integral parts as well. When we are playing our best, we’re pushing the ball in transition, were moving the ball, making the extra pass. Our assists are usually high when we’re scoring at rapid pace. Today we just did not do that. But we’ll go back to work on it and get better before our next showing.”

Taylor did that coaching thing where you praise the tea you just beat at being so good like a lovely patting gift. It’s an old conjuring. You build them up and then, “Why they’re so good, how good must we be to have defeated them?’”

Taylor also said, “We knew we were going to have our hands full. We didn’t feel good about how we played them the last time. They made it difficult for us. They rushed us offensively. We weren’t settled.

“Defensively we didn’t feel like we were who we are normally are. They were even with us on the boards

“As good as they are, as much as they challenged us and made us do some things uncharacteristic of us, we felt like if we came out and played Georgia basketball, we would give ourselves a chance to be competitive in this game today. When you look at the stat sheet and see the rebounding numbers, we took care of the basketball today. We were offensively efficient in terms of spreading out the basketball and giving different people multiple touches.

“ When we went back and watched the Kentucky game, they knew they left a lot on the table. “Ffor us, we're taking every game like it’s our last game. It’s survive and advance or go home. So that’s all we’re thinking about. We’ve got to do everything we can to win, no matter who that is in front of us.

“Tomorrow it happens to be Texas A&M. I know they have the same mentality as well. Everybody’s playing for something. It’s about us doing what we do. I think for us, we’ve got to get back and rest a little bit, have some lunch, let them get off their feet. 

“This is where your experience comes in, your leadership comes in, because it’s going to be all mental. You flip that, Texas A&M has the same senior leadership. 

“It’s going to be a battle of wills. Gary Blair is an excellent coach. Texas A&M is SEC regular champs for a reason. They’re tough in a lot of ways. We have to make sure we make the adjustments we need and, again, it’s where you lean on your experience. Playing them the second time around, it’s been a while. 

“We have to make sure we'’re clear on what we’re doing and are sound again defensively.

“I think it speaks to everybody being mature enough to be ready when their number's called.”

Georgia has 19 wins so 20 is doable. UK finishes 17-8so will need to win into the Sweet 16 if it wants 20 in Elzy’s first season.

South Carolina 75, Alabama 63

The Gamecocks made a statement with a 23-6 first quarter to start their run in the SEC tournament as the No. 2 seed. It was pretty much just a Dawn Staley experiment after that.

They are the one Southeastern team that automatically attracts a crowd when it takes any court . They annually play a national schedule as well as dominating the toughest conference in America.

For years they have been the cooly efficient foe to be feared, led by one of the best women’s coaches in the game.

Only two conference teams beat them, Tennessee and Texas A&M.

Dawn Staley has the second-most years at a school, 13. Kristy Curry is in her eighth season, so these are two of the most-veteran coaches

They are the defending tournament champs.The Gamecocks are 20-7 in the tournament under Staley

South Carolina has won five of the past six tournament titles. They are the only team in league history to win four consecutive titles.

Under Staley, the Gamecocks are 8-2 in SEC Tournament quarterfinal games.

South Carolina is 7-2 in SEC Tournament games played in Greenville and won two of their five titles in Bon Secours Wellness Arena (2017, 2020).

The Gamecocks are 3-2 all-time when playing the tournament as the No. 2 seed with all three wins coming en route to the 2018 title. They were also seeded second in 2002 and 2019.

Alabama faced the challenge prepared. The biggest one is making the NCAA eliminations. They have not been invited to the tournament since 2002.

In this Covid-influenced year they seem certain of finally getting in.

But first, there’s this tournament.

“You have to put 40 minutes together,” said Curry.

“ We haven't done that yet against them. It's going to have to be a 40-minute game of perfect basketball. We're going to have to rebound better. 

“There's no excuse. We just got to make sure we rebound better. Transition D is so important. We got to get the ball stopped and create that I-formation and really limit easy baskets. “

For South Carolina, SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year and unanimous AP Preseason All-American Aliyah Boston continues to be in the national player of the year conversation because of the many ways she can impact a game. She has been consistent, averaging a double-double overall (13.0 points/11.7 rebounds). Against SEC opponents it’s a little better (13.3 points, 12.3 rebounds) and against ranked opponents (13.5 /12.1). Her 13 doubles this season are 13th in the nation as is her rebounding average. She adds 2.9 blocks per game, 12th in the nation.

Sophomore Zia Cooke is the Gamecocks' leading scorer at 15.9. She has  zoomed to double figures 20 times, including four 20-point outings. 

Junior point guard Destanni Henderson leads the SEC and ranks 25th in the nation with 5.3 assists per game, 5.6 per SEC outing. She is the Gamecocks' third-leading scorer at 12. 

Senior LeLe Grissett has the most SEC Tournament experience on the Gamecock roster with seven, including two championships (2018, 2020). Last season, she scores 7.7 points per game on 61.1 percent shooting, averaging five rebounds, 2.7 assists and two steals.

It started with two Boston free throws. A pressing defense caused a shot clock violation. Henderson hit a 3. The Tide had four turnovers and no points on four shots. It was 10-0.

“I’s rather be top dog because you play with more confidence,” said Staley of the statement start. But you could hardly be more confident than a 23-6 beginning quarter. It was pretty obvious who was going to win and who planned to win again.

This is where individual stats take a dip for the better team. Staley was working in non-starters. It was like an evening practice. They were working on a Staley point of impact: Make a pass rather than take the first shot option.

One ’Bama starter had three fouls. Henderson joined Cooke in double figures 4:25 before the half. They were 60 percent from the field, 4-of-6 3s. They had 18 rebounds. They had 22 paint points early. They created 11 turnovers. They were erasing all doubts they deserved a top NCAA seed. It was 41-17 with two minutes left in the half.

The quarter ended 42-26. All the experimentation slowed the roll The quarter was won by Alabama, 20-16

Not much could really interrupt the flow. The third quarter was significantly slower, 21-20 Alabama, but they still trailed by 14.

Alabama’s Jordan Lewis had 16, 3-of-3 3s and 3-of-4 from the line. Ariyah Copeland had five assists. 

For SC, Cooke also had 16, Henderson 14, each with two 3s. Henderson had four assists. Boston doubled, 10 rebounds and 12 points.

Copeland scored on a layup and a free throw to start the fourth. Cooke answered with a jumper. Copeland fed Lewis for another 3. Jasmine Walker fouled Boston. She hit two free throws. Henderson fouled Lewis. She hit two free throws. Henderson hit a free throw.

With five minutes left, finally a basket, Abrams fed a Copeland layup, Enough, said Henderson with a 3. A Cooke jumper reset the lead at 12 with four minutes to the semifinal.

Cooke made another jumper.  Beal fouled Lewis. She hit two free throws. The Tide had one basket in the 14-12 quarter.

Boston hit a jumper at the two-minute mark. Then she fouled Lewis and two more free throws, Alabama called time out. There was no path to making up 12 points.

Boston had a block and a defensive rebound, looking more and more like the best player in the conference.

Lewis was 9-of-10 at the line among her  25. Copeland scored 17, 7ofo8 from the field.

Boston scored 16 with 13 rebounds. Cooke scored 22. Henderson hit all three of her 3 and finished with 18. The SC bench won, 11-4. 

“It was Alabama. If you ever tried guarding Jordan Lewis, Copeland, Walker, you'll know that it's a hard guard because they space the floor and they pick you apart. We did the best we could under 

these circumstances. I'm glad we found our offense to get out to a lead, which we just held on to win the basketball game. 

“I don't want to start anything. All these people on social media say I have all these excuses for this or that.

“ It's the players getting their feet wet. They adjusted and we won the basketball game. I don't even want to get these people started in my mentions. I don't care if they say something about me, but when they direct it to me, it's hard for me to ignore them. I do my best. We got the game against a tough NCAA-bound Alabama team, and we're happy about it. 

“We have to just stay engaged, stay engaged. This time of the season, we want to stay locked in for 40 minutes. That is our plan from the beginning of the game until the end of the game. You know, what happens in between, it's a hard-fought game. 

“At this point, again, we just have to figure out how do we make more plays than the other team. Defense was the thing we hung our hat on. But we had to hang our hat on offense tonight. I’m glad it made an appearance at least for two out of the four quarters.

“It wasn't a lack of effort, for sure. They’re out there trying to do what we're asking them to do. We don't take our foot off the gas. It’s the shots that were falling for us in the first 15 minutes of the game weren't falling for us. We got layups, missed layups. We got in transition, we turned the ball over. 

“We had a couple of empty possessions. But what I do like about what our team did was the ball movement. If we can continue to move the ball as well as we moved the ball, we should at efficiently, especially with  Henny and Zia and Aliyah, those three are able to do that, then we bring another player or two, get them close to double figures, that's as even as we can be. 

“A lot of teams aren't putting five people on the floor that can score the ball. So we’re going to take the good from this, and that is our offense got jump started, and hopefully that continues throughout the tournament. 

“ Our team is really nice. We need to figure out how to continue being this type of nasty and stay energized. I did have to tell them during the timeout, a nice team is not going to win a National 

Championship nor an SEC tournament championship. We got to find some grit, I thought, at times throughout the game we had several plays that we weren't making, throughout the season as far as jump ball situations, diving on balls, 50/50 balls, all of those intangibles that had been missing. So I hope that continues. We’re going to continue to try to see it when we break down film. If they see it, they can recreate it. 

“At this time of the year, you just got to make more plays. We just have to make more plays on both sides of the ball at this time. It’s not going to all look pretty. I kind of like to muck it up a little bit, especially defensively, at this time of the year. 

“Our ball movement, we made a concerted effort. I don’t think there wasn’t a time in which we did not have a ball reversal. If we didn't have a ball reversal, Aliyah Boston touched the ball on the block. 

We were deliberate in what we were trying to accomplish tonight, getting the ball inside, putting her in a position where she can score on the block, and ball reversal. 

“If you look at our guards’ shooting percentage is great. They haven't shot 50 percent in a long time together, together along with Aliyah. That's what we were trying to convey to them. Get the ball to Aliyah, but we're not saying you stand around with the ball over your head and be robots. 

“It is, you're going to benefit directly from her. Her, D and L.A. getting the ball in the paint. We saw that tonight. 

“I like getting out to a big lead, obviously. But we still have to coach them through those moments. The most important thing is to be able to continue to coach them the next day. Like we are able to continue to coach them the next day. Some teams are going to leave here, some of them will be NCAA tournament bound and some of them won't.” 

 

 Tennessee 77, Mississippi 72

Defense and a fourth-quarter flourish did it as the sweep of double-bye holders was complete.

As the third seed, the Lady Vols continued to reclaim the league it carried from the start. But the Lady Vols had already qualified for the elimination games. Mississippi just wants to crash the bigger party. These are the quarterfinalists with the least amount of wins. They both average about 70 points per game. Tennessee allows only four fewer points.

These two had the weakest records matchup in the quarterfinals and the lowest coaching experiences, a second-year coach vs. a third-year coach. Then again, half of the teams are now led by coaches with four years at the school or less.

The top four finish is the first for UT since 2014, certainly a foundation add-on for second-year coach Kellie Harper.

As no one will win Sweet 16 home qualifiers, this tournament among the SEC sorority is the last familiar territory of the season. A 9-4 UT league run included a one-point win at home over the Rebels in a 13-point comeback.

The season wins (15) left an outside  chance at 20 if they get at least two wins here.

The Lady Vols are led by seniors. Rennia Davis is the best one. Ole Miss goes day by day but hired gun Shakira Austin is a one-season wonder, transferred in from Big Ten champ Maryland

Harper looks comfortable in her coaching skin now. Her predecessor, another UT legend, often said she did not know what was going on after silly losses, but practices were just great.

Harper does not play that. She demands that practices fix things.

“It’s this time of year,” she said. “Everybody is excited. It doesn’t matter what you did; it doesn’t matter what you didn’t do leading up to now. I know it’s cliché, but every coach says it every year, 

“ ‘Record is 0-0, everybody has a fresh start.’ You get a new challenge in front of you. I fully expect this SEC Tournament to be competitive. Anything can happen. We’re hoping to take a team that is ready to play and compete at a high level. 

 ”When you prepare for a tournament, you prepare to play for three games. We’re trying to prepare to play for three days. We’ll work a lot on us. If there are some things that we can knock out that could prepare us, we will do that. We practiced in Greenville on Thursday. 

“Because of the late tip, we still practiced without knowing who we are playing. On Friday it will be scout heavy to make sure we are ready for whichever opponent we will play.

“We are going to talk about taking care of business. Do your job, whatever that is. Whether that’s on the court or off the court, you have to do your job. We might even put some wrinkles in going into the tournament. Sometimes when you do that, it keeps the players’ minds fresh. We cannot afford to have bad practices.”

Of course, the realist wants to play three games to get to the title game which used to be a gimme when this tournament began with her former coach, Pat Head.

As a player, she never had to start early, always a top four seed, often No. 1

“Oh my, yes! And I don’t care who you are. I don’t care what city you are in. I don’t care who you’re playing; I don’t care who you’re not playing. If you’re advancing, then you’ve really done something, because there is so much parity this year. And a lot of times, it’s about match-ups as much as it is about seeding and talent. It’s about who do you match-up well (against), and you have got to figure it out. So, I think it’s definitely shaping up to be an exciting tournament..

“ It makes a difference for the coaching staff to have an idea of what worked the first time and what didn’t work. And sometimes, if it worked the first time, you have to realize that the other team is going to change, and it may not work this time. 

“So really, it’s a chess game, right? You have to be two, sometimes three, steps ahead of your opponent. You know, in terms of the team, I would be just fine if the players didn’t remember anything about the first game or two that you played.

“I’ve thought about that quite a bit. It’s so tough; it’s so challenging. Not only are these some of the best teams in the conference, they’re some of the best teams in the country, and they know you inside and out. I mean, they get it. 

“I think and I hope that the SEC Tournament and the competitiveness and the talent that we have there really prepares all of the teams going to the NCAA Tournament. I really hope that we’re setting each other up for success. Carrying that level of play into the NCAA Tournament could really make for a great showing for the SEC. And we should, we have so many talented teams this year. We really do.”

Tennessee has the advantage on the forward wall with Davis, Rae Burrell and Kasiyahna Kushkituah. 

Davis is on a streak of six straight with at least 20 points.

Burrell leads UT in all games at 17.1 points per game. She hits 80 percent of her free throws this season.

Jordan Horston has 27 assists vs. 11 turnovers in her last five games and is third in the SEC in all games at 4.3 assists . and second in league contests at 4.7 assist. this season.

Since becoming a starter, Kushkituah is averaging 8.4 points and 6.6 rebounds.

Shakira Austin is a one-year wonder a transfer in for Ole Miss from highly ranked Maryland averages 18 with 8.5 rebounds. Donetta[MS2]  Johnson averages 12 and Rookie of the Year Madison Scott 10, with 7.3 rebounds.

Mimi Reed has 91 assists on the year.

The Lady Vols' No. 3 seed is their highest since taking a No. 2 position into the 2015 SEC Tourney in North Little Rock, Ark., and advancing to the championship game.

While it may have been forgotten, UT also tied for third in the regular season conference standings a year ago in  Kellie Harper’s first season, but it drew the No. 6 seed for the tourney by virtue of the league's tiebreaker system.

Tennessee was picked to finish sixth this season by the league's coaches and media, and was selected seventh by the coaches and sixth by the media last season, overachieving in Harper's first two years.

Tennessee is seeking to capture its league-leading 18th SEC Tournament championship trophy. 

There was plenty of nervous energy to start this quarterfinal.

No one scored for the first minute and a half.

Then Tamari Key fouled Austin on a rebound and two free throws got it started.

Burrell fed Horston for a 3, Johnson answered off a feed from Reed. Burrell showed her range with a 3.

Davis scored at the six minute mark. It was 8-4 Lady Vols.

Johnson and Davis exchanged jump shots. Davis hit two free throws.

UT’s defense had slowed the roll of Austin. The domination of the day before was not there,

Johnson and Valerie Nesbitt each scored.

Horston pushed the lead back to four, but a Jordan Bracey 3 off an assist by Nesbitt cut the lead to one.

UT closed it our with five unanswered points, two Burrell ftee throws and a 3 by Horston.

UT led at the quarter break by eight. Horston had eight.

Mississippi won the second quarter by 12 to lead at the half, 41-37.

Scott and Caitlin McGee opened with baskets. Kushkituah scored and Snudda Collins answered.

Reed fed Austin again. The deficit was two. Reed fed Collins for a 3. Ole Miss had taken the lead. A Bracey jump shot pushed it to a three-point edge  at 29-26.

Davis hit a 3 to momentarily tie it a little later. She was the UT offense in the closing minutes, scoring six.

Ole Miss scored 10 in the same span and led at intermission, 41-37. No one had momentum.

Both sides slowed in the third, another quarter win for Ole Miss, 16-12.

Davis remained the Lady Vol offense, with eight points. Johnson scored six for Mississippi but it was really scoring by committee.

So the fatal fourth began, end of the season for one team.

The determined Lady Vols have learned how to close. They won the quarter by 13 despite foul trouble by Jordan Walker, Kushkituah and Key. The trio finished with four fouls apiece.

Ole Miss had Collins, Scott and Johnson similarly affected.

Kushkituah scored three and Burrell five to tie it at 57, which meant UT outscored Ole Miss by 13 in he final eight minutes.

Walker had five of those. Kushkituah attracted her fourth foul but played on.

While Ole Miss cut it to three, they were running out of time and had been outplayed in the quarter. Davis cooly hit four free throws, as a senior leader will do. UT had one field goal in the final three minutes but kept its poise,

Moe importantly, Austin was cooled off in the endgame, mostly because she hurt her back early in quarter and had to sit out. She scored 14, below her average and no exclamation after the surge in their upset win. Johnson had 20 and Bracey 13 off the bench.

Davis scored 33, 19-of-13 at the line, doubling with 10 rebounds. Burrell also doubled, 18 points and 10 rebounds, Horston supplied a dozen off the bench. UT hit 70 percent of its seven 3s.

‘We used that time out between the third and fourth to try and reel them in,” said Harper of her team. Had to get them to refocus and lock it in. Rennia Davis is special every night.”

“We just had to come out with a win, no matter how pretty it was,” said Davis. “My team had confidence in me and I had confidence in them. As long as we won by one.”

McPhee-McCuin had excuses, absent the swagger of the game before for her 11-11 team.

“I don't know if you watched the game, but Shakira pulled her back. They went on an 8-0 run. 

“She kept saying she was okay. I made the decision to get her out of the game. 

“If I could have a play back, I wouldn’t have went zone. I would have just got her out of the game. I thought they hit a big 3 when we did go zone. I have a lot of regrets about that right there. 

“Should have just gotten her out of the game because she was definitely hurt. I think just for a split second they weren't sure they can do it without her. We missed 3s. But those were plays where it could have won the game. They didn't lose the game. 

“But those plays could have won the game. Then I felt pretty confident about the end-line out-of-bounds play that got changed the last second. That was a heartbreaker for us with that end-line out-of-bounds. That's what happened. I mean, the kid has been carrying us the whole time. It was a blow for my group when she went out. 

“ We were managing the game the whole time until Kira got hurt. If we’re not a NCAA tournament team, then who is? “

Well maybe a team with a consistent season and a better record.

“With our COVID issues in the beginning of conference play, snowstorm issues, then continuously proving ourselves by beating quadrant one teams, then going on the road to Tennessee, losing by one, then tonight by five when our star player hurts her back to start the fourth quarter. 

“She's not out for the season. So absolutely we're an NCAA tournament team. We're fun to watch. We play a great style. We're in the best league in the country. If we get in, we're going to wreak havoc in the NCAA tournament. 

“I hope they consider all of these. They don't even have top-25 wins. We have three of them versus teams that are in the top 16 in the country. We definitely should be in. “

Keep whistling pas the graveyard, coach.

The Lady Vols are 37-5 all-time in their opening tournament game. They have 16 wins, 

Davis said she rolled her ankle in the first quarter but would not come out. She simply got it retaped and played 37s minutes.

“Well, I mean, I fell down and rolled it. I wasn’t going to let anything stop me from getting back out there. We’re going to go to the hotel and get some treatment.

“Obviously my team needs me. I wanted to be out there. 

“We could have given up plenty of times out there, I feel like. We could have laid down. Ole Miss had the momentum throughout a large portion of the game. But in the fourth quarter, I felt like we just came together like we always do. 

“At the end of the day winning is so important for this team right now. We have something to prove. We weren’t going to go out like that tonight. I’m just super proud of how we came together. I knew we would do it anyways. “

For the first time in her career, they are in the semifinals, two legendary programs colliding.

“ That's huge for us,” Davis said. 

“It’s something we’ve been talking about all year, but especially here recently. This coming along, this is huge for us, especially me and Kassie, our seniors. 

“We haven't been to this point since we’ve been here at this school. I’'s something we want to do for ourselves. It’s something the team wants to do for us as seniors. I feel like we’re going to get it done. 

“ Second off, I do. I feel like we have other players that are able to step up. 

“ We're just going to carry that momentum that we had. I feel like the fourth quarter is when we started really getting momentum. Like I said, I thought Ole Miss had momentum for a majority of the game. Obviously we weren’t far out of it. I just thought in the fourth quarter we dug a little bit deeper, a little bit deeper. We’re going to carry that momentum over to tomorrow. 

“Well, I expect South Carolina to come out and play hard. South Carolina is good team, but so are we. We're just going to play our game. We’re not really focused on whatever they throw at us. We just are going to have to handle it. It just kind of is what it is. We’re just going to continue to play our game. 

“I mean, it's the same approach. The first time we played them, we were the first team in the conference to beat them. That meant a lot for us. I think they hadn’t lost a conference game in a couple years, prior to us beating them. 

“That meant a lot for us. It showed us we can play with the best teams in the country. We want to show that again tomorrow. The game we beat them in Knoxville wasn't a fluke. I mean, we are a good team. We can play with the best teams. We just want to come out tomorrow and prove that.”

At halftime, Harper said, “That we were fine. I thought that we did a good job of encouraging each other, too. We knew what we weren’t doing right. We wanted to go out in the second half and execute the things that we were not doing right. The biggest thing for us in the first half was just that we didn’t feel like we were playing at together as we could have been. “

“Obviously we had some mental lapses. We still had some mental lapses in the second half. Despite the mental lapses, I feel like in the second half we were more together. I feel like we were more encouraging and communicative with each other. That definitely helped us get over the hump in the second half. “

Davis closed the half with two big shotst and Horton had a big one in the first.

“ We definitely would not have won the game without those two shots. It goes to show, like I said, I went down first quarter and Jordan stepped up and hit that shot. I felt like the momentum was shifting towards Ole Miss’ way. I was able to step up and hit that shot. I just thought we got some momentum from that shot going into the second half. It just shows a lot. Anybody at any point I feel 

like on this team can hit a big shot. I thought Jordan Walker, Rae hit some big shots, Kassie had some big shots, put-ins, layups. Everybody stepped up tonight. I’m just super proud of us. 

“ I remember when Kassie picked up her fourth. They didn't want to come out the game. She was ready, she was locked in. Like I said, this is our last go-round at the conference tournament. She wants to be in that game. She stepped up and was able to play with her four fouls, finish the game with her four fouls. Super proud of her. T.K. ended the game on the bench. Her encouragement on the bench, her continuing to talk to her teammates, that was super huge for us, as well.”

Harper said, “I'll tell you what, obviously Ole Miss had momentum most of the game. Our players never panicked. The coaching staff were getting ready for some backup plans in that quarter. But our players stepped up, made plays on both ends of the court, really swung the momentum our way. 

“We had a lot of mental breakdowns defensively. We weren’t as tough one-on-one as we needed to be. You got to clean up your defense playing anybody at this point.”

When Davis went down . .. “Obviously you never want to see a player get injured and have to go off the court, Harper said.

“ Obviously we don't want to have that with Rennia. We want her out there. But, again, I thought our team stepped up. I didn’t think they slumped their shoulders at that point. We look to her for so many things. But I think our team in that moment knew we needed to step up and try to make some plays. We were really excited to get her back out there, though.”

She agrees with Davis on the clutch shots 

“Yeah, you know, I'll be honest with you, Jordan’s, especially Jordan’s I thought was critical for us. We had gone, I didn't think we were scoring. We needed something to help us get over the hump. I 

thought that was important. And then Rennia's ended up really big to cut the lead going into halftime. Rennia got a good look at it. Maybe a little bit uncharacteristic. But they were big. I have to say they were big.” 

Rest is now a prime consideration. 

“I'll have to go and here and we’ll talk with our athletic trainer, Rennia, talk through it. I know they have some ideas going.  I haven’t heard what that is yet. I think rest, period, is going to be important for our players that played heavy minutes. Obviously rest and treatment for her is going to be important. 

“But Rennia in this moment, if she can get out on the court and halfway walk, she’s going to play. She wants to play. She loves the game. She loves to compete. She loves this team. I knew if there was a chance, she’d be back out there. 

“I know she didn't feel 100 percent when she came out, but it just shows her toughness and grit that she has, really desire to play. 

“One of our managers said we don’t like to do anything easy and we want to keep everybody on their toes. Just when you think you know what’s happened, we change it up (laughter). Yeah, obviously, gosh, there were so many teaching moments out there that we would want to sit back and talk through. Let's not do that this time. 

“We're trying to teach on the fly as we go. But honestly, in this moment, in this particular moment, it's one of those that you've really got to move on pretty quick. I told the team it doesn’t matter what all the numbers say, except for the final score. 

“That’s what matters now. That’s what matters now moving forward. Nothing else matters. That’s where you just have that tournament mentality. 

“Gosh, tournament game. That was a tournament game right there. You just got to figure it out at the end. 

“Well, I had a tall order for Kassie and Tamari in terms of guarding Shakira Austin coming off a terrific game. And, as well, they had not just guarding her, but they had to guard some other folks. They had to help us, had to board. They had a lot on them in a very physical game. 

“Ole Miss did a really good job of being active defensively. They had several deflections that led to steals on their end, at least turnovers on our part. I thought we got a little careless with the ball a few times. 

“We had a few decisions that were’’'t the best decisions in those moments. Definitely got to give credit to Ole Miss with their defense, how they were playing, getting their hands on some balls, then partly on us. 

“(South Carolina) it's going to be a tough, physical game. I think that’s what we have to expect. They’re going to come in with great confidence. They’re coming off a terrific game today. 

“Feeling good about how they need to play. They’re the most experienced team here. They’re the most experienced team at this conference tournament, so they're going to have a lot of confidence. 

It's going to be tough. It's going to be really tough. But we gave ourselves the chance because we advanced. We advanced and we have an opportunity to play them. We're excited.”