GREENVILLE, S.C. — Joyce Edwards scored 21 points, and No. 5 South Carolina advanced to the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game with a 93-75 win over 10th-ranked Oklahoma on Saturday.
MiLaysia Fulwiley scored 19 points to provide a huge boost off the bench for South Carolina (29-3), and Sania Feagin added 14.
Sahara Williams had 17 points and Payton Verhulst added 15 points and nine assists for Oklahoma (25-7), which looked fatigued playing its third game in three days.
South Carolina’s smothering defense set the tone early, repeatedly forcing hurried, bad shots and five turnovers while racing to a double-digit first quarter lead. The Gamecocks stretched the lead to 45-28 at the break, closing the first half on a 14-2 run while holding Oklahoma without a field goal over the final four minutes.
South Carolina never led by fewer than 10 points in the second half.
Oklahoma center Raegan Beers was limited to seven points and eight rebounds after scoring 42 points and grabbing 19 rebounds in her first two tournament appearances.
South Carolina: Finished 2 for 15 from beyond the arc, and didn’t make its first 3-pointer until two minutes into the fourth quarter. The Gamecocks made up for it by working the ball inside and outscoring the bigger Sooners 50-26 in the paint.
After Oklahoma cut the lead to 10 late in the third quarter, Edwards scored five straight points in the paint including an and-one to give the Gamecocks some breathing room.
South Carolina scored 22 points off 16 Oklahoma turnovers. The Gamecocks had eight turnovers.
The Gamecocks go for their third straight SEC title on Sunday against No. 1 Texas. Oklahoma awaits its NCAA Tournament seed.
No. 1 TEXAS 56,
No. 9 LSU 49
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Madison Booker scored 25 points, and No. 1 Texas held on to beat ninth-ranked LSU 56-49 on Saturday night to advance to the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game.
The Longhorns will face fifth-ranked South Carolina, which beat No. 10 Oklahoma 93-75 earlier in the day.
Texas (31-2) lost to South Carolina 67-50 on Jan. 12 in Columbia, but avenged that defeat last month with a 66-62 victory in Austin. Texas has not lost since, rattling off 15 consecutive wins.
LSU (28-5), already playing without star Flau’Jae Johnson due to a shin injury, lost their other star player Aneesah Morrow to a left ankle injury in the third quarter. Morrow, who scored a school tournament-record 36 points in Friday night’s 101-87 win over Florida, had to be helped off the court after stepping on an opponent’s foot.
She returned to the LSU bench in the fourth quarter with a boot on her left foot.
Mikaylah Williams led LSU with 11 points.
Head coach Kim Mulkey again allowed assistant head coach Bob Starkey to coach the team while she continues to grieve the death of a family member. Mulkey watched the game from the middle of LSU’s bench, giving her input at times to Starkey.
Texas: Booker had 18 points in the first half helping the Longhorns built a 29-23 lead.
Morrow left the game with LSU with 8:40 left in the third quarter and the Tigers trailing 32-27.
LSU was 9 for 17 from the foul line.
Beating South Carolina could prove to be a tough task for Texas as the Gamecocks are 17-1 all-time in SEC Tournament games in Greenville. LSU is expected to host an NCAA Tournament game.
No. 17 BAYLOR 84, No. 21 OKLA. STATE 74
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Aaronette Vonleh scored a career-high 37 points and No. 17 Baylor had three different players hit 3-pointers in overtime to lead the Bears into the Big 12 Conference Tournament championship game with an 84-74 win over No. 21 Oklahoma State on Saturday.
In a semifinal in which neither team led by more than nine points in regulation, the Bears were 5-of-8 shooting in overtime and Jade Walker hit four free throws in the last 30 seconds.
Baylor now faces No. 8 TCU in the championship game on Sunday. The two teams met on the last of the regular season with the Horned Frogs winning 51-48 for the league crown.
Walker had 12 points and Sarah Andrews had 11 points and both had 3s in overtime, along with Waiata Jennings. The second-seeded Bears (17-6) were 3 of 4 on 3s in OT and 6 of 19 for the game.
Stailee Heard scored 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the third-seeded Cowgirls (25-6), who won the regular-season meeting 84-61 on Jan. 1. Anna Gret Asi added 14 points and Micah Gray had 12.
The lead changed hands six times in the fourth quarter before freshman Jadyn Wooten made a pair of free throws with 1:10 to tie it at 66. Both teams missed on their last attempts.
Heard had 15 points and Vonleh 19 in the first half when Baylor took a 32-29 lead.
Baylor went up by nine twice in the third quarter before an 11-2 run, fueled by three 3s from Gray, pulled the Cowgirls even at 45. Kyla Abraham scored for Baylor on the next possession produced a 64-52 lead going into the fourth quarter.
No. 8 TCU 71, No. 16 W. VIRGINIA 65
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Hailey Van Lith had 19 points, six rebounds and eight assists, Sedona Prince added 18 points with 16 rebounds, and No. 8 TCU held off No. 16 West Virginia 71-65 on Saturday to reach the women’s Big 12 Tournament championship for the first time in school history.
The top-seeded Horned Frogs will play No. 17 Baylor on Sunday.
Madison Conner hit five 3-pointers and added 16 points, and Agnes Emma-Nnopu returned from an injury to score nine, as TCU moved within a game of its first conference tourney title since playing in Conference USA in 2005.
JJ Quinerly had 20 points, Sydney Shaw and Kylee Blacksten scored 11 apiece, and Jordan Harrison had 10 points before fouling out for the fourth-seeded Mountaineers, who were trying to reach their first title game since 2021.
The Horned Frogs were leading 62-51 midway through the fourth quarter when West Virginia ran off seven straight points, closing within 62-57 on Quinerly’s basket with 3:30 to go. But TCU managed three straight offensive rebounds at the other end to set up a 3 from Conner, and coach Mark Campbell’s team held on the rest of the way.
West Virginia struggled to deal with Prince’s size in the paint throughout the game. Several of Van Lith’s eight assists went to the 6-foot-7 forward, who finished 9 of 11 from the field.
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