No. 6 Bulldogs knock off Trojans

TOP 25/SEC WOMEN

NO. 6 MISSISSIPPI STATE 86, UALR 48

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Morgan William scored a season-high 16 points and No. 6 Mississippi State overpowered Little Rock 86-48 on Sunday to improve to 9-0.

Teaira McCowan added 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Victoria Vivians had 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Bulldogs have won 31 consecutive regular-season nonconference games and 30 nonconference home games in a row.

Monique Townson and Kyra Collier each had 11 points for Little Rock (3-6), and Teal Battle added 10.

Mississippi State outscored Little Rock 25-2 in the third quarter, holding the Trojans without a field goal for the final 9 minutes.

William scored 12 points in the first half to help the Bulldogs take a 43-28 lead.

The Trojans were overmatched in every area of the game, being outrebounded 44-28 and turning the ball over 20 times. Mississippi State turned that into 25 points and had 50 points in the paint.

NO. 11 TENNESSEE 82, NO. 2 TEXAS 75

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Jaime Nared and Mercedes Russell both produced double-doubles as No. 11 Tennessee outlasted No. 2 Texas in a physical matchup of unbeaten teams.

Nared collected 23 points and 13 rebounds for the Lady Vols, who never trailed. Russell added 15 points and 12 rebounds to help Tennessee grab its 10th 10-0 start in school history and its second in Holly Warlick's six seasons as coach. Texas is now 7-1.

The Lady Vols also went 10-0 under Warlick in 2013-14 and went on to finish 29-6 that year with an NCAA regional semifinal appearance.

Tennessee maintained a narrow lead throughout the final 19 minutes and overcame some shaky free-throw shooting down the stretch by making nine of its last 11 field-goal attempts.

The Lady Vols were clinging to a 74-73 lead when Tennessee's Anastasia Hayes was fouled with 42 seconds left. Hayes made the first free throw and missed the second, but Nared got the offensive rebound and was fouled with 32.6 seconds left. Nared made both free throws to give Tennessee some breathing room.

NO. 17 MISSOURI 78, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS-EDWARDSVILLE 48

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Sophie Cunningham had a career-high 7 three-pointers and a season-high 35 points and No. 17 Missouri rolled to a victory over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville for the Tigers' ninth consecutive victory.

Cunningham was 11-of-16 shooting with all five of her misses coming behind the arc to reach 30 points for the fifth time in her career.

Cunningham had 11 in the first quarter as the Tigers (9-1) opened a 19-9 lead and 18 at the break when the lead was 37-28.

Missouri made 10 of 14 shots, including 6 of 8 behind the arc, to break the game open, outscoring the Cougars (3-5) 28-14. Cunningham had 3 threes to help the Tigers to a season-high 15 on 31 attempts. Jordan Chavis, Jordan Roundtree and Cunningham scored from distance to cap a 13-0 run that made it 59-34.

Gwen Adams led the Cougars, who shot 26 percent (16 of 62), with 12 points.

MIAMI 65, NO. 20 KENTUCKY 54

CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- Erykah Davenport and Shaneese Bailey made key plays back-to-back late in the game and four players scored in double figures as a balanced Miami upset the No. 20 Kentucky women, handing the Wildcats a second loss in as many games.

With the Hurricanes (6-3) holding a 56-52 lead with 97 seconds left, Davenport was frenetic on defense, poking the ball away on one side of the hoop and rushing crosscourt to block an Amanda Pascal jumper from just inside the three-point line. Maci Morris missed after the Kentucky inbound, Bailey grabbed the rebound and hit a dagger of a three-pointer from the top of the circle on the other end for a 59-52 lead with 1:01 remaining.

Kentucky (8-3) was coming off a 70-64 loss at Florida Gulf Coast on Friday.

Davenport finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds, her third double-double this season, and blocked three shots. Bailey's critical three-pointer was her only one of the game as she scored 11 points. Endia Banks led with 13 points and 8 assists, and Mykea Gray added 12 points.

Trailing 30-23 at halftime, Miami exploded with a 28-point third quarter and outscored the Wildcats 42-24 after halftime for its first victory against a ranked opponent this season and just its second against Kentucky in their last eight meetings.

Morris scored a game-high 18 points and Alyssa Rice added 11, but the Wildcats were 20-for-63 from the floor, 7-for-29 after halftime.

Sports on 12/11/2017

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