Vols Go Back to SEC Title Game

Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt won her 877th game, moving past Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp, and the fifth-ranked Lady Vols reached the Southeastern Conference championship game with their ninth consecutive victory over state rival Vanderbilt, 76-73, Saturday night at Greenville, S.C.

The win sets up the SEC’s dream final with Tennessee (25-4) playing No. 1 Louisiana State for the title today. A victory would draw Summitt to within one of Dean Smith’s all-time mark of 879 victories.

The 18th-ranked Commodores (22-7) were trailing, 74-73, and had the ball in the final minute. But a pass down low to star Carla Thomas was knocked away by Tye’sha Fluker.

Moments later, Fluker was alone under the basket and scored a layup with 44 seconds left.

The Commodores had two good looks from three-point range to tie the score in the final seconds. But Abi Ramsey and Caroline Williams missed.

Shanna Zolman had 18 points and four of the Lady Vols’ seven three-point baskets. Brittany Jackson, who had the other three three-pointers, had 15 points.

Ashley Earley led Vanderbilt with 20 points. Ramsey finished with 19.

Despite the loss, Vanderbilt is still expecting its sixth consecutive NCAA tournament trip.

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No. 1 Louisiana State 79, No. 21 Georgia 65 -- The Tigers (29-1), who won their 16th game in a row, overcame a career-high 33 points by Tasha Humphrey, the SEC freshman of the year.

LSU, which held the Bulldogs (22-9) scoreless over the final 5:02, reached its fifth tournament final. It won the title in 1991 and 2003.

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No. 4 North Carolina 64, Miami 57 -- The top-seeded Tar Heels (25-3) used a late 9-0 run to get past the Hurricanes (13-16) to advance to the semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament at Greensboro, N.C. Camille Little capped the run with two free throws, giving the Tar Heels a 61-55 lead with 1:19 left.

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No. 6 Duke 107, Wake Forest 50 -- The Blue Devils (27-3) set an ACC tournament scoring record in routing the Demon Deacons (15-14) in the quarterfinals.

Duke broke the record of 106 points set by Virginia in a triple-overtime game against Maryland in 1993. The Blue Devils also set a record with 62 first-half points, and the 57-point margin tied for the second largest in tournament history.

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Texas Christian 87, No. 12 DePaul 77 -- The Horned Frogs (22-9) took a 55-54 lead with 16:39 left in the semifinals of the Conference USA tournament at Charlotte, N.C., and took the lead for good at 71-70 as they upset the Blue Demons (25-4).

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No. 16 Temple 61, St. Joseph’s 51 -- The Owls (25-3) extended their winning streak to 22 games by beating the Hawks (7-23) in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament at Washington.

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No. 25 Maryland 63, No. 19 North Carolina State 56 -- Freshman Crystal Langhorne had her sixth consecutive double-double to lead the Terrapins (21-8) past the Wolfpack (21-7) in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament.

Langhorne had 23 points and 16 rebounds to reach double figures in points and rebounds for the 16th time this season.

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OTHER GAMES

Jennifer Gardner scored 45 points to lead Western Carolina (18-13) to a 97-95 double-overtime victory over Georgia Southern (16-14) at Chattanooga, Tenn., for the Catamounts’ first Southern Conference tournament championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament....Eastern Kentucky (23-7) won the Ohio Valley Conference tournament title and its first NCAA tournament berth since 1997 with an 84-73 double-overtime victory over Southeast Missouri State (22-8) at Nashville. The Colonials extended their school record-winning streak to 15 games.