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College basketball

Gators no match for South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Cristina Ciocan scored 18 and hit three of No. 16 South Carolina's season-high nine 3-pointers in a 78-64 victory over Florida on Thursday night.

The Gamecocks (15-4, 3-3 SEC) ended a two-game losing streak in an unlikely way -- from the outside. With Florida packing the middle to slow down SEC leading-scorer Jocelyn Penn, South Carolina took control with long-range shooting.

Penn still finished with 19 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Petra Ujhelyi also had a double double for South Carolina with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

The Gators (8-11) have lost seven straight in coach Carolyn Peck's first season, tying the school mark set in 1979-80. They are 0-6 in the SEC for the first time since the 1986-87 team finished 0-9.

"I'm familiar with being at the top, but no way do I feel we're at the bottom," said Peck, who won a national title with Purdue in 1999 before leaving to coach the WNBA's Miracle. "There are things out there every game that I can take away as little victories."

Bernice Mosby led the Gators with 16 points.

The game marked the return of injured Florida junior Vanessa Hayden, who missed the past 10 games since breaking her left leg and spraining her left ankle on Dec. 7 against North Carolina State. She had eight rebounds but was rusty, going 2-for-10 from the floor for five points.

NO. 4 TENN. 92, NO. 12 ARKANSAS 79: Gwen Jackson scored 26 to lead the visiting Vols.

Arkansas trailed 47-31 at halftime but fought back to 75-72 late. Tennessee outscored the Razorbacks 17-7 the rest of the way. Kara Lawson added 17 points for the Volunteers.

NO. 7 UNC 74, VIRGINIA 54: Nikita Bell scored 13 of her 21 in the second half and the host Tar Heels overcame a terrible shooting performance. La'Tangela Atkinson had 14 points and 12 rebounds for North Carolina, which missed 31 of its first 41.

NO. 9 LA TECH 102, BOISE ST. 66: Trina Frierson scored 20 for the visiting Techsters, who shot 71 percent (20-for-28) from the field in the first half en route to a 47-26 halftime lead.

NO. 10 PURDUE 82, ILLINOIS 78: Erika Valek scored 20, including a pair of free throws with 18.7 seconds left, for the visiting Boilermakers. Valek also had eight assists for Purdue, which has beaten the Illini nine straight and 27 out of the past 29.

NO. 13 MISS. ST. 72, ALABAMA 56: Tan White scored 25 and the host Bulldogs ended an 11-game losing streak to the Crimson Tide.

MSU held Alabama to 25 percent shooting in the first half. The Crimson Tide, which hadn't loss to Mississippi State since 1977, trailed the entire game.

NO. 14 PENN ST. 68, NO. 23 OHIO ST. 53: Kelly Mazzante scored 26 and the host Nittany Lions took the lead in the Big Ten Conference. Mazzante hit a 3-pointer with 7:24 left in the second half to set the Penn State career record from beyond the arc with 231 baskets.

NO. 17 VANDY 67, AUBURN 66: Chantelle Anderson hit a jumper with five seconds left and the visiting Commodores erased a 21-point second-half deficit.

State

FSU 59, CLEMSON 57: Sophomore Linnea Liljestrand scored a game-high 19, including 17 straight in the second half, to lead the Seminoles from a nine-point deficit, marking the program's first win at Clemson.

"Well, this is a very big win for our program," FSU coach Sue Semrau said. "Jim (Davis) does such a great job here at Clemson and his kids always play really hard. Obviously, Linnea has just been waiting so patiently for her time and developing her mental game. We had a real spark off the bench by Hannah Linquist, who came in for us and really did a great job holding down the middle on the defensive end. We're really pleased to come away with a win here."

UCF 71, BELMONT 68: Junior Adrienne Billings scored a tam-high 17 and Takira Allen added 16 for the visiting Golden Knights.

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