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College basketball
March 8, 2003
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Auburn turned out to be just as feisty as Tennessee had feared.
The third-ranked Vols struggled against Auburn's trapping zone defense for much of the game before finally pulling away to a 66-51 victory Friday in the Southeastern Conference tournament quarterfinals.
"I enjoyed the second half a whole lot more than the first half," Tennessee coach Pat Summitt said.
"We dug ourselves in a hole in the first half behind Auburn's great defense. We were more patient offensively and got some reversals (in the second half). We were a two-pass-and-shoot team in the first half."
Down by nine in the second half, Tennessee (27-3) held Auburn (18-11) to no field goals and just two free throws in the final 6:45 to survive a major scare and avoid its earliest exit in the tournament since a quarterfinal loss to Arkansas in 1993.
Kara Lawson and Gwen Jackson led the Vols with 17 points each.
Tennessee plays Mississippi State in tonight's semifinals.
NO. 10 MISS. ST. 79, NO. 16 S. CAROLINA 75: Tan White and Doceide Warren each scored 20 and the Bulldogs (23-6) held on after losing most of a big lead to beat the Gamecocks (22-7) in the quarterfinals. LaToya Thomas added 18 points and 15 rebounds for the Bulldogs.
NO. 15 VANDY 74, NO. 17 GEORGIA 70: Jenni Benningfield's 29 points made up for leading scorer Chantelle Anderson missing most of the game in foul trouble, leading the Commodores (21-8) past the Bulldogs (21-8). Benningfield made 12 of 23 from the field and Vanderbilt shot 58 percent. Vanderbilt plays LSU today.
NO. 6 LSU 78, NO. 23 ARKANSAS 72: Freshman Seimone Augustus had 22 points, including two free throws with 19.4 seconds left as the Tigers (25-3) beat the Razorbacks (21-10). Arkansas' Shameka Christon had 33 points.
NO. 2 DUKE 64, WAKE FOREST 59: Alana Beard scored 18 to lead the Blue Devils to their 23rd consecutive win over the Demon Deacons in the first round in Greensboro, N.C. Iciss Tillis added 14 points and nine rebounds to lead the top-seeded Blue Devils (29-1) to their 41st straight ACC victory. Tiffani Listenbee scored 17 for Wake Forest (13-15).
CLEMSON 63, MARYLAND 61: Chrissy Floyd, who averages 17.5 points, scored just eight but hit a pair of free throws with 1.2 seconds to give the Tigers (14-14) the win against the Terrapins (10-18).
IOWA 80, NO. 13 MINNESOTA 77: Kristi Faulkner scored 21 and Jennie Lillis had 15 points and 13 rebounds as the Hawkeyes (19-9) beat the Gophers (23-5) in the second round of the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis.
NO. 12 PURDUE 72, MICHIGAN 50: Erika Valek had 14 of her 19 points in the second half, and the Boilermakers (24-5) beat the Wolverines (13-16) in the second round of the Big Ten tournament.
NO. 14 PENN ST. 67, INDIANA 64: Tanisha Wright scored 26 and Kelly Mazzante added 18, including the last five, as the Nittany Lions (24-7) beat the Hoosiers (13-15) in the Big Ten tournament.
NO. 21 WIS.-G.B. 70, LOYOLA 52: Kristy Loiselle scored 16 as the host Phoenix (26-3) advanced to the Horizon League championship game for the eighth straight year by beating the Ramblers (12-17).
LOUISVILLE: Coach Martin Clapp, who missed the team's final regular-season game and the conference tournament, resigned on Friday. Clapp left the team last month for personal reasons.