Kentucky’s Rhyne Howard, right, drives against South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso, center, and Aliyah Boston in the during the Wildcats’ 64-62 win in the SEC title game on Sunday in Nashville, Tennessee. Mark Humphrey/Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Dre’una Edwards hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 4.2 seconds left, and the Kentucky Wildcats rallied from 15 points down to upset top-ranked South Carolina 64-62 on Sunday to win their first Southeastern Conference women’s tournament championship since 1982.
Kentucky hadn’t even reached this game since 2014. These seventh-seeded Wildcats (19-11) won their 10th straight game with this the biggest yet after knocking off sixth-ranked LSU and No. 18 Tennessee to get to this championship.
The Wildcats not only snapped South Carolina’s 18-game winning streak this season, they also ended the Gamecocks’ search for a third straight SEC tournament title for the regular season champs with Kentucky’s fourth win in as many days.
South Carolina (28-2) led 45-30 with 4:45 left in the third quarter seemingly minutes away from cutting down the nets again. But the Gamecocks didn’t score after Aliyah Boston’s jumper with 5:04 remained that put them up 62-53.
(2) STANFORD 73, UTAH 48: Haley Jones scored 19 points, Cameron Brink added 16 and the Cardinal (28-3, 17-0) won their second straight Pac-12 tournament with a rout of the Utes (20-11, 8-8) in Las Vegas.
The Cardinal shut down the Utes defensively in the second half to pull away in what was a two-point game at halftime. The reigning national champions held Utah to 7-of-33 shooting in the second half and had a 40-12 advantage in the paint to win their 15th Pac-12 tournament in 21 tries.
(3) NORTH CAROLINA STATE 60, MIAMI 47: The Wolfpack (29-3) completed their chase to a third straight Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship, beating the Hurricanes (20-12) in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Elissa Cunane had 17 points and eight rebounds despite exiting the game for a stretch in the second half with an apparent left-ankle injury for the top-seeded Wolfpack.
N.C. State shot just 35% but took control with a 17-4 run with Miami’s offense unable to much of anything, a burst that stretched an eight-point margin to 54-33 on consecutive 3-pointers by Diamond Johnson to end the third quarter and start the fourth.
(5) BAYLOR 82, TEXAS TECH 57: NaLyssa Smith had a career-high 35 points with 12 rebounds in her senior day game for fifth-ranked Baylor, and the Bears (25-5, 15-3 Big 12) clinched the outright conference title with a win over the Red Raiders (11-18, 4-14) in the regular-season finale in Waco, Texas.
The Bears were guaranteed at least a share of their 12th consecutive Big 12 title and 13th overall after an 87-62 win at ninth-ranked Iowa State last Monday. Baylor had to beat Texas Tech for the outright championship after the Cyclones ended their regular season with win Saturday night at West Virginia.
(7) UCONN 71, MARQUETTE 51: Evina Westbrook scored 14 points and the Huskies (24-5) cruised into the Big East title game with a win over the Golden Eagles (21-10) in Uncasville, Connecticut.
The Huskies didn’t need much help from reigning national player of the year Paige Bueckers, who played 18 minutes and finished with two points, two rebounds and two assists. The sophomore was playing her fifth game since returning from a left-knee injury that kept her out more than two months.
Christyn Williams and Dorka Juhasz each added 13 points for the Huskies, who are looking to win a ninth straight conference tournament championship, including the seven they won while members of the American Athletic Conference. Aaliyah Edwards had eight points and 11 rebounds.
(12) IOWA 74, (14) INDIANA 67: Monika Czinano had 30 points and 10 rebounds and Caitlin Clark scored 18 as the Hawkeyes (23-7) won their second Big Ten Tournament title in four years by beating the Hoosiers (21-8) in Indianapolis.
The league’s regular-season co-champs have won seven straight games to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. It’s the first time Iowa has claimed regular season and tourney titles in the same season.
Grace Berger finished with 20 points and Nicole Cardano-Hillary had 19 for Indiana, which was playing for the fourth straight day. Former Gorham High star Mackenzie Holmes had 11 points and seven rebounds for the Hoosiers.
(22) FLORIDA GULF COAST 71, NORTH FLORIDA 60: Kendall Spray scored a season-high 24 points, Kierstan Bell added 22 and the Eagles (27-2) defeated the Ospreys (13-17) in a quarterfinal of the Atlantic Sun Championship in Fort Myers, Florida.
Spray made a season-high seven 3-pointers in nine attempts. She was 8 for 10 overall. Bell had seven rebounds, five blocks and three steals. Tishara Morehouse had 14 points and seven assists for the Eagles.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
NEBRASKA 74, (10) WISCONSIN 73: The Badgers (24-6, 15-5 Big Ten) lost leading scorer Johnny Davis when he was injured on a flagrant foul early in the second half, and missed a chance to clinch the Big Ten title outright by falling to the Cornhuskers (10-21, 4-16) in Madison, Wisconsin.
Alonzo Verge Jr. scored Nebraska’s last nine points, part of a 12-0 rally in the final minutes.
Wisconsin could still finish alone atop the Big Ten if second-place Illinois loses to Iowa later Sunday. The conference tournament starts Wednesday.
MEMPHIS 75, (14) HOUSTON 61: Tyler Harris scored 15 points and Landers Nolley and Lester Quinones added 11 each to lead the Tigers (19-9) to a victory over the Cougars (26-5) in Memphis, Tennessee.
Kyler Edwards led Houston with 19 points.
MICHIGAN 75, (23) OHIO STATE 69: DeVante’ Jones scored 21 points and the Wolverines (17-13, 11-9 Big Ten) rallied in the second half, wrapping up their up-and-down Big Ten regular season by beating the Buckeyes (19-10, 12-8) in Columbus, Ohio.
Fill-in coach Phil Martelli guided the Wolverines as Coach Juwan Howard finished out his five-game suspension for hitting a Wisconsin assistant in a postgame handshake line.
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