No. 3 Tennessee Pulls Away Late on Auburn

Gwen Jackson and Kara Lawson scored 17 points each and Tasha Butts had 15 to go with tough defense as No. 3 Tennessee rallied to beat Auburn, 66-51, Friday in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament at North Little Rock, Ark.

Down by nine in the second half, Tennessee (27-3) held Auburn to no field goals and only two free throws in the final 6:45 to survive a major scare and avoid its earliest exit in the SEC tournament since a quarterfinal loss to Arkansas in 1993.

Auburn (18-11), which used a trapping defense, had lost to Tennessee by three and nine points in the regular season.

No. 2 Duke 64, Wake Forest 59 -- Alana Beard scored 18 points in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament at Greensboro, N.C., to lead the Blue Devils (29-1) over the Demon Deacons (13-15) for their 23rd consecutive victory.

No. 6 Louisiana State 78, No. 23 Arkansas 72 -- Freshman Seimone Augustus had 22 points, including two free throws with 19.4 seconds left to lead the Tigers (25-3) over the Razorbacks (21-10) in an SEC tournament game.

No. 10 Mississippi State 79, No. 16 South Carolina 75 -- Tan White and Doceide Warren scored 20 points apiece, and LaToya Thomas clinched the victory with two free throws with 1.1 seconds left to lead the Bulldogs (23-6) in an SEC tournament. South Carolina is 22-7.

No. 12 Purdue 72, Michigan 50 -- Erika Valek had 14 of her 19 points in the second half to lead the Boilermakers (24-5) over the Wolverines (13-16) in a Big Ten tournament game at Indianapolis.

Iowa 80, No. 13 Minnesota 77 -- Kristi Faulkner scored 21 points and gave the Hawkeyes (19-9) the lead for good after making a baseline three-pointer with 6:05 left in an upset of the Gophers (23-5) in a Big Ten tournament game.

No. 14 Penn State 67, Indiana 64 -- Tanisha Wright scored 26 points and Kelly Mazzante had 18, including the last five, to lead the Nittany Lions (24-7) over the Hoosiers (13-15) in a Big Ten tournament game.

No. 15 Vanderbilt 74, No. 17 Georgia 70 -- Jenni Benningfield scored 29 points to lead the Commodores (21-8) over the Bulldogs (19-9) in an SEC tournament game.

No. 21 Wisconsin Green Bay 70, Loyola Chicago 52 -- Kristy Loiselle scored 16 points to lead the Phoenix (26-3) into the Horizon League tournament championship with a victory over the Ramblers (12-17) at Green Bay, Wis.