Mississippi State guard Porsha Porter (4) shoots against Vanderbilt guard Elan Brown (30) in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game at the Southeastern Conference tournament Friday, March 4, 2011, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo)A huge weekend of activities in downtown Nashville kicked off Friday with the SEC women's basketball tournament.more>> A'dia Mathies scored on a three-point play with 38.8 seconds left, and No. 16 Kentucky edged LSU 60-58 Friday in the Southeastern Conference tournament quarterfinals.more>> Glory Johnson scored a career-high 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as No. 4 Tennessee beat eighth-seeded Florida 92-75 Friday in the Southeastern Conference tournament quarterfinals.more>>
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Tiffany Clarke scored all of her 23 points in the second half, and Vanderbilt beat Mississippi State 69-55 Friday night in the Southeastern Conference tournament quarterfinals.
Vanderbilt (20-10) advanced to the semifinals for the fifth straight season, and the Commodores also won at least one game in this tournament for a 12th straight year. They will play No. 16 Kentucky in the semifinals Saturday.
No. 11 seed Mississippi State had the lone upset through the first two days of the tournament, but the Lady Bulldogs just couldn't shoot well enough to keep pace with Vanderbilt in the teams' first game in this event since 1997.
Angela Puleo scored 11 points, and Hannah Tuomi had 10 for Vanderbilt.
Diamber Johnson led the Lady Bulldogs with 20 points.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
