Razorbacks keep magical run alive
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Chelsea Dungee scored seven of her 17 points in the fourth quarter to help 10th-seeded Arkansas beat No. 15 Texas A&M 58-51 on Saturday night and advance to its first SEC tournament championship game.
Jailyn Mason added 15 points and Alexis Tolefree scored 11 for Arkansas. The Razorbacks (20-13), the lowest seed to make it to the SEC final, will play No. 5 and top-seeded Mississippi State in Sunday's championship game.
Raven Northcross-Baker, Alexis Tolefree and Jailyn Mason hit consecutive 3-pointers before Mason made two free throws to give Arkansas its first lead at 52-51 with 3:03 to play. Texas A&M sandwiched two turnovers around a 3 by Dungee before Taylah Thomas and Dungee combined to make 3 of 4 from the free-throw line to cap a 17-0 closing run.
Ciera Johnson had 18 points and 11 rebounds while N'dea Jones added 14 points and 14 boards for No. 3 seed Texas A&M (24-7). Chennedy Carter, the SEC's leading scorer at 22.5 points per game, did not play due to a broken finger suffered in a 66-53 win over Arkansas in the regular-season finale on March 3.
The Aggies scored 17 of the game's first 19 points and led by as many as 16 in the first half.
Jones hit two free throws to give the Aggies a 49-38 lead with 8:05 left in the game but they were 1-for-6 shooting with eight turnovers from there as Arkansas scored 20 of the final 22 points.