March 6, 2003
By DOUGLAS PILS
AP Sports Writer
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Sarah Burgess had a career-high 23 points off the bench to lead No. 16 South Carolina to a 79-64 victory over Mississippi on Thursday night in the first round of the Southeastern Conference tournament.
Burgess’ previous career-high was 15 in the regular-season finale against the Lady Rebels, who led this one 54-53 with 10:12 left.
South Carolina (22-6) trailed on three occasions in the second half, but the Gamecocks took control with a 16-0 run. They opened and closed the game with runs of 26-10.
South Carolina advances to meet No. 10 Mississippi State in the quarterfinals at 6 p.m. on Friday.
Burgess’s 3-pointer with 8:08 remaining gave South Carolina a 58-54 lead and she hit another the next time down the floor. She shot 8-for-11 from the field, including 7-for-10 3-pointers.
Ole Miss (12-16) missed seven shots and committed three turnovers before Amber Watts’ layup with about three minutes to go cut South Carolina’s lead to 69-56.
Petra Ujhelyi added 16 points for South Carolina, while Jocelyn Penn had 13.
Genice Terry led Ole Miss with 18 points and Watts scored 15.
South Carolina’s lead was 29-14 with 8:56 left in the half after Burgess came off the bench and hit three straight 3-pointers.
Ole Miss trimmed the lead to under 10 points with a 17-9 run. Ashley Johnson scored six points during the spurt and Terry added five. The Lady Rebels cut the lead to 38-31 when point guard Carletta Brown made a steal and scored on a fast break with 1:50 left in the half.
