No. 8 Texas A&M 60, No. 22 Georgia 48

Playing Georgia brings out the best in Texas A&M’s N’dea Jones who grew up in Lawrenceville, which is only 41 miles away from the Lady Bulldogs campus.

Jones had 15 points and 12 rebounds in leading the Aggies to a victory over Georgia on Sunday.

Texas A&M (16-1, 7-1 in SEC) won its ninth straight at home as Kayla Wells added 13 points and Ciera Johnson 12. Gabby Connally had 18 points for Georgia (13-4, 5-4) and Que Morrison added 12.

A&M missed 12 of its first 15 field goals, but warmed up to 20 of its last 37 shots (54%), taking the lead for good early in the third quarter. The 6-foot-2 Jones hit 6 of 10 and played all 40 minutes in earning her 12th double-double of the season.

“Playing UGA, it is the home team and I most definitely play 10 times harder against them,” Jones said. “I’m going to try to play my absolute best, either making them have a bad-shooting night or a bad-rebounding night - they’re going to get my best every time I step on the court. Every team is going to get my best, but especially UGA.”

The senior, who improved to 4-0 all-time against the Lady Bulldogs, was a big part of a defensive effort that limited Georgia to its fewest points with a stifling effort.

Georgia made only 19 of 61 field goals (31.1%) and couldn’t mount a charge in the fourth quarter as it missed 11 of 12 shots in a 6-minute, 49-second window that helped the Aggies to stretch their lead to 57-44 lead.

Turnovers were a telling factor. Both had 18, but Georgia had more live-ball mistakes, allowing the Aggies to have a 21-3 edge in points off turnovers.

“We were able to come down in transition (and score), before they could get set up,” Johnson said. “I think we also did a good job getting back and taking away their first shot.”

Georgia is a good free-throw shooting team, but it made only 5 of 6, while A&M was 14 of 19.

“We held a very good Texas A&M team to 60 points - that’s (usually) good enough to win,” Georgia coach Joni Taylor said. “We just could not hit shots and we fouled way too much.”

A&M took control of the game in the third quarter with an 8-0 run for a 39-30 lead capped by a Jones’ jumper with 4:18 left in the third quarter. Wells added a layup in the spurt with Jones scoring two layups.

The Aggies scored the last five points of the first half for a 22-22 tie as Johnson had a three-point play and added another free throw as did Aaliyah Wilson. Georgia took its biggest lead of the half on back to back 3-pointers by Morrison and Connally to make it 20-15 with 3:14 left.

A&M had a 34-12 edge in paint points behind the 6-4 Johnson and Jones who combined for 27 points, hitting 10 of 17 field goals.

Georgia’s Jenna Staiti, who came in averaging a team-high 14.9 points and 7.3 rebounds, but the 6-3 post picked up two quick fouls and was never a factor, ending with four points and one rebound in 12 minutes.

“We knew they wanted to get the ball inside to Straiti,” Johnson said. “A lot of that comes because of her being in foul trouble. They really didn’t have a post presence inside in the paint.”

A&M opened a rare five-game home stand by improving to 6-0 against Top 25 teams.

The Bulldogs have lost three off four with the other losses to No. 4 South Carolina and LSU.

No. 4 South Carolina 87, Alabama 63

Zia Cooke scored 12 of her 21 points in the third quarter as South Carolina won its 18th straight over Alabama and 28th in a row over Southeastern Conference opponents.

Cooke, the team’s leading scorer, struggled to find her touch early on with just four points at the half as the Gamecocks (14-1, 9-0 SEC) trailed. But Cooke, the lightning quick 5-foot-9 sophomore, got it going in a major way after halftime as she led a 15-5 surge that put South Carolina ahead for good.

Alabama (12-4, 5-4) looked for a while like it was ready to end its long losing streak to the Gamecocks, who last lost to the Crimson Tide in 2008 before coach Dawn Staley arrived.

No. 6 Stanford 74, Washington 48

Hannah Jump matched her season-high with 15 points off the bench and Stanford used a fast start beat shorthanded Washington.

The Cardinal (15-2, 12-2 Pac-12) led by 19 after scoring a season-high 28 points in the first quarter and were never threatened in completing a three-game sweep of the Washington schools this week. The Cardinal defeated Washington State twice before knocking off the Huskies to complete the extended road trip.

Lexie Hull and Kiana Williams both added 12 points for the Cardinal.

Quay Miller led Washington (4-8, 1-8) with 14 points.

No. 9 Baylor 85, Iowa State 77

Nalyssa Smith scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as Baylor held on to beat Iowa State and remain alone atop the Big 12 standings.

The Lady Bears (12-2, 7-1 Big 12) had lost their last two meetings with the Cyclones, including a 75-71 defeat on Jan. 6.

Baylor had not lost three in a row against a Big 12 rival since Oklahoma put together a four-game winning streak against the Lady Bears from 2005 to 2007.

Dijonai Carrington contributed 17 points to the Lady Bears’ victory. Moon Ursin added 11 points and 15 rebounds.

Ashley Joens led Iowa State (11-6, 7-3) with 25 points and seven rebounds.

No. 15 Kentucky 61, Missouri 55

Rhyne Howard scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Kentucky closed the game with an 11-2 run to defeat Missouri.

In the final three minutes, after the Tigers scored nine straight pints to take a 53-50 lead, the Wildcats were 9 of 10 from the foul line while Missouri went 1 of 4 from the field, missed two critical free throws and had a shot clock violation.

Dre’Una Edwards added 10 points and nine rebounds with the first four points in the closing run for the Wildcats (13-4, 6-3 Southeastern Conference). KeKe McKinney had two free throws with 15.7 seconds left to make it a two-possession game.

Ladazhia Williams scored a career-high 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting for Missouri (6-6, 3-5).

No. 16 Indiana 79, Michigan State 67

Mackenzie Holmes led a balanced attack with 17 points and Indiana took over in the second half to defeat Michigan State for the 800th victory in program history.

Ali Patberg added 15 points, Aleksa Gulbe 14 points and Jaelynn Penn 13 for the Hoosiers (10-4, 8-2 Big Ten Conference).

Indiana trailed by as many as 10 in the first quarter before cutting the deficit to two and were down 41-33 at the break.

Nia Clouden paced Michigan State (9-5, 4-4) with 19 points

No. 19 Arkansas 77, Auburn 67

Amber Ramirez hit three of her five 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and scored 19 points as Arkansas turned back Auburn.

The Razorbacks, a little sluggish after handing No. 3 UConn its loss first of the season 90-87 in an emotional game on Thursday, overcame a big early deficit with a strong second quarter before putting the Tigers away in the fourth quarter.

Chelsea Dungee, who was electric against UConn with 37 points, added 16 for Arkansas (13-5, 3-5 Southeastern Conference) despite shooting just 5 of 14. Destiny Slocum added 14 points.

Unique Thompson led Auburn (5-10, 0-8), which lost its ninth-straight game, with 18 points and 19 rebounds

No. 20 Tennessee 79, Florida 65

Tamari Key had the fourth triple-double in Tennessee history with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 10 blocked shots as the Lady Vols turned aside a challenge from Florida.

The 6-foot-5 sophomore from Cary, North Carolina, had a career-high for points on 10-for-12 shooting, and the 10 blocks are a best by one, and two shy of Kelly Cain’s single-game record set in 2010.

Key scored nine points and blocked four shots in the fourth quarter when the scrappy Gators came as close as 60-59. The Lady Vols called a quick timeout and then scored 10 straight points and closed out the quarter on a 19-6 pace.

Rae Burrell added 21 points with nine rebounds for Tennessee (12-3, 6-1 Southeastern Conference).

Kiara Smith and Lavender Briggs each scored 23 points for the Gators (9-8, 2-7).