Womens Hoops

NCAAW SEC: Rickea Jackson helping Tennessee Lady Vols climb back

NCAAW SEC: Rickea Jackson helping Tennessee Lady Vols climb back

During a chaotic opening week of conference action — with the women’s college hoops world seeing a number of stunning upsets — things mostly went as expected in the SEC.

Although Georgia (11-5, 0-2) used a strong first half to put a bit of scare into South Carolina (14-0, 2-0) on Monday night, the nation’s No. 1 team escaped with a relatively comfortable win in Athens behind career-high 31 points from Zia Cooke. The victory, combined with a much more dominating win over Texas A&M in Columbia last Thursday, makes the Gamecocks one of five teams that finished the first week of SEC play at 2-0.

Here’s a quick recap of the other four undefeated teams, the four .500 squads and five winless ones after two games:


2-0 teams: South Carolina, LSU, Tennessee, Ole Miss & Missouri

Untested during an incredibly soft non-conference slate, No. 7 LSU’s (14-0, 2-0) opening-week performances indicated that the easy schedule did not inflate the quality of the Lady Tigers. Against a then-ranked Arkansas team with ambitions of breaking into the SEC’s upper crust, LSU quickly scuttled any notions of an upset in Fayetteville on Thursday, breezing to the 69-45 victory.

In her SEC debut, Angel Reese continued her dominance with another double-double of 19 points and 16 rebounds. After Vanderbilt kept things close through one quarter on Sunday, LSU took control for another win of more than 20 points, led by a 21-point, 17-rebound double-double from Reese, her 14th straight. Reese’s double-doubles also might be contagious, as Flau’jae Johnson notched her third double-double with 10 points and 11 boards against Arkansas and Alexis Morris registered her first career double-double with 15 points and 12 assists over Vanderbilt.

Bludgeoned by a brutal non-conference schedule that, in addition to injuries and other issues, seemed to be turning this season into a rocky flop, Tennessee (10-6, 2-0) appears to be finding its footing, following up an inspiring defeat at No. 2 Stanford with three-consecutive wins, including victories at Florida, 77-67, and over Alabama, 89-76. The reincorporation of Rickea Jackson has boosted the Lady Vols. As a super-scoring sub, Jackson dropped 28 and 22 points in her first two SEC games sporting the Big Orange.

After cruising to a home win over Auburn on Thursday, Ole Miss (13-2, 2-0) defeated in-state rival Mississippi State on Sunday, the Rebels’ first win in Starkville since 2007. The Rebels pulled away in the fourth…

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