Vanderbilt rallies to claim SEC tourney title
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Freshman center Carla Thomas had 22 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 21 Vanderbilt rallied from an 18-point deficit in the second half Sunday for a 62-56 win over 20th-ranked Georgia in the championship game of the Southeastern Conference tournament.
“We could’ve put our heads down and really buried ourselves, and we didn’t,” Vandy coach Melanie Balcomb said of her first championship team.
“I think this team has shown a lot of heart, and I think what we did tonight just shows what we’re made of. I’m excited to take this team into the NCAAs with that kind of heart and that kind of effort.”
The Commodores (24-7) won their fourth title and first since 2002 despite nearly shooting themselves out of the game in the first half. The SEC’s best 3-point shooters didn’t hit a 3 and scored just 18 points.
So Vanderbilt turned defensive to win its fifth straight NCAA berth and 17th overall.
Balcomb ditched the zone they were using to slow down Christi Thomas and Ebony Felder, switching to pressing and trapping. It helped spark a 21-4 run as Vandy forced 11 turnovers in the second half.
“They just were willing to make the changes and the adjustments that we asked them to make. To just mentally throw away that first half, and that’s what we did,” Balcomb said.
Georgia looked ready to roll toward its fifth title and first since 2001, leading 34-18 at halftime. The Lady Bulldogs pushed that lead to as many as 18 twice in the second half, the last on Christi Thomas’ putback with 16:29 left that made it 40-22.
“The splintering began when we were pressed, and we made a terrible mistake of dribbling the ball over the halfline on the sideline, and we repeated that mistake at least four times, which is basically a cardinal sin,” Georgia coach Andy Landers said.
“We don’t teach it. We shouldn’t do it. We did it. We got trapped.”
Christi Thomas led Georgia (22-9) with 17 points. Sherrill Baker had 16.
Hillary Hager and Dee Davis each scored 11 for Vanderbilt. Ashley Earley had 10.
Georgia focused on stopping Hager and Abi Ramsey, a pair of 44 percent shooters from 3-point range.
But Hager got Vandy started with its only 3 of the game with 15:34 remaining, sparking the 21-4 run. Carla Thomas, named the tournament’s MVP, capped the run with a putback to pull Vandy within 44-43, then gave Vandy its first lead since 2-0 with another bucket to make it 50-49 with 4:13 left.
“You could see fear,” Davis said. “It was nice.”
Georgia managed to tie it at 54 on Alexis Kendricks’ 3-pointer from the top of the key with 2:33 to go.
But Carla Thomas put Vandy up to stay at 56-54 with 2:08 left, and the Commodores hit their next four free throws to put the game out of reach.
“You’ve got to give credit where credit’s due,” Christi Thomas said of the freshman. “She’s a good post player, and she’s going to be great by the time she gets out of here.”
The SEC’s second-best shooting team didn’t leave the court Saturday night until just before 11 p.m., and the late finish seemed to hurt as the Commodores missed seven of their first 10 shots. Senior Jenni Benningfield bounced a couple jumpers off the front rim and even missed the basket once.
Carla Thomas had 12 of Vandy’s first 14 points.
Georgia had no such problems as the Lady Bulldogs hit 10 of their first 20. Georgia used a 12-4 run in taking its halftime lead.
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