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Sunday, Feb. 27 2:30pm ET
Bulldogs clinch top seed in SEC tourney | |||||
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ATHENS, Ga. (AP) -- Whenever Georgia (No. 2 ESPN/USA Today; No. 3 AP) plays, one or both of the Miller twins have some flashy stats to show off. Lately, though, Deana Nolan has been the one to wow observers. Coco Miller, half of the twin guard combo, scored 21 points and Nolan added 15 Sunday as Georgia defeated Vanderbilt 75-49 to win a share of its seventh Southeastern Conference championship. "Nolan is the most underrated, unknown player in the country," said her coach, Andy Landers. "Who have you not seen who is better?" Vanderbilt coach Jim Foster has seen enough of her. "She should be a candidate for national player of the year," Foster said. "She is a great player who does a lot of things. I'm a big fan of the Miller twins, but I'd kill for Nolan." Coco Miller moved into the top 10 of Georgia career scorers, passing Lisa O'Connor. Miller now has 1,511 points, making her the third junior in school history to surpass 1,500. Sister Kelly, whose 11 points gives her 1,609 in her career, was the second. Tennessee defeated Auburn 76-61 to earn a share of the conference title. Georgia (28-2, 13-1 SEC) will be seeded first in the conference tournament by virtue of its 78-51 win over Tennessee earlier this year. "Winning the championship means we get to hang another red banner on the wall," Landers said. "Our kids will tell you this is the toughest basketball conference in the country, and winning the conference championship is a great accomplishment." "Winning the conference is a tough thing to do," agreed Coco Miller. "You have to be ready to play every single night." Chantelle Anderson hit 6 of 12 shots in the second half to finish with 15 points for Vanderbilt (18-11, 6-8 SEC). "I thought we were a little tight when the game started," Landers said. "But while we weren't playing up to what I would call our normal standards, we didn't get shaken. We had a lot of confidence that our 'A' game would show up." Georgia led 32-24 at halftime, and Coco Miller and Nolan outscored the Commodores 11-2 to start the second half. Miller started Georgia's surge with a 15-foot turnaround jumper at the 17:32 mark, and Nolan ended it with a layup off a lob pass with 14:28 to play. Vanderbilt shot poorly, hitting 36 percent from the field and 42 percent from the line. The Commodores were the fourth team this year to fail to crack the 50-point barrier.
Georgia previously won its conference titles in 1983, 1984, 1986, 1991, 1996 and 1997.
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