No. 23 Florida 98, Mississippi State 83

3/2/2006 10:30 PM

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Danielle Santos scored 24 points to lead Florida to a 98-83 victory over Mississippi State in the first round of the Southeastern Conference women's tournament Thursday night.

The Gators (21-7), seeded fifth, advanced to Friday's quarterfinals against fourth-seeded Kentucky. Mississippi State (6-22) lost for the 13th time in a row as coach Sharon Fanning again failed to pick up her 500th career victory.

Sha Brooks added 22 points in a balanced Florida offense. Brittany Davis added 18, Dalila Eshe 15 and Sarah Lowe scored eight.

The Gators, who took control of the game late in the first half, scored the first 10 points after the break. Two minutes into the second half, Florida had built a 57-39 lead

The Lady Bulldogs were able to whittle the lead to 86-78 with 2:38 left in the game on Miayorka Johnson's 3-pointer. But Florida went on a 10-2 run to close it out.

Johnson led Mississippi State with 21 points. Mamie McKinney scored 19, Marneshia Richard scored 14 and Lauren Roberts added 11.

Mississippi State, which lost to the Gators 63-48 during the regular season, ran with Florida in the first half. The Lady Bulldogs led 21-20 with 9:28 left in the half. When Brooks scored off the baseline with 9:14 left in the half, the Gators led 22-21 and they would not trail again.

The Bulldogs three times cut the margin to a basket but could never regain the lead. The Lady Bulldogs trailed 33-31 with 4:14 left in the half, but the Gators 6-0 run rebuilt the cushion to 40-31.

Florida outrebounded MSU 46-39.