Vandy women haven't yet secured bye

In seven of the eight seasons that Vanderbilt has made the SEC Women's Tournament final, it has avoided a first-round game.

Earning that bye for next week's tournament at Bridgestone Arena will come down to the regular-season finale.

Vanderbilt squandered a chance to clinch a top four seed on senior night Friday, falling to Florida 74-69. It was Vanderbilt's third consecutive loss at Memorial Gym, after opening the season 12-0 at home.

Vanderbilt (18-10, 9-6) still is fourth in the SEC , the last spot awarded a bye, but it likely needs to win Sunday at South Carolina to finish there or better. The only way it can lose and earn a bye is if LSU upsets Tennessee and Auburn upsets Kentucky. That would create a four-way tie with South Carolina, LSU and Auburn at 9-7, and Vanderbilt would win that tiebreaker.

If South Carolina and Vanderbilt are the only teams tied for fourth, South Carolina would finish fourth based on winning the only meeting between the teams this season.

"We're not going to add on pressure, because pressure makes you feel bad," forward Tiffany Clarke said. "But it's important to us. It's hard playing those consecutive games when you don't have the bye."

Florida (16-13, 6-9) snapped a seven-game losing streak to Vanderbilt and avenged a 103-97 double-overtime loss Feb. 6.

Jordan Jones led Florida with 16 points, and Christina Foggie paced the Commodores with 15.

The game began 21 hours after its scheduled 8 p.m. Thursday start time. Vanderbilt officials pushed the game back because of storms Thursday night.

An announced crowd of 4,429 showed up a day later to see the home finale for seniors Jence Rhoads, Hannah Tuomi and Rebecca Silinski. Rhoads, who had been day-to-day with a sprained ankle, had 13 points in a team-high 37 minutes.

Florida forward and McGavock graduate Ndidi Madu had six points in the second half after struggling in the first half.

"I had McGavock teachers, my dad, my brother, my cousins, my grandma … everybody came out to support me," Madu said. "I had the nervous jitters because I wanted to play good. Once I calmed down, everything fell into place."