Baylor prevails
Queen Egbo had a career-high 26 points along with 10 rebounds, DiJonai Carrington (above) added 22 points and 10 rebounds, and No. 6 Baylor beat No. 17 West Virginia 96-73 on Monday night in the Big 12’s final regular-season game.
WOMEN’S TOP 25 NO. 6 BAYLOR 96, NO. 17 WEST VIRGINIA 73
WACO, Texas — Queen Egbo had a career-high 26 points along with 10 rebounds, DiJonai Carrington also had a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds, and No. 6 Baylor beat No. 17 West Virginia 9673 on Monday night in the Big 12’s final regular season game.
NaLyssa Smith had 13 points for the Lady Bears (22-2, 17-1 Big 12), who had already wrapped up their 11th consecutive regular season conference title. They clinched it outright with a win at Texas a week ago.
Kirsten Deans had 22 points to lead West Virginia (19-5, 13-5) before fouling out of the game, while Esmery Martinez had 13 points.
Kysre Gondrezick had seven points, well below her 20.6 average that was fourth in the Big 12. She sprained her ankle midway through the third quarter and exited for good with 9 minutes left.
The makeup game to end the regular season, which had no impact on the standings, matched the top two seeds in the Big 12 tournament. Neither plays until the quarterfinals Friday in Kansas City.
“It was a tough game for me as a coach, and [West Virginia Coach] Mike, [Carey] too, as a coach. Neither one of us understood why we had to play this game,” Baylor’s Kim Mulkey said. “It was a very difficult game because what you worry about are injuries, and I hated to see Kysre [get hurt] for them.”
NO. 18 GONZAGA 72, SANTA CLARA 62
LAS VEGAS — Jill Townsend led a balanced attack with 14 points and 10 rebounds and Gonzaga defeated Santa Clara in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference tournament.
Cierra Walker had three 3-pointers in the second half and scored 13 points for the top-seeded Bulldogs (22-3), who will face second-seeded BYU on Tuesday. Jenn Wirth added 12 points and Kayleigh Truong 10.
Lindsey VanAllen led fourth-seeded Santa Clara (14-11) with 17 points and Merle Wiehl and Ashlyn Herlihy 16 apiece.
BIG EAST WOMEN
NO. 1 UCONN 73, MARQUETTE 39
UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Paige Bueckers scored 23 points to lead top-ranked UConn over Marquette for the program’s 19th Big East Tournament championship.
The standout freshman hit 10 of 15 shots, grabbed 6 rebounds and had 4 assists for the Huskies (24-1), who rejoined the league this season after winning seven consecutive titles in the American Athletic Conference.
Christyn Williams (Central Arkansas Christian) added 16 points as UConn won its 160th consecutive game in conference play.
Camryn Taylor had 11 points and 13 rebounds for Marquette (19-6).
SUN BELT WOMEN
TROY 73, LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 65
PENSACOLA, Fla. — Felmas Koranga had 12 points and a career-high 22 rebounds, Alexus Dye recorded her NCAA-leading 22nd double-double, and Troy beat Louisiana-Lafayette to claim the Sun Belt Conference tournament and an automatic NCAA bid.
Troy (22-5) was playing in the title game for the third time since 2016 — winning all three including a 78-64 victory over ULL in the 2016-17 season.
Ty’Reona Doucet scored 14 points, and Skyler Goodwin had 14 points and 10 rebounds for Louisiana-Lafayette (16-6), which had its 15-game winning streak snapped. Jomyra Mathis added 13 rebounds.
TOP 25 MEN
NO. 1 GONZAGA 78, SAINT MARY’S 55
LAS VEGAS — Drew Timme scored 18 points, Joel Ayayi added 16 and topranked Gonzaga racked up another lopsided win, blowing past Saint Mary’s in the West Coast Conference Tournament semifinals.
The Bulldogs (25-0) dominated from a big opening run and led by 18 at halftime to cruise into their nation-best 24th conference tournament title game. Gonzaga shot 53% to tie the school record with its 29th consecutive victory, dating to last season.
Jalen Suggs scored 15 points for the Bulldogs.
Logan Johnson led Saint Mary’s (14-9) with 15 points.
SOUTHERN MEN
UNC-GREENSBORO 69, MERCER 61
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Isaiah Miller scored 25 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and had six assists as top-seeded UNC Greensboro earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament with a win over seventh-seeded Mercer in the Southern Conference championship.
Miller made 5 of 13 free throws and UNCG was 13 of 26, including six misses in the last 1:15. However, the Bears missed their last seven shots from the field.
Keyshaun Langley added 15 points for UNCG (21-8), which was in its sixth championship game and the fourth in five years.
Ayers and James Glisson III each scored 16 points for Mercer (18-11),
SUN BELT MEN
APPALACHIAN STATE 80, GEORGIA STATE 73
PENSACOLA, Fla. — Michael Almonacy scored a career-high 32 points with six three-pointers and Appalachian State upset two-time defending champion Georgia State to win the Sun Belt Conference championship and return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2000.
It was an improbable run for fourth-seeded Appalachian State (1711), which lost six of its final seven regular-season games before winning four games in four nights — including two in overtime.
Adrian Delph added 22 points, Justin Forrest finished with 15 and Donovan Gregory grabbed 10 rebounds for Appalachian State.
Kane Williams had 18 points and eight rebounds for Georgia State (16-6).