Hoosiers suppress Clark, Hawkeyes
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Sara Scalia scored 25 points, All-America center Mackenzie Holmes had 24 points and nine rebounds, and No. 14 Indiana frustrated Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark in an 8669 win over the fourth-ranked Hawkeyes on Thursday night.
Playing for the first time since she broke the NCAA women’s career scoring record, Clark finished with 24 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds but struggled from the floor. She was 8 of 26 overall and 3 of 16 on three-pointers while scoring just four points in the second half.
Clark now has 3,593 points and is 57 away from her next milestone, Lynette Woodard’s major women’s college scoring record, with three games left in the regular season.
Indiana, the defending regular-season Big Ten champion, had something to prove after Monday night’s inexplicable loss at Illinois, and the Hoosiers (22-4, 13-3) didn’t disappoint. Yarden Garzon finished with 15 points.
Ashlyn Watkins had 14 points and 10 rebounds and No. 1 South Carolina clinched a share of its third straight SEC regular-season championship with a 72-44 win over Alabama, Coach Dawn Staley’s 600th career win. The Gamecocks (26-0, 13-0) cruised without top scorer and rebounder Kamilla Cardoso, who felt sore after beating Georgia this past Sunday and got the game off. But not having the 6-7 dominator did not slow down South Carolina as it extended its SEC mark with its 44th regular-season league win and its 56th in a row at home. South Carolina held Alabama (20-8, 7-6) to just five field goals and 15.6% shooting in the first 20 minutes. … Jacy Sheldon scored 20 points, Cotie McMahon and Celeste Taylor added 16 apiece and No. 2 Ohio State beat Penn State 8269. It was the 14th consecutive win for the Buckeyes (23-3, 14-1), who never trailed and led by as many as 30 points midway through the fourth quarter. Ashley Owusu scored 22 points and Ali Brigham and Leilani Kapinus added 10 apiece for the Lady Lions (16-11, 7-9), who lost their sixth in a row. … Lexi Donarski scored 23 points to power North Carolina to an 80-70 win over No. 6 North Carolina State. The Tar Heels (18-9, 10-5) were also boosted by 13 points and 11 rebounds from Alyssa Ustby, a career-high 12 points from Alexandra Zelaya, 12 points and seven rebounds from Maria Gakdeng and 11 points from Indya Nivar. Aziaha James led the Wolfpack (23-4, 114) with 24 points. … Kennedy Brown scored 12 points, Reigan Richardson added 11, and Duke jumped out early and beat No. 17 Syracuse 58-45, snapping the Orange’s five-game win streak. Syracuse’s Dyaisha Fair, who entered with 3,257 career points, scored 22 on 7-of-25 shooting and is four points shy of tying Brittney Griner for fifth all-time. Georgia Woolley added 11 points for Syracuse (22-5, 12-4 ACC). … Sonia Citron scored 16 points on 5-of-6 shooting, Maddy Westbeld had 13 points and 12 rebounds and No. 19 Notre Dame dominated the middle two quarters and rolled to a 74-47 win over Clemson. The Irish (20-6, 10-5) trailed by two after one quarter but led 59-36 entering the fourth quarter. Ruby Whitehorn scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Clemson (11-16, 4-11), which lost its fourth in a row. … Sydney Taylor scored 23 of her season-high 31 points in the first half, Jayda Curry added 13 points and No. 20 Louisville eased past Georgia Tech 80-62 for its 11th consecutive victory in the series. Louisville, which was coming off an 86-70 loss to No. 12 Virginia Tech on Sunday, improved to 25-3 after an ACC loss in 17 seasons under Coach Jeff Walz. Olivia Cochran grabbed 12 rebounds to go with eight points for Louisville (22-6, 11-4 ). Taylor, coming off the bench, nearly topped her career high of 32 points, set on Jan. 12, 2022, while leading UMass over VCU 72-60. Kara Dunn finished with 17 points and Tonie Morgan added 16 for Georgia Tech (15-13, 6-10).
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Zach Edey scored 25 points on near-perfect shooting, Camden Heide added a career-high 18 and No. 3 Purdue routed Rutgers 96-68. Edey was 7 of 8 from the floor and made 11 free throws without a miss. He also had seven rebounds. Heide was 7 for 7 from the floor, making four three-pointers, after entering the game averaging 3.0 points. Lance Jones added 17 points for the Boilermakers (24-3, 13-3). Jones was 7 of 14 from the floor after going 1 of 10 in a 68-60 victory at Rutgers on Jan. 28.. Braden Smith had 13 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Jeremiah Williams scored 12 points for Rutgers (14-12, 6-9).