Sims’ season-high 27 lead Baylor rout of Oral Roberts

Griner’s doubledouble helps Bears extend home win streak to 44.

WACO — Odyssey Sims scored a season-high 27 points, Brittney Griner had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and No. 3 Baylor ran its home winning streak to 44, beating Oral Roberts 94-56 on Wednesday night.

Baylor (8-1) hit 16 of its first 19 shots and led 51-34 at halftime. Sims, playing in her second game since returning from a hamstring injury, connected on a 30-footer just before the first-half buzzer sounded.

Kevi Luper had 19 points and Taylor Cooper added 16 for Oral Roberts (3-4). The Golden Eagles have lost 40 consecutive games to ranked opponents.

Brooklyn Pope, making her second start of the season, was 8 of 9 from the floor and scored 19 points for the defending NCAA champion Lady Bears, who have won six straight since having their 42-game winning streak snapped Nov. 16.

Oral Roberts climbed within 13 early in the second half when Jaci Bigham made a scoop shot in the lane, making it 53-40 with 17:45 remaining.

Baylor went on an 187 run after that to take full control. Sims made a layup, and Griner followed with a bank shot that made it 71-47 with 12:41 left.

The Lady Bears, who led by 38 in the second half, shot 56.3 percent for the game and they outrebounded the Golden Eagles 44-29

Baylor was coming off a 73-61 victory at No. 5 Notre Dame last week in a rematch of last season’s title game. The Lady Bears will have some time off before hosting No. 13 Tennessee in Waco next Tuesday.

After Griner missed the first shot of the game, Baylor hit eight in a row from the floor. Griner scored six of the Lady Bears’ first eight and Pope followed with six straight points.

Griner hit a jumper and Sims followed with a steal and layup to give Baylor a 31-9 lead with 12:12 left in the first half.

Luper scored 32 points three years ago against Baylor as a freshman. It was the same night Griner had the first triple-double of her career.

On Wednesday night, Luper didn’t make her first field goal until the Golden Eagles were down 20

Taylor Cooper made consecutive 3-pointers to bring Oral Roberts within 48-34 late in the first half.

But Sims launched her 30-foot heave that hit nothing but net and gave the Lady Bears a 17-point advantage at half.

No. 11 Penn State 60, Virginia Tech 41: Maggie Lucas scored 17 points and Mia Nickson had a double-double as the visiting Nittany Lions (8-2) beat the Hokies (4-4).

No. 19 North Carolina 49, N.C. Central 21: Tierra Ruffin-Pratt scored 14 points while Brittany Rountree had 11 to help the Tar Heels (9-1) defeat the visiting Eagles (0-11).

UNC tied the program records for fewest points in a win and fewest points allowed in a game. It was also the lowest-scoring game in program history.

North Carolina won despite shooting 27 percent (17 of 62). But the Eagles were even worse against a team ranked 23rd nationally in fieldgoal percentage defense.

N.C. Central missed 17 of 19 shots in the first half and trailed 21-6 at the break. The Eagles made just five shots after halftime and finished at 16 percent (7 of 43) for the game.

Tisha Dixon had eight points and 12 rebounds to lead N.C. Central.

Men

No. 7 Ohio St. 85, Savannah St. 45: Deshaun Thomas scored all but one of his 22 points in the first half to lead the host Buckeyes (7-1) over the Tigers (5-5).

LaQuinton Ross added 13 points, Shannon Scott had 12 and Evan Ravenel 11 for the Buckeyes).