Lyman Hall tops Foran

Freshman sets two UConn records for assists

Natalie Panagrosso had 14 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Lyman Hall girls basketball team to a 38-23 SCC win over Foran on Saturday.

Brianna Mik added 10 points and eight rebounds for the Trojans (2-2).

Sam Young led Foran (2-6) with five points.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Guilford 66, North Haven 38: Justin Hess had 22 points and Jack Ciocca added 12 to lead Guilford to an SCC win. Adam Pandafi had nine points to lead North Haven.

Lyman Hall 49, Foran 37: Tyler Voisine had 24 points and Luke O’Reardon added 10 to lead the Trojans to an SCC win. Charlie

Diamantis had 12 points for the Lions.

Wilbur Cross 45, Shelton 41: Christian McClease had 15 points and Ja’don Thomas added 12 to lead the Governors to an SCC win. The Governors outscored the Gaels 15-10 in the fourth quarter to secure the win. Vin Defeo had 14 points and Tim Hilser added 12 to lead the Gaels.

GIRLS HOCKEY

Amity/North Haven/ Cheshire 3, Hamden 2: Kelsey McCarthy scored the game-winning goal in the third period to lead the Blades to an SCC win.

Avery DePodesta added a goal and an assist and Jade Krukar had 19 saves for the Blades. Tania Cruz scored both goals for the Green Dagons.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Franz Wagner matched his season high with 21 points and Isaiah Livers added 16 points and 10 rebounds to help No. 3 Michigan pull away for a 73-57 victory Saturday at Indiana.

The Wolverines (18-1, 13-1 Big Ten) took another major step toward the league title by winning their seventh straight, improving to 5-0 since resuming play following a COVID-19 pause, and capturing their third straight victory in Bloomington. They’ve won nine straight in the series since their last loss in February 2016.

Aljami Durham led Indiana (12-12, 7-10) with 15 points and Race Thompson finished with 11 points and six rebounds. The Hoosiers have lost three in a row and four of their last five as they fight for an NCAA Tournament spot.

NO. 5 ILLINOIS 74, NO. 23 WISCONSIN 69

MADISON, Wis. — Kofi Cockburn scored 19 points and Illinois topped Wisconsin, completing its first sweep of the regular-season series since 2005.

After Wisconsin trailed by 13 points with less than three minutes left, D’Mitrik Trice nearly brought the Badgers all the way back by scoring 19 points in the final 2:12. Trice’s 3-pointer cut Illinois’ lead to 70-69 with 6.7 seconds left.

After Illinois’ Trent Frazier sank two free throws, Illinois fouled Trevor Anderson with 1.9 seconds left before Wisconsin could attempt a tying 3-pointer. An exchange of words near the Wisconsin bench followed the foul, resulting in offsetting technicals.

Anderson missed the next two free throws, then Jacob Grandison hit a pair of foul shots to account for the final scoring.

Trice finished with 29 points. Micah Potter had 15 points for Wisconsin (16-9, 10-8 Big Ten).

OKLAHOMA ST. 94, NO. 7 OKLAHOMA 90 (OT)

NORMAN, Okla. — Freshman star Cade Cunningham scored 10 of his season-high 40 points in overtime to lead Oklahoma State.

Cunningham’s previous scoring high was 29 points. In his first Bedlam rivalry game, he made 12 of 21 field goals and 13 of 14 free throws. He also finished with 11 rebounds three steals and two blocks.

Bryce Williams and Avery Anderson III each scored 15 points for Oklahoma State (16-6, 9-6 Big 12), which won its fourth straight.

De’Vion Harmon matched a career high with 23 points and Austin Reaves had 22 points, eight assists and six rebounds for Oklahoma (15-7, 8-7), which was coming off an upset loss at Kansas State.

The two teams will meet again on Monday at Oklahoma State.

NO. 10 W. VIRIGNIA 64, KANSAS STATE 43

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Sean McNeil scored 16 points and West Virginia used a two big second-half runs to beat Kansas State.

Derek Culver added 11 points for West Virginia (17-6, 10-4 Big 12).

Davion Bradford scored 11 points, and Mike McGuirl had 10 for Kansas State (7-19, 3-14). The Wildcats were held to their secondlowest points total of the season.

West Virginia scored the first seven points of the second half. Jordan McCabe, who started the game in place of leading scorer Miles McBride, then scored all seven of his points during a 17-0 run that gave the Mountaineers their largest lead, 59-34 with 5:14 remaining.

NORTH CAROLINA 78, NO. 11 FLORIDA ST. 70

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Freshman Walker Kessler scored a season-high 20 points to help North Carolina upset Florida State, earning a needed victory to boost its NCAA Tournament chances while giving coach Roy Williams his 900th career victory.

The 7-foot-1 freshman had 14 of his points after halftime in an huge performance off the bench, providing a game-changing spark for a team that was down 16 with 21/2 minutes before halftime.

By the end, the Tar Heels were knocking down clinching free throws and denying comeback bids from the ACC’s top team just days after a clunker of a performance in a home loss to Marquette.

XAVIER 77, NO. 13 CREIGHTON 69

CINCINNATI — Paul Scruggs scored 23 points and Zach Freemantle added 17, helping Xavier bolster its NCAA Tournament hopes.

Freemantle also had 10 rebounds for Xavier (13-5, 6-5 Big East) for his fifth straight double-double. The Musketeers led by as many as 13 points and staved off a late comeback by Creighton.

Damien Jefferson led Creighton (17-6, 13-5) with 19 points, and Marcus Zegarowski had 15. The Bluejays had won four in a row.

NO. 18 TEXAS TECH 68, NO. 14 TEXAS 59

LUBBOCK, Texas — Mac McClung had 16 points to lead five Texas Tech players in double figures and the Red Raiders snapped a three-game losing streak.

The game was tied at halftime, but Texas Tech (15-8, 7-7 Big 12) went ahead to stay when six different players scored in a 19-6 run to open the second half. That spurt came over a nearly nine-minute span when the Longhorns got all of their points on free throws while missing 11 shots in a row.

NO. 16 VA. TECH 84, WAKE FOREST 46

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Keve Aluma scored 23 points, Tyrece Radford had 15 and Virginia Tech pounded Wake Forest.

Virginia Tech recorded its largest margin of victory for an Atlantic Coast Conference game. The previous record for the Hokies was a 94-65 win over Wake Forest in 2011.

NO. 20 ARKANSAS 83, LSU 75

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Justin Smith had 19 points and 10 rebounds, helpingArkansas beat Cameron Thomas and LSU.

The Razorbacks (19-5, 11-4 Southeastern Conference) had four players score in double figures in their sixth straight win. Moses Moody had 18 points on 3-for-14 shooting, and reserve J.D. Notae also scored 18.

AUBURN 77, NO. 25 TENNESSEE 72

AUBURN, Ala. — Allen Flanigan scored a seasonhigh 23 points and had seven rebounds to lead Auburn.

The Tigers (12-13, 6-10 Southeastern Conference) snapped a three-game losing streak.

Paige Bueckers’ short time at UConn has been highlighted by memorable season-shaping shots, from the dagger at Tennessee in January to the clincher at home against South Carolina earlier this month.

She has proven to be a clutch, lethal scorer and she remains that as March approaches. But the way Bueckers zipped the ball all over court Saturday in Hinkle Fieldhouse, pulling the Butler defense this way and that while setting up teammates for easy baskets, was truly representative of the player UConn knew it was getting long before her arrival.

“Paige is a pass-first guard,” coach Geno Auriemma said following his team’s 97-68 victory, during which his freshman point guard set two records unselfish in nature.

Bueckers had 14 assists, the most in a game by any player in program history. In 20 games this season, she has 130 assists, a UConn freshman record.

Bueckers hasn’t forgotten how to set the table while taking on the lion’s share of UConn’s scoring responsibility, leading the team at 20.1 points per game. The fact that she is shooting 54.7 percent from the field and 49.5 percent on 3-pointers has only further facilitated her ability to share the ball.

“If you can’t score, you can’t pass,” Auriemma said. “I love when these people say, that kid’s a great passer. Well, can they shoot? No. Well how many passes do you think she’s going to be able to complete if nobody is guarding her? If you can score and people have to guard you, now all of the sudden you have the opportunity to find people.”

Bueckers had 20 points on 8-for-21 shooting Saturday.

“That’s a lot for her, a lot for anybody on our team, really,” Auriemma said. “But they were shots you’re supposed to take. I guarantee you, those 14 assists, I bet you 10 of them she was more open than the person she passed to and just decided not to [shoot]. The biggest part is the mindset. The next biggest is, I can score. And then, I have the ability to make the play I want to make. It’s rare. Very rare. Rare whether you’re a senior or a freshman, high school, college pros. Doesn’t matter. It’s just a rare quality to have.”

Bueckers has vision. She is accurate. She makes chest passes, bounce passes, no-look passes, passes that make a fastbreak look like Joe Montana hitting Jerry Rice in stride. She also makes many short passes — some simple, some flashy — like the one to a trailing Aaliyah Edwards with 5:52 remaining to tie the single-game record Saturday. With 2:41 left, she broke it with another feed to Edwards.

“I couldn’t make a shot,” Bueckers said of a cold start. “I had no choice but to get everybody involved and get other people open shots because I wasn’t making any. That was sort of my mindset.”

Actually, it always is. “That’s just always been who I am, just a pass-first player trying to get everybody else involved,” she said. “Me starting to be more aggressive at the start of games, looking for my shot more, helps so the defense focuses on my scoring and then I get other people involved.”

The previous singlegame record for assists was 13, held by Susie Sturman (vs. Vermont in Feb. 1980), Laura Lishness (vs. Seton Hall in Jan 1991) and Renee Montgomery (vs. Oklahoma in Nov. 2008).

Bueckers passed two players who previously shared the record for most assists by a freshman. Pam Webber had 123 in 1991-92 and Montgomery matched that total in 200506.

Sue Bird holds the program record for assists in a season with 231 in 200102, followed by Crystal Dangerfield with 225 in 2018-19 and Jen Rizzotti with 222 in 1995-96.

“We certainly have had some freshmen that were pretty darn good with the ball in their hands,” Auriemma said. “A lot of times, maybe they didn’t play enough minutes because we just had so many good players. Or we had so many other players that were good passers that all the assists were spread out. But all that aside, you’ve seen some of the things Paige does with the ball and … if somebody told you she’s a senior, you wouldn’t be surprised. She plays like one. She handles the ball like one. She sees the floor like one.”

Bueckers’ previous high for assists was 12 Jan. 31 against DePaul. She had nine assists in the first half Saturday and is averaging 6.5 a game. Bueckers now has two double-doubles this season and is averaging a team-high 36.2 minutes.

She dished to Evina Westbrook for a layup, then to Westbrook for a 3, as UConn started to shake off the rust with a 44-35 lead. Early in the second, Bueckers dribbled right, drawing the Butler defense, all the while knowing Williams was setting up on the left. She threw a one-handed cross-court pass to Williams for a 3 that made it 56-42. That was her 10th assist.

“For her to be doing that at this young age,” Auriemma said, “in a world today that idolizes scoring, that idolizes the three-point shot, how the game has been taken over by people who could make threes and people who put up numbers — to have someone that would rather pass it [than] score, that’s truly enjoyable to watch. It’s kind of really old school, to be honest.”