UConn recovers to rout DePaul
No. 3 UConn 100, No. 17 DePaul 67: Chrystin Williams scored a career-high 29 points, Paige Bueckers added 22 points and personal-best 10 assists, and UConn (11-1, 9-0 Big East) bounced back from a rare loss to beat host DePaul (9-4, 6-2) on Sunday afternoon.
The Huskies haven’t dropped consecutive games in 28 years. And they weren’t about to let it happen this time, after losing at No. 19 Arkansas on Thursday.
UConn used a dominant second quarter to build a 14-point halftime lead. The Huskies remained in control the rest of the way and improved to 19-1 all-time against DePaul – 19-0 under Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma.
Williams made 12 of 15 shots. Bueckers nailed a personal-best 5 of 7 3-pointers. The star freshman also had seven rebounds and just one turnover.
No. 4 South Carolina 87, Alabama 63: Zia Cooke scored 12 of her 21 points in the third quarter as host South Carolina (14-1, 9-0 SEC) won its 18th straight over Alabama (12-4, 5-4) and 28th in a row over SEC opponents.
Cooke, the team’s leading scorer, struggled to find her touch early on with just four points at the half as the Gamecocks trailed. But Cooke, the lightning quick 5-foot-9 sophomore, got it going in a major way after halftime as she led a 15-5 surge that put South Carolina ahead for good.
Aliyah Boston got the decisive stretch started with a go-ahead layup. Soon after, Cooke hit a 3-pointer and a pair of driving layups as South Carolina moved ahead 51-46. When Cooke added another three a minute later, the Gamecocks were up 58-46 and would not be caught.
No. 6 Stanford 74, Washington 48: Hannah Jump matched her season-high with 15 points off the bench and Stanford (14-2, 12-2 Pac-12) used a fast start beat host Washington (4-8, 1-8) for its fourth straight win.
The Cardinal led by 19 after scoring a season-high 28 points in the first quarter and were never threatened in completing a three-game sweep of the Washington schools this week. The Cardinal defeated Washington State twice before knocking off the Huskies to complete the extended road trip.
Lexie Hull and Kiana Williams both added 12 points for the Cardinal.
No. 8 Texas A&M 60, Georgia 48:
N’dea Jones had 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead host Texas A&M (16-1, 7-1 in SEC) to a victory over Georgia (13-4, 5-4).
The Aggies added 13 points from Kayla Wells and 10 from Ciera Johnson 12 to complement Jones’ 12th double-double of the season.
Gabby Connally had 18 points Georgia and Que Morrison added 12.
No. 9 Baylor 85, Iowa State 77: Nalyssa Smith scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as Baylor (12-2, 7-1 Big 12) held on to beat host Iowa State (11-6, 7-3)
for
and remain alone atop the Big 12 standings.
The Lady Bears had lost their last two meetings with the Cyclones, including a 75-71 defeat on Jan. 6.
Baylor had not lost three in a row against a Big 12 rival since Oklahoma put together a four-game winning streak against the Lady Bears from 2005 to 2007.
No. 15 Kentucky 61, Missouri 55: Rhyne Howard scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and host Kentucky (13-4, 6-3 SEC) closed the game with an 11-2 run to defeat Missouri (6-6, 3-5).
In the final three minutes, after the Tigers scored nine straight pints to take a 53-50 lead, the Wildcats were 9 of 10 from the foul line while Missouri went 1 of 4 from the field, missed two critical free throws and had a shot clock violation.
Dre’Una Edwards added 10 points and nine rebounds with the first four points in the closing run for the Wildcats. KeKe McKinney had two free throws with 15.7 seconds left to make it a two-possession game.
No. 16 Indiana 79, Michigan State 67: Mackenzie Holmes led a balanced attack with 17 points and host Indiana (10-4, 8-2 Big Ten) took over in the second half to defeat Michigan State (9-5, 4-4) for the 800th victory in program history.
Ali Patberg added 15 points, Aleksa Gulbe 14 points and Jaelynn Penn 13 for the Hoosiers. Grace Berger added nine points, nine rebounds, seven assists and two steals. Patberg had six rebounds and five assists.
Indiana trailed by as many as 10 in the first quarter before cutting the deficit to two and were down 41-33 at the break.
No. 19 Arkansas 77, Auburn 67: Amber Ramirez hit three of her five 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and scored 19 points as host Arkansas (13-5, 3-5 SEC) turned back Auburn (5-10, 0-8).
The Razorbacks, a little sluggish after handing No. 3 UConn its loss first of the season 90-87 in an emotional game on Thursday, overcame a big early deficit with a strong second quarter before putting the Tigers away in the fourth quarter. Chelsea Dungee, who was electric against UConn with 37 points, added 16 for Arkansas despite shooting just 5 of 14. Destiny Slocum added 14 points.
No. 20 Tennessee 79, Florida 65: Tamari Key had the fourth triple-double in Tennessee history with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 10 blocked shots as the host Lady Vols (12-3, 6-1 SEC) turned aside a challenge from Florida (9-8, 2-7).
The 6-foot-5 sophomore from Cary, North Carolina, had a career-high for points on 10-for-12 shooting, and the 10 blocks are a best by one, and two shy of Kelly Cain’s single-game record set in 2010.
Key scored nine points and blocked four shots in the fourth quarter when the scrappy Gators came as close as 60-59. The Lady Vols called a quick timeout and then scored 10 straight points and closed out the quarter on a 19-6 pace.