No. 18 Stanford women fall to Western Illinois
Emily Clemens scored 15 of her season-high 26 points in the second half and Taylor Higginbotham had 17 points and 10 rebounds to help the Western Illinois women beat No. 18 Stanford 71-64 on Monday night for its first-ever win over a ranked team.
Clemens had four assists to move past Jolene Hanig (1988-91) into first place on the school’s career list with 545.
Olivia Braun and Morgan Blumer scored 12 points apiece for Western Illinois (10-2), which has won five in a row.
Braun hit a 3-pointer and Clemens made a layup to give the Leathernecks the lead, 55-52, for good. Kiana Williams hit a 3 to pull Stanford (6-5) within three points with 1:31 to play, but Higginbotham hit two free throws before Braun converted a 3-point play to make it 66-58 with 49 seconds left. Western Illinois made 5-of-6 free throws from there to seal it.
Alanna Smith had 18 points and 15 rebounds and Williams scored 17 points for Stanford. Kaylee Johnson grabbed 18 rebounds for the Cardinal, who outrebounded WIU 57-46, including 2414 on the offensive glass. Blumer scored eight thirdquarter points to help Western Illinois pull within two heading into the fourth.
Western Illinois was plus-12 at the free-throw line, where Stanford shot a season-low 42 percent (8 of 19).
SAINT MARY’S 76, EASTERN WASHINGTON 56 >> The Gaels (7-3) surged past Eastern Washington to stay unbeaten in the Basketball Travelers Inc. Invitational in West Lafayette, Indiana. All five Gaels starters
scored in double figures, with Stella Beck leading the way with 16 points. UCONN A UNANIMOUS NO. 1 >> UConn remains the unanimous No. 1 team in The Associated Press women’s poll, while Stanford is No. 18 and Cal 24th. There wasn’t much movement in the Top 25 this week with most schools in exam break.
The top five teams stayed the same with Notre Dame, Louisville, South Carolina and Mississippi State following UConn.
Men
VALPRAISO 76, SANTA CLARA 68 >> Joe Burton scored 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting and Valparaiso (93) held off the host Broncos (3-8) in the second half. KJ Feagin led Santa Clara with 24 points, including four 3-pointers, and Caruso finished with 22 points and seven rebounds.
MICHIGAN STATE 107, HOUSTON BAPTIST 62 >> Miles Bridges matched his career high with 33 points, and No. 2 Michigan State (11-1) set a school record with 16 blocks while beating Houston Baptist. KANSAS 109, OMAHA 64 >> Svi Mykhailiuk hit six 3-pointers and scored 26 points, Devonte Graham added 17 and the No. 14 Jayhawks (92) rolled over the Mavericks (3-11).
ARIZONA 83, NORTH DAKOTA STATE 53 >> Deandre Ayton scored 25 points, Allonzo Trier added 15 before leaving with a left knee injury and the No. 18 Wildcats (93) beat the Bison (5-6). FLORIDA STATE 69, CHARLESTON SOUTHERN 58>> Phil Cofer scored 19 points, and the No. 24 Seminoles (10-1) bounced back from their first loss of the season with a win over the Buccaneers.
ARIZONA STATE UP TO NO. 3 >> Arizona State was picked to finish sixth in the Pac-12. Now the Sun Devils are one of the biggest surprises in college basketball, inching toward the program’s first No. 1 ranking.
Arizona State moved up two spots to No. 3 in the AP Top 25, leapfrogging preseason No. 1 Duke after Wichita State dropped out of the top 10.
Villanova was No. 1 for the second straight week, receiving 45 of 65 firstplace votes from a media panel. Michigan State stayed at No. 2 and received 15 first-place votes, with Arizona State getting the final five first-place votes to match its highest ranking as a program.
No. 5 North Carolina, Miami, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Xavier and West Virginia rounded out the top 10.