UConn winning streak reaches 100 straight
Huskies hang loss on South Carolina to hit milestone.
Gabby Williams scored a career-high 26 points and Napheesa Collier added 18 to help top-ranked UConn to its 100th consecutive victory with a 66-55 win over No. 6 South Carolina on Monday night at Storrs, Conn.
Coach Geno Auriemma n e v e r t h o u g h t h i s t e a m would come close to reaching the century mark, let alone break the previous NCAA record set by the Huskies from 2008-10. The Hall of Fame coach set up the most difficult nonconference schedule in the country, playing five of the top eight teams in the AP women’s basketball poll before Monday.
They came away victorious in each one. The Huskies (25-0) last lost on Nov. 17, 2014, at Stanford.
Trailing 29-28 late in the first half, the Huskies scored seven straight to take a sixpoint halftime lead. South Carolina (21-3) cut its deficit to 40-37 midway through the third quarter, but Williams had consecutive layups to start an 11-2 run to close the period and put the game away.
Gonzaga stays No. 1: Gonzaga is No. 1 for the third straight week in The Associated Press college basketball poll. The Zags (26-0), the lone unbeaten team in Division I, received 60 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel.
Villanova (24-2), which received the other five firstplace votes, and Kansas held s e c o nd a nd t hi rd , whil e Baylor moved from sixth to fourth.
The top four teams match those announced Saturday a s t he pre l i minar y No. 1 seeds by the NCAA Tournament selection committee, although its order was Villanova, Kansas, Baylor and Gonzaga.
A r i z o n a j u mped f r o m ninth to fifth and was followed by fellow Pac-12 members UCLA and Oregon, while Louisville, West Virginia and North Carolina round out the top 10.
Notre Dame returns to the poll at No. 25 after being out for one week. The Fighting Irish replace Xavier.
Wisconsin dropped from seventh to 11th and was followed by Duke, Kentucky, Virginia, Florida, Purdue, Florida State, Cincinnati, SMU and Creighton.
The last five ranked teams were South Carolina, Saint Mary’s, Maryland, Butler and Notre Dame.
The week’s biggest jump and fall came from the same game. SMU moved from 25th t o No. 1 9 a nd Ci nc i nnati dropped from 11th to No. 18 after the Mustangs ended the Bearcats’ 15-game winning streak Sunday. Duke, which beat North Carolina and Clemson last week, also moved up six places, from 18th to No. 12.
Monday’s games
■ (At) Texas Tech 84, No. 4 Baylor 78: Keenan Evans scored 23 points, and Niem Stevenson had 21 points and six rebounds as the Red Raiders (17-9, 5-8 Big 12) upset the Bears (22-4, 9-4).
Te r r y M a s t o n h a d 2 2 points for Baylor, and Manu Lecomte scored 16.
■ No. 8 Louisville 76, (at) Syracuse 72 (OT): Anas Mahmoud scored five of Louisville’s 10 straight points in overtime as the Cardinals (21-5, 9-4 ACC) escaped an upset bid from the Orange (16-11, 8-6).
John Gillon sent the game to overtime on a 3-pointer for Syracuse with 40 seconds to go in regulation that tied the score at 58.
The Orange took a 63-61 lead on two free throws by Andrew White, but Louisville scored the next 10 points to take control.
Donovan Mitchell had 16 points, and Quentin Snider scored 14 for Louisville. Mahmoud scored 12.