West Virginia survives big night by Young to beat Sooners

Mississippi St. women win title game rematch

NORMAN, Okla. — Lamont West scored 17 points, and No. 19 West Virginia survived a 32-point night from Oklahoma’s Trae Young to escape with a 75-73 win over the 17th-ranked Sooners on Monday night.

Esa Ahmad and Sagaba Konate each scored 14 and Jevon Carter added 10 points, eight assists and six steals for the Mountaineers (18-6, 7-4 Big 12), who swept the regular-season series and moved within a half-game of conference coleaders Kansas and Texas Tech.

Young, the freshman who leads the nation in scoring and assists, had just one assist.

Brady Manek scored 12 points and Khadeem Lattin had 13 rebounds and four blocks for the Sooners (16-7, 6-5).

Rashad Odomes made a layup to cut West Virginia’s lead to 74-73 with 24.3 seconds to play. Oklahoma struggled to get the ball upcourt after Ahmad made one of two free throws with 13 seconds remaining, and Odomes missed under duress in close in the final seconds.

Carter sliced through Oklahoma’s defense for a layup at the first-half buzzer to give West Virginia a 50-40 lead. The Mountaineers shot 57 percent from the field and made 8 of 13 3-pointers before the break. Young scored 17 points in the first half and had just one turnover, but the Sooners couldn’t stop the Mountaineers.

Women

No. 2 MISSISSIPPI STATE 67,

No. 7 SOUTH CAROLINA 53: In Starkville, Miss., Victoria Vivians scored 20 of her 24 points in the first half to help spark a struggling Mississippi State offense and the Bulldogs rallied to beat No. 7 South Carolina.

The Bulldogs (24-0, 10-0 SEC) ended an 11-game losing streak to the Gamecocks that included a defeat in the national championship game last season.

South Carolina (18-5, 7-3) started the game up 20-10 after one quarter holding the Bulldogs to just 4-of-16 from the field. The second quarter belonged to the Bulldogs who inserted freshman forward Chloe Bibby to guard A’ja Wilson. South Carolina scored eight points in the quarter and the Bulldogs had a 13-2 run that helped them out to a 29-28 halftime advantage. No. 3 BAYLOR 74, OKLAHOMA 65: In Waco, Texas, Lauren Cox scored a career-high 24 points and Baylor beat Oklahoma for its 19th straight victory.

While the Lady Bears (22-1, 12-0 Big 12) never trailed, Oklahoma tied the game at 60 when Maddie Manning hit a running scoop shot with just under 5½ minutes left. The Sooners (12-12, 7-6) were still within 64-63 on a three-point play by Manning just over 2 minutes later.

Dekeiya Cohen then made a layup for Baylor, which sealed the game by making 8-of-10 free throws in the final 1:36. No. 6 TEXAS 73, WEST VIRGINIA 55: In Morgantown, W.Va., Jatarie White had 18 points and 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the season to lead Texas over West Virginia.

The Longhorns (19-4, 10-2 Big 12) opened up the game on a 7-0 run, but WVU clawed back into the game thanks to five first quarter 3-pointers.

Texas responded by outscoring the Mountaineers 19-7 in the second quarter to have a 37-26 lead at the half.

Both teams would trade scores throughout the first 15 minutes of the second half. West Virginia (17-7, 5-7) cut the lead to seven with 5:16 left in the third quarter, but couldn’t get closer.

No. 8 UCLA 84, USC 70: In Los Angeles, Monique Billings and Jordin Canada each scored 18 points to lead UCLA to a win over USC.

Billings also had 11 rebounds for her 41st career double-double. It was the second time in four days UCLA beat USC.

UCLA (19-4, 10-2 Pac-12) moved into a three-way tie for first place in the Pac-12 with Oregon and Stanford. It was the Bruins’ eighth consecutive win and they moved up one spot in the national rankings earlier in the day.

Aliyah Mazyck had a teambest 21 points for the Trojans (15-8, 5-7 Pac-12). No. 15 MISSOURI 66, FLORIDA 64: In Columbia, Mo., Cierra Porter scored a career-high 27 points and grabbed eight rebounds to help Missouri hold off Florida.

Jordan Frericks scored 12 of her 18 points in the fourth quarter for Missouri (18-5, 6-4 Southeastern Conference).

Delicia Washington led Florida (10-13, 2-8) with 23 points.