Milestone night
Sabrina Ionescu became the first player in NCAA basketball history to reach 2,000 points, 1,000 assists and 1,000 rebounds and notched her record 26th career triple-double hours in leading No. 3 Oregon past fourth-ranked Stanford. Ionescu hit the milestone on a defensive rebound with 1:47 remaining in the third quarter
WOMEN’S TOP 25
NO. 3 OREGON 74,
NO. 4 STANFORD 66
STANFORD, Calif. — Sabrina Ionescu’s strength inspired her Oregon coaches and teammates all day, from the way she courageously spoke at the memorial service for Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles earlier in the day, then flew back to the Bay Area and took the court before leading the Ducks with yet another brilliant performance on both ends.
And doing something never done before in college basketball, by a man or a woman.
Ionescu became the first player in NCAA history to reach 2,000 points, 1,000 assists and 1,000 rebounds, and notched her record 26th career triple-double while leading No. 3 Oregon past No. 4 Stanford 74-66 on Monday night.
“That one was for him. To do it on 2-24-20 was huge,” she told ESPN after the game. “We talked about it in the preseason. I can’t put it into words. He’s looking down and proud of me and happy for this moment with my team.”
Ionescu hit the milestone on a defensive rebound with 1:47 remaining in the third quarter and finished with 21 points, 12 assists and 12 rebounds in her first triple-double against a top-10 opponent and eighth overall this season to help Oregon (26-2, 15-1 Pac12) clinch at least a share of its third straight Pac-12 regular-season title.
“Incredible. I thought she was so poised and so heartfelt today,” said Coach Kelly Graves, whose wife Mary accompanied Ionescu. “At her age and relative limited experience and things like that, I just thought she nailed it. It was amazing, and she wrote that, and that was from her. She’s pretty special in more ways that just what you’re seeing on the court.”
Hall of Fame Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer wasn’t surprised by Ionescu’s toughness despite her difficult day.
“She’s a player. I didn’t expect anything different than what we saw,” VanDerveer said.
She now has 2,467 points, 1,041 assists and 1,003 rebounds. Ionescu shot 9 for 19. She had plenty of help from Satou Sabally, who scored 27 points on 10-of-17 shooting with 4 three-pointers.
“When she came back, we were there for her. It wasn’t the easiest day but she always has our backs so it was our turn to have her back,” Sabally said. “We just lifted her up.”
NO. 2 BAYLOR 64, WEST VIRGINIA 39
Te’a Cooper scored 17 points and No. 2 Baylor clinched a share of its 10th consecutive Big 12 regular-season championship with a victory over West Virginia in Morgantown, W.Va.
Baylor (26-1, 15-0 Big 12) cemented the top seed in the conference tournament and won its 56th consecutive regular-season conference game. That’s one short of sixth all-time in NCAA history as UConn won 57 in a row from 2008-12.
Baylor also won its 44th consecutive road game in the conference, the nation’s third-longest such streak in the regular season.
The Lady Bears can clinch the title outright with a win Saturday or with a loss by second-place TCU to Texas on Wednesday.
Lauren Cox had 12 points and nine rebounds for Baylor.
West Virginia (16-10, 6-9) shot 24% from the floor.
DUKE 70,
NO. 8 N.C. STATE 65
Haley Gorecki scored 13 of her 24 points in the fourth quarter to help Duke beat No. 8 North Carolina State in Raleigh, N.C.
Onome Akinbode-James added 12 points and Kyra Lambert had 11 for the Blue Devils (17-10, 11-5 Atlantic Coast Conference), who won their sixth consecutive game.
Elissa Cunane had 23 points and 12 rebounds to lead N.C. State (23-4, 124), which suffered its third loss in four games. Jada Boyd added 15 points for the Wolfpack.