Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Hoosiers nearing Big Ten crown
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana guard Grace Berger came back for her fifth season to win a Big Ten championship.
Her gritty play Thursday night put the Hoosiers on the precipice.
She finished with a seasonhigh 26 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists, Mackenzie Holmes added 24 points and the duo spurred a late charge to send No. 2 Indiana past Iowa 87-78.
“I just really wanted to win,” Berger said. “I remember losing to them three times last year and in the Big Ten [Tournament] championship game, so any time you play a team like that, it means a little more.”
Not surprisingly, the rematch and the first top-five matchup in Big Ten play in nearly 30 years lived up to the billing.
But after playing to a draw through each of the first two quarters, Berger asserted herself in the second half by making one big play after another and routinely bringing the record Assembly Hall crowd to its feet.
Indiana ( 23-1, 12-1) has broken the attendance mark three times since January, this time with 13,046 inside the historic building as it won its 11th in a row to take a 11/ game lead in its quest for a second regular-season conference crown. Indiana’s only other title came in the Big Ten’s inaugural season of 1982-83.
Berger was 10 of 20 from the floor and teamed up with Holmes to score 20 of Indiana’s 23 third- quarter points and nearly half of the points in the decisive 17-7 fourth-quarter run.
“I loved Grace’s mindset tonight,” Coach Teri Moren said. “You could tell she was not going to be denied. I’ve seen that look a lot, and I knew she wanted to lead us throughout the 40 minutes.”
Caitlin Clark did everything she could to give Iowa (19-5, 11-2) a shot. Despite going 12 of 28 from the floor, 3 of 11 on three-pointers and logging eight turnovers, Clark still finished with 35 points, 10 assists and 4 rebounds.
But Berger and Holmes made sure Clark couldn’t keep Iowa’s eight-game winning streak intact.
“Mackenzie Holmes did an excellent job in the post,” Coach Lisa Bluder said. “I thought Grace Berger was outstanding.”
NO. 1 SOUTH CAROLINA 83, AUBURN 48
AUBURN, Ala. — Zia Cooke had 15 points and four assists in 20 minutes to lead South Carolina to its 30th consecutive win.
The Gamecocks (24-0, 11-0) dominated from the start in a game sandwiched between a pair of top-5 matchups. They were coming off an 81-77 win over No. 4 UConn and host No. 3 LSU on Sunday.
Aliyah Boston had 10 points and eight rebounds for South Carolina before exiting with 8:54 left.
Sydney Shaw tied her career high with 15 points to lead the Tigers (1310, 3-8). Auburn played without its top scorer and rebounder Aicha Coulibaly, who sat out with a leg injury. Mar’shaun Bostic added 10 points.
NO. 8 MARYLAND 79, NORTHWESTERN 54
EVANSTON, Ill. — Diamond Miller scored 18 points and No. 8 Maryland beat struggling Northwestern.
Brir McDaniel added 14 points and the Terrapins (20-5, 12-3) followed up the program’s most lopsided win over a top 10 opponent with another dominant performance.
Coming off a 90-54 romp over thenNo. 10 Ohio State on Sunday, Maryland outscored Northwestern (8-16, 1-12) 18-2 while holding the Wildcats without a field goal in the second quarter. The Terps took a 12-point lead to the locker room and never looked back.
NO. 9 DUKE 68, BOSTON COLLEGE 27
BOSTON — Reigan Richardson scored 14 points and Celeste Taylor added 11 to lead Duke to the 1,000th win in the program’s history.
Richardson scored 10 points in the second quarter, when the Blue Devils (21-3, 11-2) turned a five-point lead into a 32-14 runaway. Boston College (14-13, 4-10) made just two baskets in the period, going scoreless for the last 7:55 of the half.
Maria Gakdeng had 11 points and seven rebounds for the Eagles, who shot 18.4% from the floor.
NO. 10 NOTRE DAME 69, PITTSBURGH 63
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Sonia Citron scored 20 points, Maddy Westbeld added 17 to lead Notre Dame.
Sophomore guard Olivia Miles added 11 points and 13 assists to go along with 7 rebounds and 2 steals as the Fighting Irish (19-4, 10-3) extended their home winning streak against Pitt to 16 games.
Senior guard Dayshanette Harris led the Panthers (8-16, 1-12) with a season-high 20 points.
SYRACUSE 75,
NO. 14 NORTH CAROLINA 67
SYRACUSE, N. Y. — Dyaisha Fair scored 18 of her 23 points in the second half, Georgia Woolley added 20 points and Syracuse used a big third quarter to beat North Carolina.
Dariauna Lewis had 14 points and 15 rebounds for Syracuse (16-9, 7-7), which outrebounded North Carolina 4329 to make up for 21 turnovers.
Deja Kelly led North Carolina (17-7, 8-5) with a career-high 32 points. Kennedy Todd-Williams added 14 points.
MIAMI 86,
NO. 19 FLORIDA STATE 82
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Haley Cavinder made eight consecutive free throws in the final 30 seconds and finished with a career-high 33 points to help Miami beat a ranked team for the third time this season.
Miami used a five-point possession to tie it at 72 with 4:25 left. The Hurricanes took a 75-73 lead on a three-pointer by Cavinder with 2:10 remaining. Florida State forward Makayla Timpson made layups with 25.2 seconds and 18.5 seconds left, but Cavinder made free throws after each to seal it.
Jasmyne Roberts added 19 points for Miami (16-8, 9-4) and Ja’Leah Williams had 13 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists.
Timpson finished with 19 points and nine rebounds for Florida State (20-6, 9-4).
NO. 22 N.C. STATE 51, WAKE FOREST 42
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Saniya Rivers scored eight points in the third quarter and 10 of her team- high 12 points in the second half to help No. 22 North Carolina State pull away from Wake Forest.
The road win was the Wolfpack’s ninth in a row over Wake Forest and comes after back-to-back losses at Georgia Tech and to No. 11 Virginia Tech.
NC State (17-7, 7-6) made just 19 of 56 from the floor (33.9%) and missed all 10 of its three-point attempts. The Wolfpack was 13 of 16 from the line.
Wake Forest (14-11, 5-9) was 16 of 62 from the floor (25.8%).