No. 17 Kentucky gets past Florida
No. 17 Kentucky 85, Florida 73: Rhyne Howard scored 31 points and grabbed nine rebounds and No. 17 Kentucky turned back Florida 85-73 on Monday night.
With the Gators challenging on the strength of their 3-point shooting, Howard scored five points with an assist and a steal as the Wildcats stretched a three-point lead with 5:49 to play to 87-73.
Florida, which went 10 of 18 from 3point range, had four misses and four turnovers in going more than five minutes with just one free throw.
Chasity Patterson and KeKe McKinney both had 13 points for Kentucky (15-5, 8-4 Southeastern Conference), which shot 54% (36 of 67). Jazmine Massengill added nine points, seven rebounds and 10 assists.
Kiara Smith had 23 points with 10 rebounds and Danielle Rainey scored 20 points on 6-of-11 3-point shooting for Florida (10-9, 3-8), which trailed by 16 late in the third quarter. Nina Rickards had a career-high 19 points with 10 boards and six assists.
The Gators announced before the game sophomore star and leading scorer Lavender Briggs would miss the remainder of the season with a foot injury. The 6-foot-1 guard, who was coming off a 21-point, 10-rebound game against LSU on Thursday, was averaging 19.4 points a game and 6.5 rebounds. Her 41-point game earlier this year ranks fourth for the Gators.
Howard was coming off a poor shooting eight-point game in a win over Tennessee. But she was 12 of 20 from the field, including 4 of 7 behind the arc, against Florida.
No. 19 DePaul 82, Seton Hall 76: Dee Bekelja had 22 points and 10 rebounds, Sonya Morris added 20 points, six rebounds and five assists and No. 19 DePaul used a big third quarter to beat Seton Hall.
DePaul led by 14 points in the fourth quarter but Seton Hall got within 78-74 after Lauren Park-Lane and Mya Jackson each made a 3-pointer, and Andra Espinoza-Hunter added a layup during an 8-0 run.
Morris ended the run by making two free throws with 30.3 seconds left, following two offensive rebounds by the Blue Demons, and Lexi Held added two free throws on their next possession to seal it.
Held finished with 17 points, reaching 1,000 career points for DePaul (12-4, 9-2 Big East Conference). Jorie Allen added 10 points.
DePaul led 31-28 at halftime before scoring 30 points in the third quarter to take control. Morris scored 10 of her points in the quarter as the Blue Demons made 10 of 21 field goals and seven straight free throws.
Park-Lane led Seton Hall (9-6, 7-5) with 24 points and Espinoza-Hunter had 17 points and 15 rebounds. Desiree Elmore added 13 points. Seton Hall struggled from the free-throw line, making 7 of 16.
UConn in line for top seed in NCAA women’s tournament
UConn, South Carolina, Stanford and Louisville are in line for the top seeds of the women’s NCAA Tournament.
The women’s basketball selection committee revealed the top 16 teams to this point Monday night. The Huskies, who moved up to No. 1 in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll earlier in the day, would be the overall top seed.
UConn’s region would include Arizona, Baylor and Tennessee as the other three top seeds. South Carolina’s group has Maryland, UCLA and West Virginia. Stanford has N.C. State, Georgia and Indiana. Louisville would be joined by Texas A&M, Oregon and Kentucky.
“I would say that for every line we had a healthy amount of debate,” NCAA women’s basketball selection committee chair Nina King said.