Huskies turn back ’Nova for road win
No. 6 Uconn 60, No. 14 Villanova 51: Lou Lopez Sénéchal scored 22 points, including a crucial rainbow jumper late in the fourth quarter, to lead Uconn (24-4, 16-1 Big East) to a victory over Maddy Siegrist and host Villanova (23-5, 14-3) on Saturday.
Dorka Juhász added 14 points and 10 rebounds and Aaliyah Edwards had 13 points and 14 boards for the Huskies.
Siegrist, the nation’s leading scorer, had 21 points for the Wildcats. Villanova lost just its second contest in the last 16 — both to the Huskies. Lucy Olsen added 13 points for Villanova.
The game was close throughout the first three quarters; the Huskies entered the final quarter leading 44-39. Sénéchal made a pair of free throws and then swished a 3 from the top of the key to give Uconn its largest lead to that point, 49-39, with 8:55 left. Uconn pushed its advantage to a game-high 52-40 on Juhász’s fastbreak layup from Sénéchal with 7:44 left.
The Wildcats came roaring back, scoring the next 10 points over 3:49 to make it 52-50 with 3:55 to play on Olsen’s drive. The Huskies committed four of their 22 turnovers during the Villanova spurt, which featured back-to-back 3-pointers by Siegrist and Olsen.
Edwards ended Uconn’s 4:39 scoring drought with a layup to make it 54-50. Then Sénéchal nailed her high-arching shot from close range to give the Huskies a five-point advantage that proved enough cushion.
No. 7 Iowa 80, Nebraska 60: Caitlin Clark scored 30 points, Monika Czinano added 20 and Iowa (22-5, 14-2 Big Ten) pulled away in the second half for a win at Nebraska (14-13, 6-10).
The Hawkeyes moved a game behind league-leading Indiana with two regular-season games left.
Jaz Shelley had 19 points and nine rebounds and Alexis Markowski had 15 points and nine rebounds for the Cornhuskers, who lost their fourth straight.
Clark and Czinano combined for 15 of the Hawkeyes’ 21 points in the third quarter, when they stretched their 4033 halftime lead to 61-47.
Iowa, which beat the Huskers 80-76 in Iowa City last month, has won eight in a row in the series.
Saturday’s game drew a Nebraska record crowd of 14,289, with many in the building to see a national player of the year candidate in Clark.
Clark has never scored fewer than 30 points in any of her seven games against Nebraska. Her layup midway through the fourth quarter gave her 30, then she took a seat for the rest of the game.
Clark also had five rebounds and eight assists, with five leading to baskets by Czinano. Clark leads the country with 14 games with at least 25 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Iowa was up 21-14 after the first quarter but had its momentum stall early in the second. Shelley’s deep 3 got the Huskers within 29-26, and after she and Clark traded layups, Isabelle Bourne banked in a 3 to tie it 31-all.