TOP 25 MEN’S AND WOMEN’S BASKETBALL ROUNDUP
Women No. 1 Notre Dame 82, No. 2 Louisville 68
Arike Ogunbowale scored 30 points and Notre Dame overcame 18 turnovers to beat Louisville on Thursday night. Brianna Turner added 16 points and Jackie Young had 14 for the Irish (15-1, 3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference). They won their eighth straight since an 89-71 loss to UConn. Asia Durr had 29 points for Louisville (14-1, 2-1), and Bionca Dunham added 10. The Cardinals cut a 10-point deficit to two twice in the fourth quarter, the last at 68-66 with 1:48 remaining, but Turner’s basket and Ogunbowale’s 3-pointer propelled the Irish to a 14-2 finish Durr scored 19 points in the first half, including 12 straight for her team in a 3:47 span between the first and second quarter en route to a 35-33 halftime lead. Notre Dame’s biggest lead of the half was four points, 15-11, when Turner converted a pass from Ogunbowale at 3:12 of the first quarter. Durr scored Louisville’s next eight points to make it 19-16 before the Irish took a 20-19 lead on two free throws each by Ogunbowale and Young. An 8-1 run by Louisville to start the second quarter gave the Cardinals a 27-21 lead. At that point, Louisville had forced eight turnovers while not committing one.
No. 16 Kentucky 73, No. 13 Tennessee 71
Maci Morris scored 27 points before fouling out and Kentucky withstood an injury to Taylor Murray to beat Tennessee. Ogechi Anyagaligbo added 13 points for Kentucky (15-2, 2-1 Southeastern Conference). Evina Westbrook scored 20 for Tennessee (12-3, 1-2). The Lady Volunteers have lost consecutive home games for the first time since December 1996. Tennessee fell 66-64 to Missouri on Sunday.
Purdue 62, No. 17 Iowa 57
Karissa McLaughlin and Dominique Oden scored 16 points apiece, Purdue went on a 16-3 run in the fourth quarter and held on to upset Iowa. The Boilermakers (12-5, 3-1 Big Ten) were down by eight less than three minutes into the fourth quarter when they went on their run to lead by five with less than two minutes to go. Megan Gustafson, the nation’s leading scorer at 26.8, had 19 points and 13 rebounds for Iowa.
Ohio State 55, No. 25 Indiana 50
Carmen Grande scored 19 points, including four free throws in the last 20 seconds, and Ohio State outscored Indiana 25-14 in the fourth quarter. Ohio State is 5-8 (1-3 Big Ten) Jaelynn Penn led Indiana (14-2, 3-1) with 12 points.
No. 8 NC State 63, Pittsburgh 34
Kiara Leslie had 16 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals and North Carolina State beat Pittsburgh. N.C. State is 16-0, 3-0 in the ACC. Kauai Bradley led Pitt (9-2, 0-2) with eight points.
No. 21 South Carolina 71, Florida 40
Bianca Cuevas-Moore hit four 3-pointers, two as South Carolina opened with a 19-0 run, and scored 16 points to lead the Gamecocks to their seventh straight victory. The Gamecocks (11-4, 3-0 Southeastern Conference), missed their first two shots and then hit eight straight, while the Gators (4-12, 0-3) missed their first seven and 10 of their first 11. Kiara Smith led Florida with 13 points.
Men No. 2 Michigan 79, Illinois 69
Zavier Simpson scored 16 points, Ignas Brazdeikis had 15 and Michigan beat Illinois to improve to 16-0. Michigan (4-0 Big Ten) and Virginia are the only unbeaten teams in the country. The Wolverines jumped to a 7-0 lead and easily held off the overmatched Illinois (4-12, 0-5). Charles Matthews added 14 points for the Wolverines, and Jon Teske had 13 points and 11 rebounds. Ayo Dosunmu scored 23 points for Illinois.