Texas routs UCF for 8th victory in a row
No. 5 Texas 87, UCF 56: Madison Booker scored 22 points to lead Texas (26-3, 13-3 Big 12) to a victory at UCF (1214, 3-13) on Saturday for its eighth straight win.
The Longhorns held the Knights to four points in the second quarter to take a 21-point lead into the locker room at halftime. UCF shot only 35.3% percent for the game.
Taylor Jones scored 15 and Shay Holle added 14 for Texas, which had five players in double-digit scoring. Shaylee Gonzales had 13 and Deyona Gaston chipped in 12.
UCF struggled to get into its offense against Texas’ defense, getting outscored 23-4 in the second quarter as the Longhorns broke the game open. They forced 21 turnovers for 28 Texas points. Texas had seven steals.
No. 21 Creighton 79, Villanova 69: Lauren Jensen scored 20 points and host Creighton (22-4, 13-3 Big East) found its long-distance shooting eye to defeat Villanova (17-10, 10-6).
The Bluejays missed their five 3pointers in the first quarter and then made 12 of 15 the rest of the game. Jensen had four 3s to lead the way. Creighton outscored Villanova 44-22 in the middle quarters with the Bluejays going 7 of 9 behind the arc to the Wildcats’ 0 of 7.
Morgan Maley scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Creighton, which rebounded from a 20-point loss to No. 15 UConn on Monday. Emma Ronsiek added 15 points and Molly Mogensen had 13 with six assists and four steals.
No. 23 Oklahoma 91, Oklahoma State 56: Freshman Sahara Williams scored 20 points and host Oklahoma (20-7, 14-2) ran away from rival Oklahoma State (13-14, 6-10) in the second half.
The victory gives Oklahoma its 14th Big 12 Conference win of the season, the first time since 2001-02 that the Sooners have won 14 conference games in backto-back seasons. Coach Jennie Baranczyk is now 6-0 against the rival Cowgirls in her three seasons in Norman.
No. 24 Baylor 66, No. 22 West Virginia 65: Jana Van Gytenbeek came off the bench to make two free throws with 4.3 seconds left and Baylor (21-6, 10-6 Big 12) pulled out a wild win over West Virginia (22-5, 11-5).
Down one, Baylor threw the ball away on a cross-court pass with 7.9 seconds left. On the inbounds after a West Virginia timeout that advanced the ball to midcourt, the Mountaineers threw the ball into the backcourt for JJ Quinerly, who mishandled it. Quinerly saved the ball from going out of bounds in the corner, but Jada Walker was there to scoop it up.
Walker drove the baseline to the basket, but her layup rolled off the rim as she was fouled from behind by Quinerly. It was the fifth foul for Quinerly, who had a career-high 33 points. Walker was injured on the play, which led to Van Gytenbeek, a senior transfer from Stanford, being subbed in to shoot.
Columbia 67, No. 25 Princeton 65: Abbey Hsu scored 24 points and reached a rare Ivy League milestone and host Columbia (19-5, 10-1) ended two long winning streaks for Princeton (20-4, 10-1).