Sammie Puisis scores 23 points, Mputu adds 17 as South Florida tops No. 9 Duke
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Sammie Puisis scored nine of her 23 points in the final seven minutes to help South Florida hold off ninth-ranked Duke for a 65-56 victory on Saturday.
L’or Mputu had 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulls (7-6), who led by as many as 23 in the first half. Duke (10-3) whittled away at the deficit, pulling within 42-39 on Taina Mair’s 3-pointer in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. USF also got 10 points apiece from Vittoria Blasigh and Carla Brito.
Toby Fournier led Duke with 11 points and eight rebounds, but the cold-shooting Blue Devils fell behind 20-6 after one quarter. They trailed 33-10 before scoring the last five points of the first half and nine of the first 12 in the third quarter to trim the deficit to 36-24. It was 42-36 heading into the fourth quarter after Reigan Richardson’s three-point play and a pair of free throws from Mair cut USF’s lead to single digits.
No. 7 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 72, No. 4 UCONN 70
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — JuJu Watkins scored 25 points and No. 7 USC recovered from blowing a 18-point lead in the second half to beat Paige Bueckers and fourth-ranked UConn.
The game was a rematch of last season’s Elite Eight contest that the Huskies won and featured two of the best players in women’s college basketball with All-Americans Bueckers and Watkins. The pair guarded each other for most of the game.
Bueckers finished with 22 points.
With the game tied at 67, Watkins passed the ball to Rayah Marshall for a layup with 1:21 left to give USC the lead.
After a miss by the Huskies, Watkins was fouled with 31 seconds left. She missed the first of two free throws as the ball sat on the rim for a few seconds before falling off. She made the second to give the Trojans (11-1) a 70-67 advantage.
No. 12 TCU 92, UCF 52
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Madison Conner scored 20 of her 24 points in the first half, Sedona Prince added 22 points and No. 12 TCU rolled to a win over UCF in a Big 12 Conference opener.
Hailey Van Lith had 14 points with seven assists for the Horned Frogs (12-1), who hit 11 3-pointers and shot 53% overall while outrebounding UCF44-21
Emely Rodriguez scored 17 points for the Knights (7-4) and Nevaeh Brown added 11.
Prince had a three-point play to put TCU on top 6-5 and started 10-0 run. Connor had five points in the last minute for a 28-14 lead after one quarter.
Prince (12) and Van Lith (10) were also in double figures by halftime when the Horned Frogs took a 53-33 lead. They shot 50% with eight 3s, four by Conner.
With Prince scoring the last two baskets of the third quarter the Horned Frogs took a 73-45 lead into the fourth quarter and the lead built until the final buzzer.
COLORADO 65, No. 14 WEST VIRGINIA 60
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Frida Formann made four 3-pointers and scored 22, Jade Masogayo added 18 points and Lior Garzon scored 12 of her 14 in a pivotal fourth quarter as Colorado rallied to beat No. 14 West Virginia in a Big 12 Conference opener.
The Buffaloes (10-2) trailed by 11 heading to the final quarter before outscoring the Mountaineers 25-9.
Formann made 8 of 14 shots for Colorado, which shot 81.8% in the final 10 minutes (9 of 11). Masogayo buried 9 of 10 shots and added seven rebounds.
Jordan Harrison led the Mountaineers (10-2) with 18 points and five assists. Ja’Naiya Quinerly scored 15.
No, 17 GEORGIA TECH 72, No. 23 NEBRASKA 61
ATLANTA (AP) — Dani Carnegie hit four 3-pointers and scored 20 points, Kara Dunn added 16 points and 14 rebounds and No. 17 Georgia Tech beat No. 23 Nebraska to snap the Cornhuskers’ five-game win streak.
Georgia Tech (13-0), which has three wins over ranked opponents, is off to its best start in program history. The Yellow Jackets beat then-No. 21 Oregon 74-58 on Nov. 25 at the Hawaii North Shore Classic and won 82-76 at then-No. 14 North Carolina on Sunday in an ACC opener.
Chazadi Wright scored 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting and Tonie Morgan added 10 points for Georgia Tech.
No. 18 TENNESSEE 102, TULSA 61
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Sara Puckett scored 17 points, Jewell Spear had 16 and No. 18 Tennessee rolled to a win over Tulsa in the West Palm Beach Classic.
The Lady Vols surpassed their nation-leading scoring average as well as their average of 12.5 3-pointers a game, going 14 of 32. They surpassed the century mark for the fifth time, tied for second in program history behind the seven of the 1987-88 team. The seventh game with at least 10 3s is also a record.
Zee Spearman had 12 points and nine rebounds for Tennessee (11-0), which won both its games in the tournament. Ruby Whitehorn and Talaysia Cooper both scored 13.
Delanie Crawford had 17 points for Tulsa (6-6), Mady Cartwright scored 12 and Jade Clack 10. The Golden Hurricanes shot 45%, went 5 of 29 from 3-point range and had 23 turnovers. Two players fouled out and three finished with four fouls.
No. 19 NORTH CAROLINA 90, NORFOLK ST. 47
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Lanie Grant scored 15 points, Alyssa Ustby had a double-double and No. 19 North Carolina took control early to roll to a win over Norfolk State.
The Tar Heels held the Spartans without a field goal for the final 7:23 of the first quarter and turned a one-point lead into a 29-8 lead by the end. Norfolk State missed eight shots and had four turnovers.
The lead was 49-19 at halftime as the Spartans were 1 of 12 from 3-point range and 5 of 25 overall while the Tar Heels shot 50% and had six 3s.
Grace Townsend had 14 points for the Tar Heels (12-2) and Ustby had 10 with 11 rebounds. Maria Gakdeng and Lexi Donarski both had 11 points Ciera Toomey 10.
Diamond Johnson had 19 points and eight rebounds for the Spartans (11-4) and Anjanae Richardson added 11 points.
North Carolina scored the first 13 points of the second half and led by 52 in the fourth before Norfolk State scored the last nine points.
No. 24 CALIFORNIA 69, FORDHAM 53
BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Ioanna Krimili hit five 3-pointers and finished with 19 points, Ugonne Onyiah made 6 of 6 from the field and scored 13 points and No. 24 California beat Fordham at the Raising the B.A.R. Invitational for its sixth win in a row.
Cal (12-1) is off to its best start since 2016-17, when the Bears won 13 straight to open the season and moved in the AP Top 25 for the first time since January of 2019.
Lulu Tridale, Kayla Williams and Krimili each hit a 3-pointer in as Cal, which never trailed, scored 11 consecutive points to take a 13-2 lead with 7:10 left in the first quarter and the Bears led by as many as 14 before Chae Harris scored in the lane to cut Fordham’s deficit to 22-10 at the end of the period.
Taylor Donaldson led Fordham (6-4) with 24 points on 10-of-24 shooting, including four 3-pointers.
The Rams, who had their four-game win streak snapped, shot 32% (19 of 59) from the field.
No. 25 MISSISSIPPI 78, MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 44
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Sira Thienou had 13 of her 18 points in the first half and No. 25 Mississippi rolled to a win over Mississippi Valley State.
Ole Miss scored the first 13 points of the game, seven by Thienous, but the Devilettes scored the next nine and only trailed 17-10 after one quarter.
Thienous hit all three of her 3-pointers in the first half as the Rebels took a 36-24 lead. A 9-0 run had the Rebels up 35-16 late in the second quarter but Jaeda Murphy scored the last five points before halftime, cutting the deficit to 12.
An 11-2 run and a 10-0 run in the third quarter had Ole Miss on top 59-35 entering the fourth.
Starr Jacobs and Madison Scott both had 13 points for the Rebels (8-3), Kennedy Todd-Williams and Kharyssa Richardson both added 12. Scott had 10 rebounds and six assists, Todd-Williams had eight rebounds and two blocks and Thienou had four steals.
D’Yanna Maxey scored 10 points for the Devilettes (1-10).