Texas College Basketball Capsules: Abilene Christian beats Texas Woman's in 4 OT game

ABILENE - Jamie Meyer scored 49 points to help Abilene Christian overcome a 63-point effort by Renee Renz and beat Texas Woman's 147-143 in quadruple overtime on Monday night in a record-setting game.

The Division II schools combined to break the NCAA record for points in a game of 261 set by St. Joseph's (Ind.) and Northern Kentucky in 1988. The 143 points by Texas Woman's broke the NCAA record for most points by the losing team. The 112 points the two teams scored in the overtimes also was an NCAA record as was Abilene Christian's 58 in overtime.

"It was one of those games you hate for either team to lose because both teams had nothing left at the end of the game," Abilene Christian coach Shawna Lavender said. "We just caught some breaks late and had some key block outs. I'm proud of them for hanging in there."

Renz did all she could, setting a Lone Star Conference-record 63 points. Her total equaled the third most ever in Divsion II history and easily eclipsed the school record of 42 set by Peggy Allen in 1989.

Renz was 22-of-36 from the field and 15-of-17 from the free throw line. She also had 15 rebounds.

"I was just doing everything I could to keep us in the game," said Renz in a postgame interview. "I knew I was playing well, but I honestly had no idea that I was scoring that many points. We really wanted to beat this team (ACU) and I was giving it everything I had."

It wasn't Lavender's first four overtime thriller. She scored 42 points for SMU when the Mustangs beat TCU 127-125 in 1997.

Meyer hit 22-of-30 from the field and all four of her free throws. She also had 14 rebounds and two blocked shots. Kristee Davidson came off the bench to play 54 minutes and scored 28 points.

Audrey Maxwell-Lively, Abilene Christian's leading scorer, fouled out in the first overtime, finishing with 18 points and Kelsey Darby scored 15.

Tiandrea Dixon had 23 points and 12 assists for Texas Woman's (7-4). Megan Hashman added 17, including a jumper with 38 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 89. Maxwell-Lively missed a jumper as time ran out.

Renz hit a free throw to tie it at 102-102 with 22 seconds left in the first overtime. Hashman kept it going again in the second overtime with a jumper to tie the game at 118-118. The Wildcats had chances at the end of the first two overtimes to win but couldn't get their shots to fall. Jessica Hanna's jumper as time ran out in the third overtime kept Texas Woman's in the game.

Renz tied the game at 139-139 with 1:10 left in the fourth overtime, but Abilene Christian (8-4) used an 8-4 run to win the game.

Lavender said there were two keys to the win after Maxwell-Lively fouled out. "(Jody) Meyer's defense on Renz in the overtime and Jamie (Meyer) just seemed to hit every shot she took."

Florida State rallied to beat Texas A&M 60-53

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Trailing by 17 points in the second half against the No. 3 ranked team in the country, Florida State coach Sue Semrau issued a challenge to her squad.

The Seminoles responded, rallying to hand No. 3 Texas A&M its first loss of the season with a 60-53 victory Monday night.

"The only thing I said to them during timeouts when we were playing so poorly was, ‘Do you want to just throw in the towel?"' Semrau said. "I think my sarcasm (ticked) them off a little bit. They had to dig deep in order to do it."

Tanae Davis-Cain and Courtney Ward fueled a 20-3 closing run and Florida State had its first victory over a team ranked in the top three in five seasons. It was a breakthrough victory for the Seminoles, who had played top-ranked Connecticut close in an 83-71 loss last month.

"I really thought at the beginning of the game we were putting ourselves in position to win," Semrau said. "When we were down 10 at halftime and had only scored 19 points, it seemed pretty improbable." Texas A&M (12-1) extended its lead to 43-26 on a pair of Danielle Gant free throws with 13:28 remaining before the Seminoles rallied.

The Aggies missed 18 of their final 20 shots over the final 12 minutes.

Davis-Cain and Ward combined for 10 points as the Seminoles used a 16-0 to erase a 50-40 deficit. A pair of free throws from freshman center Cierra Bravard with 4:28 remaining gave Florida State its first lead since the 6:18 mark in the first half.

Ward closed the run with a 3-pointer for a 56-50 lead that the Aggies never threatened.

"Florida State kept their composure and Sue did a great job not getting down on her kids," said Texas A&M coach Gary Blair. "My two All-Americans didn't play like All-Americans. This kid (Tanisha Smith) had a great first half."

Texas A&M scoring leaders Takia Starks and Gant were a combined 7 of 28 from the floor. Tanisha Smith came off the bench to lead the Aggies with 17 points, while Gant finished with 10.

Jacinta Monroe led Florida State's balanced attack with 15 points. Davis-Cain scored 11 of her 13 points in the second half, while Bravard added 10.

"I don't think I've experienced anything like it," Semrau said of the improbable rally.

In the process of denying the Aggies a school-record 13th consecutive victory, the Seminoles earned their first win over a top opponent since an 80-74 upset of No. 2 Duke on Feb. 4, 2004.

Purdue beats No. 8 Texas 66-55

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue finally got one.

The Boilermakers had lost all three of their games against ranked teams this season, dropped out of the Top 25 last month and were in danger of ending their non-conference slate without a signature win. This time, freshman guard Brittany Rayburn scored 19 points, and Purdue beat No. 8 Texas 66-55 on Monday night.

Purdue coach Sharon Versyp said the victory over a top Big 12 team could improve her team's NCAA tournament hopes, assuming the Boilermakers carry the momentum into the rest of their Big Ten schedule.

"Obviously, this helps our resume," Versyp said. "This was one of the games that we needed to get to get back in the hunt for that. We've lost some games that we shouldn't have, so hopefully this one will help."

Danielle Campbell had 16 points and 11 rebounds, Lakisha Freeman scored 12 points and Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton had 10 points and nine rebounds for the Boilermakers (9-5).

Erika Arriaran scored 14 points and Brittainey Raven added 13 for Texas (12-2), which has lost two of three.

Purdue was coming off an overtime loss to Michigan State during which it lost starting point guard FahKara Malone for 4-to-6 weeks with a dislocated right ring finger. Rayburn and Lauren Mioton stepped in and committed just 15 turnovers against a team that had been forcing 20 per game.

Texas coach Gail Goestenkors said Purdue responded well.

"We talked about the fact that they had lost one of their soldiers," Goestenkors said. "When a team loses a soldier, if they're a good team and they've got a lot of pride, and I know Purdue is both, they're going to come out fighting and they're going to come out and play for their teammate."

In its previous three games against ranked teams, Purdue lost to Stanford in overtime and dropped significant leads against Notre Dame and Maryland. In Monday's game, Purdue never led by fewer than nine points in the second half.

"We knew it was important to come out and jump on them quick and get the game going," Campbell said. "Once we got them down, we didn't want them to come back. We knew we had to press on and not let them up for air."

Texas dropped four spots in the Top 25 on Monday following its loss at San Diego State on Dec. 30. They'll likely drop further next week after a lackluster performance against the Boilermakers.

"We haven't had a lot of intensity in practice, and we haven't been competing the way we should have, and it showed in the game today," Raven said.

Purdue jumped out to a quick 18-8 lead. Rayburn made back-to-back 3-pointers that increased the Boilermakers' lead to 24-8.

Purdue kept the pressure on. Rayburn got a steal, then drove to the basket with only Carla Cortijo in front of her. Rayburn spun nearly 360 degrees to avoid Cortijo, then banked a shot in to give Purdue a 30-10 lead. Rayburn had 10 points and three steals at halftime to help the Boilermakers take a 36-19 lead.

Texas climbed back into the game on back-to-back 3-pointers by Arriaran and Kathleen Nash which cut Purdue's lead to 45-34 with just under 12 minutes to play.

Another set of back-to-back threes, this time both from Raven, trimmed Purdue's lead to 51-42 with nine minutes left.

Neither team made a field goal for nearly four minutes until Rayburn made a 3-pointer with 5:24 left to put the Boilermakers up 56-42.

Goestenkors said Rayburn was a difference-maker.

"She's very versatile," she said. "She can shoot that three, and it's a quick release that she's got on the shot, but she can also take it to the basket. Brittany just does a good job of reading the defense very, very well. She didn't force any shots, took what the defense gave her, and her teammates found her."

Versyp was proud of her team.

"We were hoping we could step up after FahKara's injury and play very well," she said. "Win or lose, we just wanted build some confidence going into the Big Ten season. We had a great opportunity, nothing to lose tonight."

-- Cliff Brunt

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Texas A&M defeats North Dakota 76-62

COLLEGE STATION - Chinemelu Elonu scored 13 points and had 11 rebounds as Texas A&M defeated North Dakota 76-62 Monday night.

Josh Carter scored a game-high 18 points for the Aggies (14-1). Donald Sloan and B.J. Holmes had 14 each.

A&M, which led throughout, made 23 of 28 free throws.

North Dakota (8-6) pulled within four at 37-33 three minutes into the second half on Derek Benter's 3-pointer. But Holmes responded with two 3-pointers over the next two minutes to shove the Aggies' lead back to double digits at 43-33.

Following Benter's 3-pointer, the Aggies outscored the Fighting Sioux 19-5 over the next 10 minutes to put away their 10th consecutive victory.

Travis Bledsoe led North Dakota with 13 points.

The Aggies led by 14 with 3:46 remaining in the first half, but North Dakota outscored A&M 10-2 down the stretch to only trail 33-27 at halftime.

SMU defeats Colorado 70-67

DALLAS - Bamba Fall scored 13 points and had 11 rebounds to help lead SMU to a 70-67 win over Colorado on Monday night.

Derek Williams led the Mustangs (5-7) with 14 points.

Colorado cut SMU's lead to two at 69-67 with five seconds left. Cory Higgins fouled Fall, who made one of his two free throws. Nate Tomlinson missed a 3-pointer as time ran out that would have tied the game.

Paul McCoy scored 11 for SMU and Mouhammad Faye had 10.

Dwight Thorne II led Colorado (7-6) with 18 points. Austin Dufault had 13, Higgins 11 and Jermy Jackson-Wilson and Tomlinson each scored 10.

Colorado led 33-32 at the half but SMU used a 9-3 run to start the second half to take the lead for good.

Texas-Pan American beats Huston-Tillotson 88-84

EDINBURG - Emmanuel Jones scored 28 points to help lead Texas-Pan American to an 88-84 win over Huston-Tillotson Monday night.

Luis Valera added 16 points and 10 rebounds for Texas-Pan American (5-9).

Gabe Haskins led Huston-Tillotson (3-9) with 30 points. D'Mond Grismore added 25 and Robert Hartfield scored 16.

Nick Weiermiller steal and layup with gave Texas-Pan American a 33-32 lead with 4:54 left in the first half and started a 17-2 run to give Texas-Pan American a 48-34 halftime lead.

Texas-Pan American led by as much as 16 in the second half. Haskins and Grismore hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the final 14 seconds but Huston-Tillotson's rally fell short. Grismore missed another with two seconds left.

Texas Southern defeats Alcorn St. 81-64

LORMAN, Miss. - Ricky Boyles scored 16 of his career-high 22 points in the second half to help Texas Southern take its first victory of the season, an 81-64 win over Alcorn State on Monday night.

The Tigers (1-14, 1-1 Southwestern Athletic Conference) snapped an 18-game losing streak dating to last season, giving first-year coach Tony Harvey his first victory.

Texas Southern, which led 38-35 at halftime, made 24 of 31 free throws while Alcorn State (2-13, 0-2) was only 10-for-26 from the free-throw line.

Troy Jackson scored 30 points for the Braves, but made only 11 of 20 from the field.

Boyles was 8-for-8 from the field for the Tigers and made 6 of 7 free throws. He also had seven rebounds and two blocks.

Jacques Jones added 17 points for Texas Southern, while Matthew Miller had 13, Deandre Hall had 11 and Sollie Norwood chipped in 10.