College Basketball Capsules: Raven leads Texas to rout of Texas Tech
AUSTIN — Brittainey Raven scored a game-high 22 points to help No. 17 Texas rout Texas Tech 81-51 on Sunday.
Raven hit four 3-pointers as the Longhorns shot 50 percent from behind the arc. Kat Nash and Cokie Reed each scored 13 points for Texas (16-6, 5-3 Big 12).
The last time these two teams met, Texas was forced into double overtime by the Lady Raiders and narrowly escaped with a 95-90 win. This time, the Longhorns wouldn't let that happen.
Ashlee Roberson had a double-double for the Lady Raiders (13-9, 1-7) finishing with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Nash helped spark Texas after the half, scoring eight points in the first eight minutes. Raven continued to cut through Texas Tech's interior defense as the Longhorns jump out to a 67-45 lead on a fastbreak lay-up with just over five minutes left in the game to seal the win.
Texas Tech jumped out to a 17-14 lead on a fastbreak layup by Christine Hyde with just over 10 minutes in the first half.
The advantage was short-lived as the Longhorns went on a 19-2 run over the next five minutes to take a 33-19 lead.
Roberson scored eight consecutive points for the Lady Raiders to close the gap. Raven led Texas with 13 points in the first half and hit a 3-pointer from the wing as time expired to give the Longhorns a 43-32 advantage at the break.
No. 1 UConn tops Louisville again, 84-38
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Connecticut quickly turned a rematch of last season’s national championship game into a total mismatch.
The top-ranked Huskies (23-0, 10-0 Big East) were barely tested by the final team they faced on last year’s championship run, using lethal 3-point shooting and an exhausting defense to breeze past short-handed Louisville 84-38 on Sunday.
"If teams are playing against us, you’d better hope we miss shots," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "When we hit shots like we did today from the perimeter, we’re tough to play against."
Such was the predicament Louisville (11-12, 3-7) found itself in from the opening minutes until the end as UConn extended its winning streak to 62 straight, the second-best in women’s Division I history behind only the 70-game streak by the 2001-03 Huskies.
What’s more, the games haven’t been close. All 62 have been decided by double digits, the last six by at least 30 and 11 games this year — Sunday’s included — the margin was 40 or more. UConn blew out Louisville 76-54 in the title game in April. Other than their game against No. 2 Stanford on Dec. 23, the Huskies have trailed fewer than four minutes total over that stretch.
Tina Charles again led the way with 20 points and nine rebounds. Charles, the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four when UConn won its sixth national championship against Louisville last spring, has scored in double-figures 14 straight games, breaking her personal best set last year.
Afterward, it was the Huskies’ defensive performance that most pleased Charles and her teammates.
"We definitely take pride in our defense," Charles said. "Rotation, hedging, just talking out there, communicating. Being in the right spots."
Or, in the eyes of the Louisville’s coach, being in all spots.
"They guard you without fouling," said Jeff Waltz. "They don’t reach. They don’t slap. If you put the ball in front of them, they take it from you."
The Huskies never trailed and put away the Cardinals early with two extended scoring runs that lasted most of the first half and early into the second. UConn was especially good from beyond the arc, hitting more first-half 3-pointers (8) than Louisville had field goals (7). The Huskies finished with 11.
"We came out and fought hard," said Asia Taylor, whose 7 points trailed only Keshia Hines’ 9 for the Cardinals. "It’s just their defense, it’s crazy. It’s where we want ours to be."
Maya Moore added 16 points and Caroline Doty had 11 for the Huskies.
Louisville trailed 11-9 a few minutes in after a three-point play by Taylor, but that’s when UConn went on its first scoring barrage. The 22-2 run was highlighted by a dazzling steal and fastbreak layup by Moore.
After Hines stopped the momentum by scoring the game’s next five points, UConn closed the first half and began the second on a 29-2 run. Louisville didn’t score for 8 minutes, until freshman walk-on Shelby Harper hit a 3 to make it 61-21 with 16 minutes left in the game.
"You think you’re open then all of a sudden somebody else comes in," Hines said. "You think you’ve got a wide-open shot and somebody blocks your shot. It’s hard out there."
Connecticut led 54-18 at halftime, the 10th time scoring 50 or more in a half this season.
UCOnn won the rebounding battle 47-37, but the team leader was surprisingly not Charles, but rather, 5-foot-4 guard Lorin Dixon, who had a career-high 10.
"Tina gets rebounds all the time, every game," Dixon said. "I just decided to crash the boards today and try to help out close range and down low."
While the Cardinals started sluggishly, hitting just one of their first six shot, all five UConn starters scored within the first 5 minutes.
The Louisville team that lost to UConn on Sunday was a far cry from the one that fell to the Huskies in last year’s national title game. Angel McCoughtry graduated to the WNBA, and key injuries have depleted the Cardinals of much of their depth — especially in the backcourt.
Point guard Deseree Byrd sustained a season-ending knee injury in December and fellow starting guard Nikki Burton has missed five straight games with a groin injury.
Backup LaToya Johnson just returned to the court this month after missing eight week weeks with a stress reaction in her hip, forcing Harper into a starting role.
Walz said the injury problems have proven to be effective in weight loss, as he has dropped 15 pounds since March.
"We’ve got a lot of work to do," he said. "We’ve got to stay healthy, and I’m not sure we’re going to be able to get healthy enough before the end of the year."
-- Jeffrey McMurray
No. 2 Stanford whips USC 77-39
STANFORD, Calif. — Jacki Gemelos watched old AAU teammate Jayne Appel dominate for second-ranked Stanford.
Gemelos might have been on the losing end of a blowout by the Cardinal, yet the Southern California guard still had plenty to celebrate Sunday: She is back on the court at long last.
Gemelos continued her inspirational comeback tale by scoring 13 points to lead the Women of Troy in their 77-39 loss to Stanford — on a day Appel passed Nicole Powell to become the Cardinal’s career rebounding leader with 1,153.
Gemelos made her collegiate debut Thursday, as a redshirt junior and academic senior, and played 28 minutes in her first game action following four anterior cruciate ligament injuries in her knees that required five surgeries. She was the No. 1 prep player in the country in 2006 when she first got hurt as a senior at Saint Mary’s High School in Stockton, where she was averaging 39.2 points per game at the time.
She had eight points, five assists and five rebounds in a 61-55 loss at California on Thursday night.
There were times she thought she’d never play again, but tried to keep such negative thoughts from her mind.
"There have been multiple times I’ve woken up and thought that," she said. "It seems the next day I’ve woken up and thought something different. It’s been unbelievable. I feel like getting out on the court I didn’t miss very much. I know it’s been a long four years but I’m comfortable out there still. ... My first step’s a little slow right now and my moves to the basket. My outside shooting’s improved since I got to shoot for four years on the sidelines."
Appel, who finished with 15 points and 13 boards, pulled down her fourth rebound of the game and 1,144th of her career at the 7:34 mark of the first half to move past Powell. Kayla Pedersen had 18 points and 14 boards in Stanford’s 42nd straight home win at Maples Pavilion.
"It’s an honor to be up there, but I want a national championship," Appel said.
Nnemkadi Ogwumike added 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Cardinal (21-1, 11-0 Pac-10) in their 12th straight win since the team’s lone loss at top-ranked Connecticut on Dec. 23, fifth straight victory in the series and 15th in 16 overall against USC.
Cold-shooting USC (13-9, 7-4) couldn’t overcome the lowest scoring half in program history and lost its third straight following a five-game winning streak. The Women of Troy scored only 10 points in the first half — surpassing the school’s previous-low of 15 on Jan. 27, 1990.
Gemelos, who checked in at the 14:32 mark of the first half to mild cheers from those who knew her story, missed her first five field-goal tries before making a driving layin with 15:06 remaining. Briana Gilbreath added 11 points for USC, which shot 18.2 percent (12 of 66). Gemelos will start a master’s program in education this fall.
While she could play at least two more college seasons, USC coach Michael Cooper figures she’ll stay for one more before bolting to the WNBA.
"The WNBA is waiting for her," Cooper said. "Other than the loss, it’s a very happy moment for me personally and her family that she’s out on the court doing what she loves. She’s better than a lot of people in this league. We only have a limited time left together and we’re going to try to make the most of it. She’s truly a Magic Johnson-type of player."
Gemelos is still close friends with Appel and they had a chance to catch up during this trip.
"I remember when she tore it the first time, I sent her a blanket I made," Appel said. "It was four years ago and five days to the day. Looking over and seeing her parents, who are supporters of me also, and see them smiling that Jacki was going to play today was awesome. It takes more than people ever know to come back, and I thought she looked fabulous today."
Appel was happy to be playing at all Sunday against her old pal. Her status was briefly in doubt following her ejection and flagrant foul Thursday night.
The 6-foot-4 All-America center and reigning Pac-10 Player of the Year was tossed from a 74-53 win over UCLA with 7:41 left for throwing an elbow that hit UCLA star Jasmine Dixon in the face. The Pac-10 reviewed the play shortly after the game and decided not to suspend Appel for Sunday’s contest.
It was the first ejection 24th-year coach Tara VanDerveer can recall for one of her players.
Rosalyn Gold-Onwude scored seven straight points to start the second half and finished with 11 for Stanford, which didn’t allow a jump shot until Heather Oliver’s 3-pointer with 17:08 left.
Pedersen had 10 rebounds herself late in the first half when USC had managed only eight total. USC shot 3-for-31 in the first half and went 10 minutes between field goals by Gilbreath. All of the team’s baskets came on layins and USC was 0-for-8 from long range.
Stanford began the game 1 for 9 with four turnovers in the opening four minutes but then made four of its next five during a 9-0 run. The Cardinal also closed the half on a 14-0 run for a 29-10 lead at intermission.
Stanford’s 1990 national championship team was honored after the game on the 20th anniversary of the school’s first NCAA title — a team featuring Jennifer Azzi, Sonja Henning and Katy Steding.
"It’s been the most fun to see the players again because a lot of us haven’t seen each other in years," Azzi said. "But once a teammate, always a teammate."
VanDerveer said her current team embraced the ‘90 players’ message during a banquet Saturday.
"They really pointed out that nothing’s the same as a national championship," Pedersen said. "That really hit home to all of us that that’s the only thing we’re missing."
-- Janie McCauley
Jernigan helps No. 7 Xavier beat Richmond
CINCINNATI — Dee Dee Jernigan couldn’t have picked a better game for a career performance.
The Xavier senior matched her career high with 15 points to lead four Musketeers in double figures as No. 7 Xavier held off Richmond for a 67-55 win on Sunday.
That’s the kind of contribution Xavier coach Kevin McGuff hopes to see more of in the last month of the regular season.
"Dee Dee’s been playing extremely well," McGuff said. "She’s been coming on, and she’ll be an important part of the team down the stretch."
Junior Amber Harris scored 14 while junior Special Jennings scored 12 and sophomore Tyeasha Moss added 11 to help the first-place Musketeers (18-3, 8-0 Atlantic-10) post their eighth consecutive win and 10th in their last 11 games. They had to come from behind in the last 3:45 to do it after allowing Richmond to erase a 10-point second-half lead.
"In the first 30 minutes, our concentration and energy were more sporadic," McGuff said. "At the end of the game, the kids did a great job of playing together. We haven’t had a close game at the end in a while, and I was happy that we were able to put it together in the closing minutes and executed."
Sophomore Abby Oliver scored a career-high 19 points for the Spiders (15-8, 4-4), who’ve lost four of their last five despite competing harder than they have all season, coach Michael Shafer said.
"That was one of those games where you’re battling the No. 7 team on the road," Shafer said. "Our game plan was to keep them out of the paint, but we had a couple of leaks at the end. We competed with them, if not outcompeted them.I don’t know. I’ll let Kevin be the judge of that."
Richmond senior Brittani Shells, who went into the game averaging a team-high 17.2 points, bounced back from a scoreless first half to finish with 10.
Katie Rutan made one 3-pointer to give her 60 this season, tying Xavier’s freshman record.
After Richmond took a 53-52 lead on a free throw by senior Nikita Thomas with 3:45 left in the game, Jernigan made two free throws 12 seconds later to give Xavier the lead for good. Harris followed with a conventional three-point play with 3:03 left, and the Musketeers pulled away, finishing the game with a 15-2 run.
"I don’t think we escaped," said Jernigan, who was averaging 4.7 points per game. "We just put it together when we needed to in the last four minutes and won the game."
Xavier took an 11-0 lead while Richmond was missing its first 17 shots. The Spiders didn’t get on the scoreboard until Oliver made a reverse layup with 11:06 left in the first half.
"I just think we were playing good defense," Harris said. "We knew they would come out and play hard from the (tipoff) because we’re undefeated (in the league)."
The Musketeers’ 14 turnovers before halftime kept them from taking full advantage.
"Richmond played how they play," McGuff said. "In the first half, our biggest problem was turning the ball over. In the second half, we took care of it."
No. 8 Ohio St blows past Penn St., 86-73
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Ohio State’s 3-pointers kept falling and the Buckeyes shot past Penn State.
Samantha Prahalis scored 26 points and the eighth-ranked Buckeyes hit a school-record 17 3-pointers to beat Penn State 86-73 on Sunday.
Prahalis hit five from behind the arc and Maria Moeller and Tayler Hill connected for three each. Jantel Lavender added 18 points and eight rebounds for Ohio State (23-3, 11-2 Big Ten).
"When you play against us, you have to pick your poison with Lavender on the floor," Ohio State coach Jim Foster said about the outside shooting. "It’s something we work on and are very comfortable with."
Ohio State shot 65 percent (17-of-26) from behind the arc, including 9-of-13 in the second half to turn a 15-point deficit into a victory.
"We can be a little bit closer, I thought we could rotate better," Penn State coach Coquese Washington said about defending Ohio State on the perimeter. "But that’s a ridiculous number. They had a great shooting night."
Tyra Grant led the Lady Lions (15-8, 7-6) with 22 points, while Alex Bentley added 20, but just four after halftime.
Penn State is reeling, having lost their fourth straight after breaking back into the Top 25 two weeks ago for the first time since 2004-05.
The latest loss will sting for a while after Penn State led by 11 at the half against one of the best teams in the country.
"With the energy and intensity we were playing with, it was hard to sustain it for 40 minutes," Washington said. "We kind of ran out of gas the last eight minutes of the game."
Led by Bentley, the Lady Lions attacked the basket with success in the first half, undaunted by Lavender’s intimidating post presence. Grant hit big 3s, and the whole team scraped for rebounds and loose balls against the flustered Buckeyes, who had 18 turnovers alone in the opening 20 minutes. They finished with 25 in the game.
But 3-point shooting kept Ohio State in the game, and when the Buckeyes got more careful with the ball after halftime, the long-range barrage didn’t stop.
Moeller hit back-to-back 3s, her second at 5:58 giving Ohio State its first lead at 70-69 since early in the afternoon.
Two free throws by Grant gave Penn State a 71-70 lead with 5:36 left before the Buckeyes closed with a 16-2 run.
Hill hit a 3 from the corner, then Prahalis sank a trey in transition after Lavender tipped away an entry pass on defense to put the Buckeyes up 79-71 with 2:52 left.
Asked about the success from long range, Prahalis said "I think it was good ball movement. I think we were getting stops on defense and that was the big thing because it led to some transition 3s."
Nearly everything went Penn State’s way early on with Ohio State so careless with the basketball.
Bentley scored 16 first-half points on 8-for-8 shooting as the Lady Lions led by as many as 15 late in the half before going into halftime up 48-37.
But Bentley hit just one more field goal the rest of the way and committed all six of her turnovers in the second half.
It was the opposite story for Prahalis, her point guard counterpart with the Buckeyes. The standout sophomore looked flustered early after committing eight first-half-turnovers.
She was also whistled for a technical foul that led to free throws by Grant to put Penn State up 14 with 17:18 left.
But Prahalis settled down after halftime with just one turnover.
"I think we were all kind of pressing a little bit and we just needed to slow down," she said. Penn State was playing zone "so there (was) no need for all those turnovers and trying to thread the needle. We just had to move it around."
-- Genaro C. Armas
Nainima leads South Carolina to upset of Georgia
ATHENS, Ga. — South Carolina may have turned the ball over a bit more than No. 14 Georgia, but the Gamecocks were far more opportunistic.
Valerie Nainima scored 21 points and South Carolina (13-10, 6-5 Southeastern Conference) got 12 points off Georgia's nine turnovers in a 52-42 win on Sunday.
Georgia (19-5, 6-5) failed to score a single point off South Carolina's 10 turnovers.
"Valerie played extremely well," said South Carolina coach Dawn Staley. "She was there when we needed her to hit the big shot."
South Carolina led 30-18 at the break, and held its double-digit lead most of the second half.
Georgia closed the gap to 42-37 with 6:25 to play with a 6-0 run on layups by Jasmine James and Anne Marie Armstrong and a short jumper by Jasmine Hassell. But the Gamecocks answered with a 3-pointer by Nainima and a three-point play by Jewel May.
"You have to be able to get stops and score, which is not something we do a lot of," said Georgia Coach Andy Landers. "We cut it to five, but we let the driver drive and kick it back out to their shooter for a three. Then we don't score, and they come down and pound it inside.
"You have to be consistent and persistent on the defensive end, but any way you cut it, you have to score."
Georgia shot 29 percent from the field, hitting 16 of 56 shots. The Lady Dogs made two of 11 3-point attempts.
Since starting the season 16-0, Georgia has been held to 53 or fewer points in five of eight games.
Freshman James scored 11 for Georgia, which played most of the game without two senior veterans. Center Angel Robinson hit her head on the knee of a South Carolina reserve while diving for a ball in the first half and left the game because of dizziness. She did not return.
Point guard Ashley Houts drew her fourth foul five minutes into the second half and did not return. Landers chose to rest her sore ankle rather than return her to the game.
"We wanted to keep it close on the road," said Staley. "We know how hard it is to get road wins in this league. I didn't anticipate us getting out to a big lead and being able to hold on to get the win, but that's what we did."
Nainima went 3 for 11 from 3-point range for South Carolina.
No. 15 Florida State trounces Wake Forest, 83-38
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Jacinta Monroe thinks the defensive performance No. 15 Florida State put on Sunday in an 83-38 rout of Wake Forest was one of the best she's seen since joining the Seminoles over three years ago.
Freshman Chasity Clayton led FSU (20-4, 6-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and the Seminoles held the Demon Deacons (14-9, 5-4) to 21.8 percent shooting. Wake Forest made just 1 of 24 attempts from 3-point range. It was the 13th time this season FSU held an opponent below 35 percent shooting from the floor.
Monroe, who scored 15 points for the Seminoles, said FSU's defense was relentless. Florida State has allowed its intensity to wane in games this year, and that never happened against Wake.
"We did a great job this afternoon in keeping the gas pedal to the metal," Monroe said.
The Seminoles opened the game on a 10-2 run, holding the Demon Deacons to just one basket in their first 10 attempts. Wake Forest made just five baskets in the first half and trailed 36-15 at halftime.
The Seminoles led by as many as 45, hitting four of their first five attempts from long range and six of 10 overall. FSU outscored Wake Forest 40-20 in the paint and got 33 points from its reserves.
Wake Forest coach Mike Petersen said his team couldn't recover from its early problems and, in giving up 29 turnovers, never solved the Seminoles' defense.
"They were very disruptive and we didn't handle it very well," he said. "And the worst thing was we let it snowball. That's not acceptable. We let it snowball and we shouldn't have."
Courtney Ward added 10 points and five assists for Florida State.
Brittany Waters led Wake Forest with 15 points, making only 2 of 10 shots from the floor, but hitting 11 of 12 free throws.
Holloway’s layup lifts Ole Miss over LSU in 3 OTs
BATON ROUGE, La. — It took three overtimes and some tremendous plays for Mississippi to finally end a 16-year drought at LSU.
Kayla Holloway’s layup with 11 seconds left in the third overtime lifted Ole Miss to a wild 102-101 win over No. 19 LSU on Sunday.
The Rebels (15-8, 6-4 Southeastern Conference) won in Baton Rouge for the first time since 1994. In addition, Ole Miss won two games in a single season against the Lady Tigers for the first time since 1985.
"Any time you go on the road and can find a way to dig one out, it is big," Ole Miss coach Renee Ladner said. "This was a game that wouldn’t end. It was a slugfest to say the least. If anyone had to lose that game, it was going to be extremely hard. It would be heart-breaking for either team. On this particular day, we came up with the win."
After the layup, Mississippi fouled Katherine Graham with five seconds left. She made the first free throw, but missed the second causing a wild scramble for the ball. It ended up in Graham’s hands, but she missed a potential game-winning shot at the buzzer.
Bianca Thomas led Ole Miss with 29 points. Elizabeth Robertson, who made a career-high seven 3-pointers, added a career-high 25 points. Kayla Melson added 20 points and 10 assists.
Allison Hightower, who left the game with cramps early in the second overtime, led LSU (15-7, 4-6) with 31 points. LaSondra Barrett added 23. Graham finished with a triple-double with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
The only other Lady Tigers player to register to a triple-double was Cornelia Gayden, who accomplished the feat twice in 1995.
"We came back off death row twice with long shots," LSU coach Van Chancellor said. I thought about three times we were going to win the game, but we just couldn’t do it."
Melson’s 3-pointer put Ole Miss ahead 93-90 with 3:51 left in the third overtime. Nearly a minute later, LSU’s Bianca Lutley tied the score at 95 with a 3-pointer.
The Rebels’ Bianca Thomas and the Lady Tigers’ Taylor Turnbow exchanged baskets. A 3-pointer by Destini Hughes gave LSU a 100-97 lead. Robertson answered with a 3-pointer setting up the fantastic finish.
Trailing 90-87 with 6 seconds left in the second overtime, Graham hit a 3-pointer to tie the game and force the third extra session.
It was the first triple overtime game involving a ranked team since then-No. 18 New Mexico played New Mexico State in 2005 according to STATS LLC.
No. 20 Kentucky tops Arkansas for 7th straight win
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — So much for preseason polls.
Picked to finish 11th by the Southeastern Conference media, Kentucky is making a serious push for an SEC title. A'Dia Mathies scored 27 points and No. 20 Kentucky used a late push to rally past Arkansas 71-57 on Sunday for its seventh straight win.
With the victory, the Wildcats moved within one half game of idle Tennessee in the overall Southeastern Conference standings.
"They're a very good team," Arkansas coach Tom Collen said. "They're a team that could very well win the Southeastern Conference."
Kentucky (20-3, 8-2) battled back and forth with the Razorbacks for most of the first half. After building an early 8-0 lead, the Wildcats settled for a 33-all tie at intermission as Arkansas got four first-half 3-pointers from sophomore Lyndsay Harris to stay close.
"Arkansas really made us fight hard to win and took us out of a lot of things we wanted to do," Kentucky coach Matthew Mitchell said. "I was proud of our team that we were able to assert ourselves in the second half and do some things we wanted to do and come away with the win."
In the second half, Kentucky trailed 42-40 with 14:02 left to play before a 13-1 run helped put the Razorbacks away. The Wildcats got 20 points from reigning SEC Player of the Week Victoria Dunlap in the second half alone, while converting 15 of 17 free throws as a team to help seal the win.
"Victoria has shown a real ability to hang in there," Mitchell said. "She has had some games where she hasn't come out and played well in the first half, but when she got going in the second half it was big for us."
Dunlap added 22 points and 11 rebounds.
Harris scored 18 points to lead Arkansas and Charity Ford added 10.
"I really think the difference was fatigue," Harris said. "It was hard with some of our players playing as many minutes as we do. Playing a team like Kentucky, it's now or never, and it's just hard when you're fatigued."
Lacey leads No. 22 Iowa State over Missouri 65-39
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Alison Lacey had 18 points and seven assists to lead No. 22 Iowa State to a 65-39 win over Missouri on Sunday.
Lacey has scored in double figures in 21 of the Cyclones’ 22 games this season and led the nation in assist to turnover ratio entering the game. Chelsea Poppens added 14 points for Iowa State (18-4, 6-3 Big 12).
Iowa State’s Big 12 leading defense held the Tigers to 13-for-54 for the game and a season-low 39 points. It was the lowest point total for the Tigers since a 37-point output at Texas on Jan. 26, 2007.
The Cyclones raced out to a 39-15 halftime lead as Poppens scored 14 of her points in the period. Poppens’ six baskets were more than Missouri could manage. The Tigers shot a season-worst 5-for-30 from the field in the first 20 minutes.
RaeShara Brown scored 12 to lead Missouri (11-11, 1-8).
No. 25 St. John’s rolls past Seton Hall 66-45
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. — St. John's reserve Kelly McManmon knows exactly what her role is for the Red Storm.
"I come in, get open and see if my shot is there," said McManmon, who scored 11 points to lead No. 25 St. John's past Seton Hall 66-45 on Sunday. "I come in to give us a spark and if I can, it frees the post players up. On any given night, anyone can step up and lead us. We all have faith in each other and makes us hard to defend."
The Red Storm (19-4, 7-3 Big East) won for the sixth time in their last seven games thanks to a balanced scoring attack and a solid defensive effort in the second half.
Five different Red Storm players scored in double figures, paced by McManmon and fellow reserve Centhya Hart, who scored 11 points each. Shenneika Smith, Da'Shena Stevens and Nadirah McKenith added 10 apiece.
"I think the strength of our team is our depth," said St. John's head coach Kim Barnes Arico. "I also think our scoring balance is a strength. We can go to our bench and not lose anything."
McManmon scored five straight points at the end of the first half to give the Red Storm its first lead at 26-22. St. John's then used its transition game to put it away in the second half, outscoring Seton Hall (9-14, 1-9) 40-20 after the break.
Kandice Green had 15 points and 17 rebounds and Ebonie Williams added 12 points for Seton Hall.
The two teams played close to the vest during a slow-paced first half, with the Pirates holding the lead for most of the half. McManmon hit a corner jumper with 3:08 left that gave the Red Storm the lead for good at 23-22, then canned a long 3-pointer 24 seconds later that pushed the lead to 26-22.
Williams hit a 3-pointer with 1:20 left before intermission that sliced Seton Hall's deficit to 26-25 at the break.
St. John's then increased the lead in the opening stages of the second half, going on an 8-0 run over a span of 1:21 to push the lead to 36-27 with 15:01 remaining. Smith scored on consecutive driving shots and Hart keyed the run with a power move down low.
"I think they were able to frustrate us early and we weren't able to play the way we like to," Barnes Arico said. "Our defense resulted in offense. We were able to get out in the second half and open up things for us."
McManmon then finished a 14-7 run with another long 3-pointer to give the Red Storm a 50-36 lead with 8:44 remaining. McManmon had another 3-pointer in that run and Stevens added four during that stretch.
Seton Hall never got any closer the rest of the way, scoring only nine points for the remainder of the game. Seton Hall shot just 32 percent in the second half, while St. John's clicked at 48 percent.
"Their transition hurt us," said Seton Hall coach Phyllis Mangina, whose team lost for the 10th time in 11 games. "They just got out and ran on us. They're very athletic and get up and down the floor well. We also practically gave them the ball when they put pressure on us. Once they were able to get out and run, they were able to do anything they wanted."
The Red Storm didn't focus on the fact that they perhaps were playing to keep their national ranking. They entered the Top 25 for the first time last week, then promptly lost to Georgetown last Tuesday.
"I think we used it more as a motivation, but not a focus," McManmon said. "We just want to keep moving forward as much as possible."
Men
No. 3 Syracuse wins 10th in row, tops Cincy 71-54
CINCINNATI — Down by six points with 12 minutes to go, third-ranked Syracuse knew it was time for some shutdown defense. The Orange nearly pitched a shutout the rest of the way.
Syracuse held Cincinnati to one field goal over the final 12 minutes on Sunday, extending the best start in school history with a 71-54 victory, its 10th in a row.
Syracuse (23-1, 10-1 Big East) closed the game with a 28-5 run that featured Kris Joseph’s two pivotal 3-pointers and a lot of good defense. The Bearcats (14-9, 5-6) managed only one field goal and three free throws after pulling ahead 49-43 with 12:26 left.
Shutdown defense indeed.
"It comes down to the last 10 minutes," said Joseph, who finished with 17 points. "The last 10 minutes is crunch time. For us, it’s just playing great defense. We’ve seen everything. When we get on a run and get ahead, there’s not a lot of teams that can come back."
Andy Rautins led the Orange with 20 points, helping Syracuse get through another game when its top scorer wasn’t at his best.
Wes Johnson, who fell hard in Syracuse’s win over Providence on Tuesday, was back in the starting lineup but played only 23 minutes. The forward took only three shots and had five points.
Johnson, a forward who averages a team-high 16.7 points, played only three minutes in the second half against Providence after he was fouled while going for a lob pass and hit the court hard. He was sore and missed practice during the week.
"My body wasn’t as loose as I wish it was," Johnson said. "It’s better than it was the day after the Providence game."
Johnson is a key component in an offense that is scoring 82.5 points a game, second-best in the league. But he was on the bench down the stretch on Sunday, letting his teammates take over.
"Wes is sore," coach Jim Boeheim said. "He was probably pushing it to even go. He felt like he could play, but he was sore and just didn’t have the mobility. I thought just like in the last game, our other guys picked it up and our big guys played great. Everybody pitched in."
Joseph’s first 3-pointer put Syracuse ahead to stay. His second one pushed the lead to 10.
"Kris stepped up," Boeheim said. "He had two wide-open looks. He’s been telling me all year that he can make those shots. Those two 3s broke the game wide open."
Cincinnati was coming off a lackluster 85-68 loss at Notre Dame that severely dented its hopes of making the NCAA tournament. That loss left the Bearcats tied with two other teams for eighth place in the Big East.
The Bearcats went 1 for 11 from the field with five turnovers during the 12-minute meltdown. Guard Deonta Vaughn, the Bearcats’ top scoring threat, finished 2 of 10 from the field, missing all of his six shots from behind the arc.
"All of my shots were good-looking," Vaughn said. "I ended up thinking too much and missed those shots. We let it slip away in the last 10 minutes."
Ibrahima Thomas, who hasn’t done much in the last half-dozen games, got Cincinnati off to an encouraging start. He scored seven points — more than he had in any of the last six games — during an opening 11-2 run. The Bearcats patiently passed around the perimeter of the Orange zone, then got the ball inside to draw a foul or get a layup.
It didn’t take long for Syracuse to figure it out.
Cincinnati went more than six minutes without scoring, helping the Orange pull off an 11-0 run that featured points by five players. The Bearcats passed the ball around the perimeter without finding an opening, drawing boos from the crowd. They had a shot clock violation, a blocked shot, a missed 25-footer and another rushed miss on consecutive possessions.
The lead went back and forth for the rest of the half, which ended with Syracuse up 32-30. Both teams rank near the bottom of the league in free throw shooting and had a rough time in the half — Cincinnati was 5 of 11, Syracuse 3 of 9.
Syracuse got the ball inside and went on a 6-0 run early in the second half for its biggest lead to that point, 38-32. After a timeout, Cincinnati pulled off its best offensive spurt, working the ball around for open shots. Cashmere Wright’s open 3 concluded a 15-2 run that put the Bearcats up 49-43 and got the crowd of 11,045 revved.
From there, it was all Syracuse.
-- Joe Kay
Turner scores 32 as No. 13 Buckeyes handle Iowa
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Evan Turner stayed up late on Saturday night, watching Michigan State lose to turn the Big Ten race into a free-for all.
Then he got up early on Sunday morning to make sure No. 13 Ohio State stayed in the mix.
Turner matched his career high with 32 points, leading the Buckeyes past Iowa 68-58 on Sunday and stretching the their Big Ten winning streak to seven straight.
"We got here at 7:45 in the morning," Turner said after the rare Ohio State game with a noon tip-off. "We caught the Michigan State versus Illinois game last night, so we were up kind of late. We came out and competed and got the job done."
Every time that Ohio State needed a big basket, Turner had a part in it. He also had five assists and seven rebounds.
"You probably saw about what he is," Iowa coach Todd Lickliter said. "It’s not unique to us, what happened. He’s tough to contain."
Buckeyes coach Thad Matta was asked if Turner is the best player in the nation.
"If there’s one out there better than him, then I look forward to seeing him," Matta said. "Because he’s playing really well right now."
Jon Diebler added 12 points for the Buckeyes (18-6, 8-3), who have won four in a row overall and seven of eight.
Eric May scored 16 points, Aaron Fuller and Cully Payne 11 each, and Matt Gatens 10 for the Hawkeyes (8-16, 2-9), who have lost four in a row and won just once away from home.
It was Ohio State’s second win over the Hawkeyes in 12 days. The Buckeyes finished strong in Iowa City to win 65-57 on Jan. 27. They moved to 15-0 at home this season, where they are shooting 54 percent from the field and 42 percent on 3-pointers.
But this was not a typical hot-shooting home game. Ohio State made just 22 of 49 shots from the field for 45 percent, and was only 2 of 13 behind the arc.
Ahead by five at the half, Ohio State pulled away when it held Iowa to 1-of-9 shooting to start the second half.
Turner, who had 20 points in the last 20 minutes, got things going on what would become an 11-2 run, including Kyle Madsen’s bucket to close the half. Turner hit a 15-foot jumper on the first possession and later hit another shot off an inbounds pass. William Buford hit two foul shots and had two assists, including on Diebler’s 3 from in front of the Ohio State bench that made it 41-29.
The Hawkeyes were able to get as close as 51-43, but Turner responded with a baseline jumper and a slashing drive through the lane. Iowa was down 55-46 but missed three consecutive 3-point shots on the same possession, thanks to two offensive rebounds. Turner finally ended the lengthy trip down the floor with a rebound, then dribbled the length of the floor, faked May out of his shoes on a drive and coasted in for an easy finger-roll.
There was another point in the game where, after some physical defense from Iowa’s John Lickliter, son of Iowa’s head coach, Turner dribbled to the top of the key and held the ball behind the Iowa defender’s head. The crowd laughed.
There are moments when it appears Turner, a 6-foot-7 junior, can score at will.
"It’s cool to see the ball go through the net," he said. "Just for a moment you feel unstoppable. You kind of feel like you can do almost anything."
The Buckeyes were without Turner for more than a month when he fell while dunking in a game on Dec. 5 and broke two bones in his lower back. Ohio State went 3-3 without him, losing its first two Big Ten games and another game at No. 22 Butler.
"I’m going to state the obvious here but when he was out, they were a good team, a very good team," Todd Lickliter said of Turner’s absence. "But when he came back, they were elevated to one of the best in the nation."
Now, with Turner leading the way, the Buckeyes are among four teams that started Sunday just a game back of Michigan State in the suddenly wide-open Big Ten. They play four of their last seven league games on the road, including a gigantic one on Feb. 21 in East Lansing, Mich.
"I’ve got faith this team can do anything," Turner said. "We control our own destiny. We decide what goes on. If we stay focused and play Ohio State basketball, we can do anything."
-- Rusty Miller
