Sarah Strong scores career-high 29 points, grabs 13 rebounds as No. 1 UConn tops Ohio State

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) —

Sarah Strong had 29 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, five steals and three blocked shots and Azzi Fudd added 19 points and seven assists as top-ranked UConn defeated Ohio State 100-68 on Sunday.

Freshman Blanca Quinonez came off the bench to scpre 18 points and Serah Williams added 12 for the Huskies (4-0).

Jaloni Cambridge had 17 points and six rebounds for Ohio State (2-1), which trailed by only one point late in the first half but was outscored 52-27 in the second and third quarters. Strong had 21 points, five assists and four steals during that stretch.

Fudd, who missed all five of her shots in the first quarter, connected on three 3-pointers in the second quarter. Ohio State didn’t have a field goal in the final 6:06 of the first half and committed nine turnovers in the final 5:03. The Huskies scored the first eight points of the second quarter and ended the half on an 11-0 run.

The Buckeyes made four of their first five 3-pointers before missing seven in a row. By the time T’yana Todd ended the drought, the Huskies still led by 28 points.

NO. 4 TEXAS 111, TEXAS SOUTHERN 45

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Madison Booker, Aaliyah Crump and Teya Sidberry scored 18 points apiece, and Texas defeated Texas Southern for its 28th straight win at home.

Texas converted 33 Texas Southern turnovers into 50 points.

For Crump, a highly recruited freshman, the 18 points marked a season-best. Sidberry, a sub who transferred this season from Boston College, was perfect from the field with six attempts in just 15 minutes. Booker converted 6 of 7. Kyla Oldacre had 11 points and nine rebounds.

Daeja Holmes led Texas Southern with 15 points. Taliyah Logwood, the Lady Tigers’ leading scorer through two games with 15-point average, fouled out in 11 minutes and missed all three of her shots. Two other Texas Southern players fouled out as well.

The Lady Tigers shot 33% from the field and many of their turnovers came against Texas’ full-court defense. The Longhorns made 14 steals, scored 62 in the paint and 23 fast-break points. Rory Harmon and Breya Cunningham made three steals each.

Texas Southern averaged 19 turnovers during victories against Wiley and Texas A&M International. The Lady Tigers committed 21 by halftime on Sunday.

NO. 6 OKLAHOMA 95, WESTERN CAROLINA 32

CULLOWHEE, N.C. (AP) — Raegan Beers had 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead Oklahoma to a dominant victory over Western Carolina.

Oklahoma also got a boost from Aaliyah Chavez, who tallied 19 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals. Zya Vann chipped in 14 points and Brooklyn Stewart added 10 for the Sooners.

Taj Hunter steered Western Carolina with 12 points while Ally Hollifield scored 10.

Oklahoma led wire-to-wire and used a 31-9 run to reach a comfortable double-digit advantage midway through the second quarter. Chavez powered the Sooners during the scoring surge, with 12 points and four assists across a 13-minute stretch.

The Sooners outscored the Catamounts 28-10 in the third quarter and went on to lead by as much as 64 points.

Oklahoma scored 33 points off 26 Western Carolina turnovers. The Sooners also won the rebounding battle 54-22.

NO. 7 BAYLOR 99, LE MOYNE 43

WACO, Texas (AP) — Darianna Littlepage-Buggs had 26 points and 11 rebounds to help Baylor rout Le Moyne.

Bella Fontleroy added 21 points for the Bears, and Auburn transfer Taliah Scott finished with 20 points and nine assists.

Littlepage-Buggs, Fontleroy and Scott became the first Baylor trio with 20 or more points in a single game since NaLyssa Smith, Queen Egbo and Hannah Gusters who did so versus Northwestern State on Dec. 18, 2020.

Peyton Dincher led Le Moyne with 11 points, and Jessica Wangolo added eight.

Baylor was never threatened and was dominant down low, outscoring the Dolphins 50-14 in the paint. The Bears also made 56% of their shots.

They took a 13-point lead into the second quarter and stretched that to 50-19 by half. Le Moyne was held to six points on two field goal makes in that second quarter, which included a half-court heave at the buzzer from Wangolo.

That was Le Moyne’s only field goal in the final eight minutes of the first half as Baylor closed on a 21-4 run.

Littlepage-Buggs scored 15 of her points in the first quarter. She made her 12th straight shot early in the third.

NO. 9 MARYLAND 84, PRINCETON 68

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Sara Oluchi Okananwa scored 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting, Saylor Poffenbarger added 19 and Maryland never trailed en route to a victory over Princeton.

Addi Mack added 15 points for the Terrapins despite exiting for about three minutes of the third quarter to receive treatment on an apparent left ankle injury.

Maryland went 17 of 18 from the foul line.

Madison St. Rose scored 20 points and sank three 3-pointers, and Olivia Hutcherson added 19 points in Princeton’s first game against a ranked opponent. The Tigers were outrebounded 39-28 while narrowly failing to become the first team to hold Maryland under 80 points.

NO. 17 TCU 69, NO. 10 N.C. STATE 59

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Marta Suarez scored 26 points and No. 17 TCU passed its first major challenge of the season by beating No. 10 N.C. State.

Olivia Miles, a transfer from Notre Dame, had another solid game against N.C. State, finishing with 15 points and 14 rebounds as the Horned Frogs pulled away in a matchup between teams that reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament last season.

Clara Silva added 11 points and 12 rebounds and Emily Hunter had 11 points for TCU, which entered the game with three home victories by 39 or more points.

Tilda Trygger scored 15 points and Destiny Lunan had 10 points for N.C. State, which faced a Top 25 team for the third time this season. The Wolfpack shot 33.3% from the field.

Suarez shot 4 for 8 from 3-point range and went 10 for 18 overall. She helped California knock off N.C. State last season.

NO. 15 DUKE 71, LIBERTY 57

LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) — Toby Fournier scored 18 points, Ashlon Jackson added 16 and Duke defeated Liberty.

Delaney Thomas had 12 points for the Blue Devils, who are coming off a 57-49 loss to West Virginia on Friday night. Arianna Roberts had 11 rebounds to go with nine points.

Emmy Stout scored 21 points for the Flames, Avery Mills added 13. Ify Nwaobi had 11 rebounds and eight points.

Jackson hit three 3s in the first quarter, the first capping a 7-0 start, and the Blue Devils led 19-13. She scored 16 points and Duke forced 17 turnovers, scoring 15 points, in taking a 41-27 lead at the half.

Liberty made a run to start the second half with Nwaobi and JaKayla Thompson converting three-point plays and Stout’s jumper cutting the deficit to 41-35. The Blue Devils, after missing their first five shots, made 5 of 6, three of them 3-pointers to push the lead to 17 at 55-38.

Stout scored the first six points for Liberty in the fourth quarter as the lead was cut to nine but Thomas scored six straight in an 8-0 run to secure the win.

NO. 16 IOWA STATE 98, NORFOLK STATE 52

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Addy Brown had 11 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, Audi Crook and Alisa Williams had double-doubles and Iowa State cruised to a win over Norfolk State.

Crooks had 19 points and 10 rebounds, Williams 10 points and 12 rebounds for the Cyclones. Sydney Harris added 15 points and Mackenzie Hare 14. Brown had the fourth triple-double in school history. Nikki Moody had the last triple-double against Wyoming 11 seasons ago.

Jasha Clinton had 19 points and Anjanae Richardson 13 for the Spartans, who shot 30% (17 of 54) and were outrebounded 53-24.

Arianna Jackson had two 3-pointers and Williams and Harris also connected from deep in a 14-0 run that gave the Cyclones an 18-7 lead and they never slowed down. After a Spartans basket, Harris and Jackson hit 3s in an 8-0 burst that made it 26-9 late in the first quarter.

Hare had a 3 and Harris three free throws after a foul and Crooks had six points in a 15-3 surge in the second quarter and it was 53-25 at the half. Crooks and Harris had 11 points and the Cyclones had 10 3s.

NO. 21 IOWA 74, NORTHERN IOWA 41

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — Chazadi Wright scored 19 points, Layla Hays added 14 off the bench, and Iowa defeated Northern Iowa.

Wright had a near-perfect shooting performance, making 7 of 8 shots overall, 3 of 3 3-pointers and 2 of 2 free throws. Hays, too, shot it well, making 6 of 8 field goals and 2 of 3 free throws. She grabbed seven rebounds.

Twelve of the 14 players who saw game time for the Hawkeyes reached the scoring column and Iowa had a 35-9 advantage in bench points.

Iowa (4-0) got 20 points from the bench in the first half and led 35-15 at halftime. Ten offensive rebounds led to 12 second-chance points for the Hawkeyes. Iowa extended the lead by 14 points in the third quarter when UNI made only 2 of 19 field goals and was outscored 25-11.

Bri Robinson scored 15 points for the Panthers (0-3) and Elise Jaeger grabbed 10 rebounds.

The Hawkeyes lead the series 28-3 and have won six straight and 18 of the last 19 meetings.

NO. 22 LOUISVILLE 65, CLEMSON 54

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Laura Ziegler finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead Louisville to a victory over Clemson in an Atlantic Coast Conference opener.

Ziegler made 5 of 11 shots and 7 of 8 free throws to help Louisville improve to 15-0 against Clemson since joining the ACC prior to the 2014-15 season.

Tajianna Roberts scored 12 on 4-for-16 shooting with two 3-pointers for the Cardinals. Reserve Reyna Scott pitched in with 10 points and five rebounds.

Rusne Augustinaite led the Tigers with 17 points, sinking 6 of 8 shots including all three of her 3-pointers. Reserve Raven Thompson scored 12 and Mia Moore totaled 11 points, eight rebounds and five assists before fouling out.

NO. 24 MICHIGAN STATE 98, WESTERN MICHIGAN 44

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Isaline Alexander scored 20 points off the bench and Michigan State thrashed Western Michigan.

Alexander, a senior whose past two seasons were cut short by injury, was 9-for-9 shooting and made 2 of 5 free throws.

Grace VanSlooten had 19 points, eight rebounds and four assists for Michigan State. Kennedy Blair delivered 14 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Rashunda Jones scored 13 points.

The Spartans scored the first 18 points of the game and led 31-5 after one quarter. Michigan State dominated the third quarter in similar fashion, outscoring the Broncos 33-7 due in large part to a scoring streak of 21-2.

The Spartans had a huge 39-1 advantage in points after turnovers. Western Michigan turned it over 29 times compared to only four miscues for Michigan State.

De’Ahna Richardson scored 11 points and Kailey Starks 10 for the Broncos. Ariana Wilkes had 10 rebounds and the Broncos outrebounded the Spartans 43-37.

Michigan State entered the game second in the NCAA and second in the Big Ten in assists per game, averaging 27.3. The Spartans had 28 assists on Sunday.