Thursday, Nov. 22 - Friday, Nov. 23
Highlights
Kentucky 85, USF 63
In the opening game of the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam, No. 17 USF fell 85-63 to Kentucky in USF's second game against a Power Five opponent in four days. USF will bounce back on the second day of the Paradise Jam when they take on North Carolina at 3 p.m. ET.
Freshman Sydni Harvey was a bright spot on the day for USF, tying her career-high in points scored with 16, including a career-high four threes made in 31 minutes of play.
Despite getting off to a slow start, the 17th-ranked Bulls were deadlocked with Kentucky at 20 points apiece heading into the second quarter. But Kentucky outscored the Bulls 24-8 in the second quarter, and USF never recovered from the 44-28 halftime deficit. The full-court press proved to be too much for the young Bulls in the backcourt, and USF and Kentucky mismatched in the Wildcats' favor.
The Bulls were boosted by three scorers in double figures including Harvey, Laura Ferreira with 10 and Beatriz Jordao with 12. Alyssa Rader had a game-high 10 rebounds.
UConn 90, Ole Miss 50
Senior Katie Lou Samuelson led six Huskies in double-digit points as the No. 2 UConn women's basketball team (3-0) defeated Ole Miss (3-2) 90-50 to open Paradise Jam play Thursday evening.
Samuelson posted 22 points while fellow senior Napheesa Coller notched her second straight double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Christyn Williams (13), sophomore Megan Walker (12), freshman Olivia Nelson-Ododa (11) and junior Crystal Dangerfield (10) also scored in double digits.
After a slow start, the Huskies finished the first quarter on a 10-0 run to take a 23-9 lead. Samuelson and Collier each scored 13 points in the first half as UConn continued to pressure in the second quarter, and the team took a 42-17 lead into halftime.
The team continued to run on all cylinders after the break as UConn outscored Ole Miss 27-10 in the third quarter. With reserves in for most of the fourth, the Huskies maintained the pressure to take the team's largest win of the season.
Nelson-Ododa made an impact off the bench, scoring her 11 points in just 12 minutes. She went 5-for-5 from the free throw line.
Radford 56, Temple 50
After rallying from a 14-point third quarter deficit to take the lead, the Temple women's basketball couldn't hang on, suffering a 56-50 defeat at the hands of Radford in the opening game of the Miami Thanksgiving Classic. The loss is the third-straight for the Owls, who dip to 2-3, while Radford improves to 3-1.
In a slow first half, Temple went cold on offense, shooting just 23.1% (6-26) from the field, including only 18.2% (2-11) in the first quarter, but still, the Owls trailed by just six at the break.
Radford opened the third quarter on a 10-2 run, putting Temple behind by 14, its largest deficit of the game.
From there, a stout Temple defense emerged, as the Owls held the Highlanders to just one point over a six minute stretch, keying a 17-1 run and putting the Cherry and White up two.
Radford quickly rebounded in the fourth quarter, using a 9-0 run that proved to be the final surge they needed, as Temple got as close as two late in the game, but could not get the tying bucket.
Graduate student Alliya Butts led Temple with 19 points, five assists, and four steals. Sophomore Mia Davis tallied 13 points with nine rebounds, but was limited to just 22 minutes with foul trouble.
North Carolina 71, USF 69
o. 17 USF women's basketball fell in the final moments to its third power-five opponent in five days on the second day of the Paradise Jam, dropping a 71-69 decision.
USF fell to 4-2 on the young season, and returns to action tomorrow to face UCLA (receiving votes) at 3 p.m. ET tomorrow in the final day of the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Freshmen stepped up big to help USF, with freshman Beatriz Jordao scoring a career-high 18 points and for the second day in a row, Sydni Harvey tied her career-high three-pointers made with four on the night, adding up to a career-high 17 points. Three Bulls scored in double figures for the sixth consecutive game, including Harvey, Jordao, and Laura Ferreira with 22 points.
USF took a 20-16 lead into the second quarter, but found themselves down 35-31 at halftime, after shooting just 25 percent from the field in the second quarter. But the Bulls came out of the break stampeding and ran off 14-4 to open the second half. North Carolina responded with a 16-5 run on 74.1 percent shooting in the quarter to nearly seal the upset.
However, USF cut a deficit as high as 12 to just two in the final seconds. A 14-3 run powered by a crucial Pinzan three-pointer with nine seconds to go put the Bulls in a last-minute situation. A North Carolina foul on Ferreira with two seconds remaining sent the wing from Portugal to the line where she made two free throws, but the second was called back due to a line violation, and North Carolina inbounded the ball in the final two seconds to seal the 71-69 defeat.
SMU 60, Robert Morris 55
The Mustangs topped Robert Morris, 60-55, in the opening game of the LMU Thanksgiving Classic on Friday from Gersten Pavilion.
SMU (3-3) was locked in a tight contest heading into the final period for the fourth consecutive game. The Mustangs finished strong hitting 7-of-9 from the field in the fourth quarter. Amber Bacon led the effort to snap the Mustang's losing skid by dropping a game-high 14-points and adding a trio of both steals, assists and blocks. The freshman sealed the win by knocking down a pair of free throws in the game's final 15 seconds.
The Colonials (1-4) led by as many as six in the opening half but the Mustang were able to erase that lead and jump in front thanks to closing the first on a 12-2 scoring run. After a back-and-forth third quarter, it was a three-point Mustang advantage heading into the fourth.
Alicia Froling played strong through foul trouble, chipping in 12 points. The senior added three blocks in the contest and hit 5-of-9 from the field.
Memphis 59, Mercer 53
Memphis storms back in the second half to steal a game from Mercer, defeating the Bears 59-53 on Friday. The Bears entered the season having won 30 games in 2017-18, including a Southern Conference championship and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Led by Alana Davis' 22 points and 13 rebound double-double, her second of the season, and 21 total offensive rebounds, the Tigers pounced back after a slow first quarter to win their first game of the Coastal Carolina Tournament.
Early in the fourth quarter, a three-pointer from Taylor Barnes brought the score within one. Barnes finished with 13 points, four rebounds, and two assists.
On their very next possession, the Tigers took a 47-45 lead on a Davis layup. Memphis would never relinquish its lead, getting stops on defense and hitting clutch free throws until the final buzzer. Gazmyne Herndon hit a free throw to give Memphis a six-point lead with 24 seconds left, essentially putting the game out of reach. Herndon contributed eight points, seven boards, and seven assists in the win.
Memphis forced multiple turnovers in the fourth quarter, pressuring the Mercer offense, and never really giving the Bears good opportunities to get back in the game.
California 65, Tulane 57
Freshman Dynah Jones erupted for a career-high 22 points and Krystal Freeman added 16, but it was not enough for Tulane to overcome a top-25 foe on Friday evening.
Tulane had the game tied at 33-33 in the third quarter, but Cal's offense started heating up from downtown and the No. 18 Bears held on for a 65-57 victory over the Green Wave at Jenny Craig Pavilion in the University of San Diego Thanksgiving Tournament.
With Cal leading by 11 early in the fourth quarter, Jones started heating up. Already with 10 points in the first three quarters, the freshman tallied 9 straight Tulane points as part of a 9-2 Green Wave run, bringing the Bears' lead down to 53-49 with just under five minutes remaining.
Then, after a Cal jumper went down, Freeman banked in her first career 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock to bring Tulane within 3.
From there, though, Cal scored 6 consecutive points on two jumpers and two free throws to make it a 9-point game once again with under two minutes to play. Sophomore Sierra Cheatham made one jumper and Jones added a 3-pointer late, but the Bears' lead was too much to overcome with so little time remaining on the clock.
To get her career-best 22 points, Jones shot 4 of 5 from the 3-point line and 9 of 16 overall. Freeman scored Tulane's only 8 points of the first quarter and also led Tulane with six rebounds. Senior Harlyn Wyatt had a team-high two blocks and totaled five rebounds, and Erin Gutierrez dished out five assists.
UConn 65, St. John’s 55
UConn coach Geno Auriemma has warned his players about expecting every game to be a blowout.
That's what the second-ranked Huskies ran into Friday night, having to rally in the fourth quarter against pesky St. John's for a 65-55 victory at the Paradise Jam tournament.
Katie Lou Samuelson scored 19 points, Napheesa Collier added 17 points and Crystal Dangerfield 14 for UConn (4-0), which survived a challenge from the Red Storm to extend their regular-season winning streak to 119 games.
The Red Storm's last lead came in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, when Bailey made back-to-back layups for a 51-47 margin with 9:18 left.
However, the Huskies responded with 3-pointers from Dangerfield and Samuelson, the last giving UConn a 53-51 lead with 7:15 remaining. That ignited an 18-4 run to close out the game.
UConn's defense held St. John's to 28.6 percent shooting (4 of 14) in the fourth quarter, and 2 of 12 during the game-ending run.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE