A pair of wins over ranked opponents highlights women’s basketball action around The American on Saturday.
Shoni Schimmel had a season-high 30 points as No. 7/7 Louisville defeated No. 11/15 Colorado 69-62 at the KFC Yum! Center. It was the first loss of the season for the Buffaloes. Schimmel helped seal the win for the Cardinals by scoring the final four UL points with 24 seconds remaining in the game. Neither team led by more than six points until Louisville went on a 7-0 run to go up 53-46 with 6:42 left.
Bria Smith added 13 points for the Cardinals, who improved to 12-1 with the win. Sara Hammond and Tia Gibbs pulled down eight rebounds apiece to pace Louisville on the defensive end.
Rutgers handed No. 16/15 Georgia its first loss of the season on Saturday. The Scarlet Knights topped the Lady Bulldogs 61-58 and snapped Georgia’s 11-game winning streak to open the season. It was also the first win of the year over a Top 25 opponent for Rutgers.
Betnijah Laney and Kahleah Copper had 18 points each in the victory. Laney added 10 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the year. Tyler Scaife added 10 points in the win and scored the final two free-throws for Rutgers with seven seconds remaining to seal the victory.
SMU took down North Texas in overtime and Cincinnati defeated Xavier in the Skyline Chili Crosstown Classic in rivalry matchups. The Mustangs got a game-high 32 points from Keena Mays. The senior had 14 points in the last 9:11 of the game including OT. The Bearcats held the Muskateers to 11 field goals the entire game, including four in the second half, in a season-low scoring effort for Xavier. Cincinnati’s Dayeesha Hollins had 12 points and was the only player in the game to reach double figure scoring.
USF dropped a 71-64 road contest at College of Charleston and UCF fell to Iona at home, 78-66 in their final home game of the year. Stephanie Taylor had a career-high 16 points for UCF while Courtney Williams and Alisia Jenkins had double-doubles for USF in the loss to CofC.
The American went undefeated on Friday as Houston defeated cross-town rival Rice 67-54 and Memphis rolled over Arkansas Pine Bluff (UAPB) 91-45.
Demetria Foreman paced four Cougar players in double-figure scoring with a career-high 20 points. Te’onna Campbell pulled down her third double-double of the year (13 points and a team-high 11 rebounds) while Yasmeen Thompson added 12 points. Marche’ Amerson chipped in 12 points on 4-for-9 shooting.
Memphis was led by Ariel Hearn (17 points) and Mooriah Rowser (16 points) in the win over UAPB. The Tigers also got double-digit scoring from a pair of true freshmen as Breigha Wilder-Cochran finished with 13 points and Brandi Goodman added 10.
No. 1/1 UConn faces No. 21/20 California in the Maggie Dixon Classic (1:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) and Temple hosts Villanova in Philadelphia Big 5 action on Sunday to close out the non-conference slate.