Saturday, Dec. 5
Highlights
No. RV USF 67, No. 6 Mississippi State 63 (OT)
Mississippi State got schooled by South Florida.
Elisa Pinzan scored two of her team-high 14 points on late free throws in overtime, and South Florida beat No. 6 Mississippi State 67-63 on Saturday night.
Bethy Mununga hit two free throws with 28.9 seconds left in OT to give South Florida a 65-63 lead.
Mississippi State's Aliyah Matharu missed a layup and failed to score after getting her own rebound before Pinzan pushed the lead to the final four-point margin, hitting two free throws with 5.4 seconds to go.
Eight players scored to help USF (2-1) beat its first top-10 ranked opponent.
"It's a great big win," USF coach Jose Fernandez said.
Rickea Jackson scored 18 points for Mississippi State (2-1). Matharu finished with 17 and Jessika Carter added 15.
South Florida, considered a frontrunner in the American Athletic Conference following the departure of UConn to the Big East, completed a short stretch of consecutive games against teams ranked among the top six. The Bulls were coming off a 67-62 loss to No. 4 Baylor on Tuesday.
"This is huge, especially how we played Baylor," Fernandez said. "It was a game of runs. We got the stops we needed to."
A tight fourth quarter saw the teams trade one-point leads before the session ended tied at 60.
After the Bulldogs took a six-point advantage in the third, Maria Alvarez hit a pair of 3's as USF went on an 11-0 run and took a 52-47 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Matharu had a three-point play as Mississippi State opened the second half with a 7-0 run to up 38-36.
Sydni Harvey and Pinzan had seven points each as South Florida took a 36-31 at the half. The Bulls outscored Mississippi State 25-12 in the second quarter and held the Bulldogs without a field goal for seven minutes.
Mississippi State went 12 of 20 from the line in the first half, while USF converted 5 of 6 attempts.
Houston 71, Auburn 61
The University of Houston Women's Basketball team recorded its first win in program history over Auburn (3-1, 0-0 SEC) with a 71-61 victory in its home opener at the Fertitta Center on Saturday afternoon.
Houston (2-1, 0-0 American) had three players in double-digits led by Dymond Gladney with 18 points, as Britney Onyeje added 15 points. Daphane White led UH with a career-high seven rebounds to go along with a career-high points. Julia Blackshell-Fair recorded seven assists to lead UH in the category. Gladney and Onyeje combined for eight made three-pointers as Houston shot 40.6 percent from the field including 33.3 percent from three-point range.
Defensively, Houston forced 23 Auburn turnovers and racked up 11 steals.
Auburn's Unique Thompson posted a double-double with 26 points, 23 rebounds to lead the Tigers.
Houston got off to a strong start, with Gladney leading the way by scoring eight points in the first quarter. The Cougars held Auburn to nine points and went on a 14-4 run over the final four minutes of the first quarter.
Both teams struggled offensively combining for 20 total points in the second quarter. UH would not score its second basket of the game until the 3:53 mark, as Auburn scored its first basket of the frame seconds later with 3:38 left on the clock. Houston took a 34-17 lead at the break.
The Tigers rallied in the third quarter, with Onyeje leading the way for Houston with nine points, all coming from behind-the-arc. Although they were outscored in the third quarter, UH forced six Auburn turnovers and tallied up three steals.
With time winding down Houston made key shots down the stretch to secure its second win of the season. White and Thompson battled in the paint, as White knocked down four key free throws in the closing minutes to maintain the lead for the Cougars. Gladney scored on back-to-back possessions, taking control of the Houston offense when it mattered most.
Florida 81, Cincinnati 58
IImar'I Thomas scored a game-high 23 points and Arame Niang posted 12 points and 13 rebounds but the University of Cincinnati women's basketball team fell to Florida, 81-58, Saturday.
Jillian Hayes added seven points and a game-high three blocks for UC, who slips to 1-1 on the young season.
Lavender Briggs led four Florida (3-1) players in double figures with 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting.
Playing their first road game of the season, the Bearcats struggled to take care of the ball, committing 25 turnovers that led to 25 Gator points.
Four early miscues created an early 8-0 first-quarter deficit for UC. But the Bearcats battled back to tie the score and later grab a 23-17 lead at 5:50 in the second quarter thanks to a 19-5 run.
Thomas, the American Athletic Conference Co-Preseason Player of the Year, scored 13 of her 23 points in the second frame, making 5 of 6 from the floor and 3 of 3 from the foul line, to keep the Bearcats in the game.
However, UF responded on a 15-4 run of its own to grab a 34-28 lead at intermission.
A 3-pointer from Milan Schimmel, a basket inside from Addaya Moore and two jumpers from Thomas helped UC trim a 10-point deficit to three, 40-37, at 6:11 left in the third quarter. However, the Bearcats could get no closer.
The Gators broke open a 10-point lead to start the final quarter, outscoring UC 26-13 in the fourth frame to pull away.
Thomas registers her 21st career game with 20 or more points. She scored 34 points against Northern Kentucky in UC's season opener on Nov. 25. With today's effort, Thomas climbs into 12th place on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,413 points.
Niang's double-double is the second of her career, first as a Bearcat. With Western Kentucky during the 2018-19 campaign, Niang tallied 15 points and 13 rebounds against Morgan State.
Duke 72, East Carolina 47
Miela Goodchild paced four Duke players in double figures Saturday afternoon, propelling the Blue Devils to a 72-47 non-conference victory over East Carolina inside Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The Pirates (1-3) concluded a stretch of three-straight contests against "Power Five" competition while Duke (3-0), who is receiving votes in the top 25, remained unbeaten in three home outings.
Freshman guard Synia Johnson led ECU with nine points on 4-of-9 shooting from the field while graduate guard/forward Dominique Claytor contributed six points and tallied four steals. Additionally, freshman forward Morgan Moseley played a season-high 12 minutes, finishing with eight points and a steal.
Goodchild nailed six three-point field goals in the game while knocking down eight of 12 from the field for a game-high 24 points. Jaida Patrick (11), Mikayla Boykin (10) and Jade Williams (10) also reached double digits in the scoring column while Onome Akinbode-James pulled down nine rebounds. Patrick also dished out six of the Blue Devils' 17 assists.
Duke shot the ball exceptionally well, hitting 27 of 54 attempts from the field (17 of 30 in the first half), to offset 23 turnovers which ECU turned into 21 points. The Pirates finished the game firing at a 31-percent overall clip, draining 18 of their 58 tries. East Carolina held the advantage in blocked shots (4-1) and steals (16-6) but the Blue Devils owned the upper hand on the glass by a 51-21 margin, pulling down 14 offensive rebounds.
The home team seized control at the outset of the game, scoring the first 15 points before the Pirates scratched the scoreboard via a driving layup by Claytor. Senior guard Lashonda Monk then scored off of a Duke turnover to make it 15-4 at the four-minute mark, however, the Blue Devils netted the last nine points of the stanza to pull ahead by 20.
Monk scored the first two points of the second quarter following a steal by graduate guard Justice Gee to slice the Duke advantage to under 20. Goodchild nailed a pair of triples from there to leave the Blue Devils with a 30-6 edge with 8:25 on the clock and Duke continued to pull further ahead, using another three to establish a 33-7 lead. ECU managed to get it down to a 22-point margin after a Monk pull-up jumper at the 5:49 mark. The Blue Devils ended the half on a 12-6 run to take a 45-17 advantage into the break.
Goodchild (19) and Monk (6) led their respective squads in the scoring in the first two quarters. Duke enjoyed a 27-7 edge in the rebounding battle and shot 56.7 percent from the field. The Pirates forced the Blue Devils into 11 turnovers and recorded eight steals.
A three-point field goal by Boykin extended the Duke lead to a game-high 35 points (60-25) with 3:25 remaining in the third quarter. Sophomore guard Katerina Tsineke put in the final two of the period to make it a 62-29 contest heading into the final 10 minutes.
With the Blue Devils ahead 67-32 with 7:19 to play, a Moseley free throw sparked a 6-0 run that pulled ECU within 29. Duke pulled in front by as much as 32 points the rest of the way before Moseley drained a three with 24 seconds left to provide the game's final margin.