CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Freshman Alyssa Ustby had season-highs of 20 points and 12 rebounds to help North Carolina upset fourth-ranked rival North Carolina State 76-69 on Sunday.
Stephanie Watts added 17 points for the Tar Heels (9-8, 4-8 Atlantic Coast Conference), who hit a season-high 11 3-pointers and led by as many as a dozen after halftime.
UNC had won just one game since shortly before Christmas, yet responded with a huge performance to upend a top-10 Wolfpack team for the third consecutive season.
Ustby went 4 for 4 from behind the arc to lead the Tar Heels’ outside shooting.
Elissa Cunane scored 14 points to lead the Wolfpack (12-2, 7-2).
No. 1 LOUISVILLE 71, NOTRE DAME 65
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Dana Evans scored 27 points, including five late, to lead Louisville to a victory over Notre Dame.
The Cardinals (18-1, 11-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) won their second straight, and Evans their lone senior was a major reason why. The player of the year candidate scored 16 of her points in the first half to help Louisville take a 42-34 lead at the break.
The lead would grow to 11 less than 90 seconds into the second half. However, the Fighting Irish (8-8, 6-6) only trailed 66-65 with 1:41 left.
Evans, though, responded with a 3 of her own with 57 seconds remaining. She then iced the game with a pair of free throws with 13 seconds left.
No. 5 UCLA 84, WASHINGTON 50
SEATTLE (AP) — Charisma Osborne scored 21 points, Michaela Onyenwere added 15 and UCLA hammered Washington.
Osborne, the Pac-12’s leading scorer, reached 20 points for the seventh straight game as the Bruins (11-3, 9-3 Pac-12) sent the Huskies (4-10, 1-10) to their eighth straight loss. UCLA also got 14 points from Emily Bessoir in a near-perfect shooting night.
UCLA has now won six of its last seven after losing for the first time in 2021 at Washington State on Friday. The Bruins ran out to a 37-16 halftime advantage with Bessoir scoring nine straight at one point and led by as much as 28 in the second half, using its defense to stifle the Huskies.
No. 6 STANFORD 83, UTAH 41
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Kiana Williams found her shooting stroke early on the way to 13 points making all three of her 3-point tries, leading the Cardinal to their sixth straight win since a rare two-game skid with a victory against Utah.
Haley Jones bounced back from a tough 2-of-10 shooting performance two days earlier to score 12 points on 6-for-10 from the floor and freshman Cameron Brink also added 12 points as Stanford (17-2, 14-2 Pac-12) finished 52% on field goals. It was the largest margin of victory in 28 meetings between the schools.
Lola Pendande scored 11 points for Utah (5-11, 4-11) with seven of those coming at the free throw line.
No. 7 TEXAS A&M 69, No. 16 ARKANSAS 67
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Kayla Wells had a season-high 21 points and Jordan Nixon made a layup with eight seconds remaining to lift Texas A&M to a win over Arkansas.
A 3-pointer by Amber Ramirez tied it at 67-all with less than 90 seconds to go. Both teams missed a shot on their next possession before Nixon drove into the lane for the basket to put the Aggies up for good.
Ramirez missed a 3-point attempt after that to secure A&M’s sixth straight win.
This victory comes after the Aggies (18-1, 9-1 SEC) escaped with a 74-73 win in Fayetteville in the first meeting with Arkansas (14-7, 4-6) this season.
No. 8 BAYLOR 64, KANSAS STATE 52
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — NaLyssa Smith scored 17 points and Baylor beat Kansas State.
Dijonai Carrington and Moon Ursin each had 16 points. Ursin had six of those in the final two minutes as the Lady Bears beat the Wildcats for the 35th straight time.
Kansas State (5-11, 0-9 Big 12) was led by Ayoka Lee who scored 21 and Rachel Ranke who had 12.
The Lady Bears (14-2, 9-1) went on a 12-0 run early in the second quarter, including two 3’s by Carrington, and never lost the lead again.
No. 11 OHIO STATE 83, MINNESOTA 59
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Dorka Juhasz and Aaliyah Patty both had double-doubles and No. 11 Ohio State dominated the first and third quarters to roll to to a win over Minnesota.
Juhasz had her fourth straight double-double and 30th of her career with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Patty had 14 and 10. Jacy Sheldon scored 17 points for the Buckeyes (11-2, 7-2 Big Ten Conference), who have won nine-straight in the series.
Kadiatou Sissoko scored 13 points for the Golden Gophers (5-8, 4-7) with Sara Scalia and Klarke Sconiers adding 12 each.
No. 17 INDIANA 85, IOWA 72
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Mackenzie Holmes scored 25 points and Ali Patberg 23 as the Indiana Hoosiers broke away in final period to defeat Iowa.
Despite Indiana’s (11-4, 9-2 Big Ten Conference) national ranking, Iowa (10-6, 6-6) has dominated the series, 51-20. The win at Carver-Hawkeye Arena is a rare one — Indiana’s first there since Feb. 20, 1994.
Holmes and Patberg went to work early in the fourth quarter after Iowa erased a 10-point deficit to tie twice. Holmes turned a defensive rebound into a layup at the other end and Patberg sank two free throws as Indiana began a 10-2 run to gain control.
Nicole Cardano-Hillary poked the ball away from Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and raced full court for a fastbreak layin during the run. Indiana outscored Iowa 27-16 over the final 10 minutes to win going away.
No. 20 DEPAUL 87, MARQUETTE 82
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Deja Church scored a career-high 24 points, Sonya Morris added 23 and her layup with 26 seconds left gave DePaul enough breathing room to outlast Marquette.
The Blue Demons (10-4, 7-2 Big East Conference) had battled Marquette through a tight first half, but then opened the second with a 19-4 run and seemed on the verge of a runaway win.
Marquette (12-4, 9-3) held DePaul scoreless for nearly all of the final five minutes of the third quarter as it chopped the lead down from 17 points to four, 63-59, and kept going into the fourth.
The Golden Eagles grabbed a 64-63 lead with a 3-pointer and a layup wrapped around a DePaul turnover and the final quarter was tense all the way to the finish.
Morris scored nine of her 23 in the final period, Lexi Held added 17 points and five steals and Dee Bekelja scored 18.
No. 22 NORTHWESTERN 63, MICHIGAN STATE 60
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Lindsey Pulliam scored 22 points, Veronica Burton added 19 and Northwestern held on to beat Michigan State after blowing a 21-point lead.
Burton scored eight points in the fourth quarter and Pulliam hit the jumper that erased Michigan State’s only lead of the game with 2:48 to play. The Spartans had a 15-3 run, taking the lead at 58-56 on a Janai Crooms jumper with 3:52 to play.
Michigan State (10-5, 5-5 Big Ten), which trailed 37-16 in the closing minute of the first half, had a turnover, missed its last four shots and went 2 of 4 from the foul line from that point. One of those free throws tied the game at 59 but Burton quickly responded with a layup with 1:53 to go. Following a miss by MSU, Burton made a pair from the line.
Pulliam and Burton combined for 15 points in the first quarter when the Wildcats (11-3, 9-3) opened a 19-7 lead and had a combined 23 to build a 37-18 halftime advantage.
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