LAS VEGAS (AP) — Freshman Kiki Rice scored a career-best 22 points and No. 19 UCLA shocked No. 6 Stanford 69-65 Friday night to advance to the championship game of the Pac-12 Tournament.
Rice finished 12 of 13 from the free-throw line, including 5 of 6 down the stretch to send the Bruins to the title game Sunday against Washington State, a 61-49 winner over No. 20 Colorado in the second semifinal.
Emily Bessoir scored 14 points, Charisma Osborne added 13 and Gina Conti 11 for UCLA (25-8), which erased a 16-point third-quarter deficit.
Cameron Brink had 19 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Cardinal (28-5). Haley Jones finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
NO. 1 SOUTH CAROLINA 93, ARKANSAS 66
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Victaria Saxton scored 19 points and Aliyah Boston had her 79th career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds as South Carolina improved to 30-0 and advanced to the Southeastern Conference tournament semifinals.
The Gamecocks, who’ve won 36 straight, will face fourth-seeded Mississippi in Saturday’s semis.
Arkansas (21-12) will now sweat things out until Selection Sunday on March 12. Saylor Poffenberger had 22 points to lead Arkansas.
NO. 2 INDIANA 94, MICHIGAN ST 85
MINNEAPOLIS — Mackenzie Holmes scored 27 points and Sara Scalia added 20 as top-seeded Indiana overcame a slow start to hold off Michigan State in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament.
Chloe Moore-McNeil had 19 points and 11 assists for the Hoosiers (27-2), while Yarden Garzon added 12 points and five rebounds.
Kamaria McDaniel scored a season-high 32 points for ninth-seeded Michigan State (16-14). DeeDee Hagemann had 18 points and four assists, while Moira Joiner added 16 points and nine boards.
NO. 4 LSU 83, GEORGIA 66
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Alexis Morris scored 28 points and Flau’jae Johnson had 21 as LSU used its long-range shooting to advance to the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals.
Morris and Johnson each had five 3s for the second-seeded Tigers (28-1), who will take on third-seeded Tennessee on Saturday night for a trip to Sunday’s championship game.
SEC scoring and rebounding leader Angel Reese missed a double-double for just the second time this season with 15 points and six rebounds.
Alisha Lewis scored 14 points and Diamond Battles, the Bulldogs leading scorer, finished with just seven points on 2-of-12 shooting. Georgia (21-11) will wait out the next nine days to see its NCAA Tournament destination.
NO. 5 MARYLAND 73, ILLINOIS 58
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Diamond Miller had 14 points, nine rebounds and five assists to lead Maryland past Illinois and into the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament.
Abby Meyers added 14 points and five rebounds, and Lavender Briggs scored 11 points for the Terrapins (25-5), who won their seventh straight game and will play No. 7 Iowa in the semis on Saturday.
No. 2 Indiana faces No. 14 Ohio State in the first semifinal at Target Center.
Makira Cook had 19 points, Genesis Bryant added 17 points, Adalia McKenzie scored 12 points and Kendall Bostic pitched in 10 points and 16 rebounds for the Illini (22-9), who fell to 0-14 all-time against the Terrapins.
NO. 7 IOWA 69, PURDUE 58
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Caitlin Clark had 12 of her 22 points in the fourth quarter to lead Iowa past Purdue after a sluggish start in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament.
Clark, the preseason All-Big Ten Player of the Year and the nation’s second-leading scorer, missed 10 of her first 14 shots and picked up a technical foul during a frustrating stretch in the first half before helping the Hawkeyes (24-6) pull away.
Monika Czinano scored 14 points and Gabbie Marshall added 11 points for Iowa, the defending conference tournament champion. The second-seeded Hawkeyes will play in the semifinals on Saturday against Maryland.
Jayla Smith had 16 points for the seventh-seeded Boilermakers (19-10). Jenae Terry added six points and 12 rebounds for Purdue, which must wait nine days to find out if it’s in the NCAA Tournament.
NO. 8 VIRGINIA TECH 68, MIAMI 42
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Elizabeth Kitley had 22 points and 10 rebounds to help Virginia Tech advance to the semifinal round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.
Georgia Amoore added 16 points with five 3-pointers for the third-seeded Hokies (25-4), who took all drama out of this one quickly en route to their ninth straight win. Virginia Tech will take on No. 13 Duke in a semifinal matchup on Saturday.
Hanna Cavinder scored seven points to lead the Hurricanes, who made an unexpected run for their first trip to the title game last year. But they got off to a dreadful shooting start that turned into a game-long disaster in this one.
NO. 10 NOTRE DAME 66, NORTH CAROLINA STATE 60
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Sonia Citron had a season-high 28 points to help Notre Dame beat three-time defending conference champion North Carolina State in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.
Maddy Westbeld added 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Fighting Irish (25-4), the top seed. Notre Dame opened the tournament without injured star guard Olivia Miles and led by as many as 14 points midway through the fourth quarter. Miles went down with a knee injury in last weekend’s win at Louisville.
Notre Dame will face fourth-seeded Louisville in Saturday’s semifinals.
Aziaha James and Saniya Rivers each scored 14 points to lead the eighth-seeded Wolfpack (20-11), who had won 10 straight ACC Tournament games since the start of the three-year title run in 2020. NC State played without top scorer Diamond Johnson due to a lingering ankle injury.
NO. 13 DUKE 44, NO. 18 NORTH CAROLINA 40
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Elizabeth Balogun scored 11 points, the final two from the line to give Duke the lead for good with just under two minutes left, and the Blue Devils won the lowest-scoring game in Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament history.
North Carolina (21-11) struggled offensively, hitting just 15 of 62 shots (24.2%). Deja Kelly was the lone scorer to reach double figures with 11 points on 4 of 22 shooting.
Reigan Richardson scored 10 points for Duke (25-5), which advanced to face No. 8 Virginia Tech, a 68-42 quarterfinal winner over Miami.
NO. 14 OHIO STATE 81, NO. 17 MICHIGAN 79
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (AP) — Freshman Cotie McMahon had 28 points, 11 rebounds and four assists in her Big Ten Tournament debut, Taylor Thierry added 20 points and Ohio State beat Michigan.
Ohio State (24-6) advanced to face No. 1 seed Indiana on Saturday.
Leigha Brown had 19 points and nine assists for Michigan (22-9). Maddie Nolan finished with 16 points and Emily Kiser had 14 points and nine rebounds.
WASHINGTON STATE 61, NO. 20 COLORADO 49
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Charlisse Leger-Walker scored 15 points and seventh-seeded Washington State stunned Colorado to earn a berth in the Pac-12 Conference championship game for the first time in program history.
The Cougars will face fifth-seeded UCLA in Sunday’s title game. It will be the first time none of the conference’s top four seeds have reached the finals.
Washington State (22-10 set a program record with its 22nd win. Bella Murekatete had 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Aaronette Vonleh led the Buffaloes (23-8) with 18 points. Jaylyn Sherrod had 13 points, five rebounds and six assists.
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