COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Joyce Edwards scored 15 points while Ashlyn Watkins had 10 points, eight rebounds and four blocks as No. 3 South Carolina opened a big lead early and cruised to its 63rd straight win at home with a 78-62 victory over South Florida on Sunday.
The Gamecocks (10-1) started with an 18-4 burst as Bree Hall and Te-Hina Paopao made two 3s apiece and the Bulls (5-6) could not dig themselves out of the hole.
Edwards, a 6-foot-3 freshman, had her career high to lead the team, which finished with five players in double figures.
Sammie Puisis had 19 points with four 3-pointers to lead South Florida, an American Athletic Conference team whose losses have all come against power conference opponents. L’or Mputu finished with 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
The Bulls were down 43-31 at the half, but South Carolina stretched things out with a 23-12 start to the third quarter to take control.
NO. 2 UCONN 79, GEORGETOWN 44
HARTFORD, Conn (AP) — Paige Bueckers scored 24 points and Sarah Strong had 17 points, 14 rebounds and five assists to lead No. 2 UConn to a win over Georgetown in the teams’ Big East opener.
UConn, coming off a 79-68 loss to Notre Dame, went on a nine-point run in the second quarter and a 14-point run in the third to remain unbeaten at home this season.
Ashlynn Shade added nine points for UConn (9-1), which trailed for just 13 seconds early in the game.
Kelsey Ransom came into the game as the top scorer in the Big East. She had just two points in the first half on 0-of-4 shooting. Ransom, who averages 21.1 points, had seven points on 2-of-9 shooting with nine turnovers before she left the game 15 seconds into the fourth quarter after falling awkwardly to the court. Ariel Jenkins had 10 points and nine rebounds for the Hoyas (6-5). Jaeda Wilson, who made her first start of the season had 10 points for Georgetown.
NO. 4 LSU 85, LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 57
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Transfer forward Jersey Wolfenbarger had 18 points and 15 rebounds in her first start this season to lead No. 4 LSU to a victory over Louisiana-Lafayette.
LSU (12-0) had five double-figure scorers with senior Aneesah Morrow finishing with 15 points and 15 rebounds. Reserve guard Kailyn Gilbert added 14, while starters Mikaylah Williams had 12 and Flau’Jae Johnson 11.
Louisiana-Lafayette (4-4) was led by guard Tamiah Robinson with 15 on 4-of-7 shooting from 3-point range. Erica Lafayette, a transfer from Houston, had 12.
LSU extended its 36-19 halftime lead in the first two minutes of the third quarter a layup and a pair of free throws from Wolfenbarger and a jumper from Williams for a 42-22 lead at the 8:07 mark.
NO. 5 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 88, ELON 30
LOS ANGELES (AP) — JuJu Watkins had 26 points, five rebounds and five assists, and No. 5 Southern California rolled past Elon for its sixth straight win.
Kiki Iriafen added 18 points and seven rebounds for USC (10-1). Kayleigh Heckel had 14 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals, Talia von Oelhoffen had 10 points and Rayah Marshall pulled down 14 rebounds.
The Trojans led 40-12 at halftime and led by as many as 59 points in the fourth quarter. It was USC’s third win by at least 50 points this season.
Hannah Dereje had 10 points and seven rebounds for Elon (4-5). The Phoenix shot just 11 of 52 (21.2%) from the field, including 2 of 13 from 3-point range, and committed 25 turnovers.
NO. 6 TEXAS 65, RICHMOND 54
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Madison Booker had 25 points and 11 rebounds as No. 6 Texas forced 24 turnovers and defeated Richmond, extending its winning streak to three games.
The Longhorns made their final six shots of the third quarter to build a 53-36 lead. Booker made four of those six shots. Texas also had a 12-0 advantage in points after turnovers and 10-2 in points in the paint in the third quarter.
Richmond’s Addie Budnik hit a couple of 3-pointers early in the fourth and the Spiders used an 11-4 run to get within 57-47 with six minutes remaining. But, Texas quickly pushed the lead back to 17 points with just under three minutes remaining.
Booker matched her season high in points, shooting 10 for 17 overall and 4 for 4 from the line. Taylor Jones added 10 points for the Longhorns (10-1).
NO. 8 NOTRE DAME 118, EASTERN MICHIGAN 49
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Hannah Hidalgo scored 27 points and No. 8 Notre Dame extended its winning streak to four games, routing Eastern Michigan.
Hidalgo, a 5-foot-6 sophomore, shot 10 for 14 from the field and added six steals, four rebounds and four assists.
Notre Dame (9-2) outscored Eastern Michigan 50-0 in fastbreak points, fueled by a 17-2 edge in steals, and had six players score in double figures.
Reserve Emma Risch shot 7 for 9 from 3-point distance and scored 23 points for Notre Dame. Cassandre Prosper scored 20 points, Liatu King added 15 points and 15 rebounds, and Olivia Miles had 17 points and eight assists. Sonia Citron chipped in 11 points.
Olivia Smith scored 13 points for Eastern Michigan (1-6). Sisi Eleko and Mackenzie Amalia added 10 points apiece.
NO. 10 OKLAHOMA 94, ORAL ROBERTS 54
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Raegan Beers had 14 points and 10 rebounds as No. 10 Oklahoma beat Oral Roberts.
Zya Vann matched Beers with 14 points, and Payton Verhulst added 12 points and nine rebounds as Oklahoma (9-1) won its third straight game since losing in overtime to Duke on Nov. 27.
Ruthie Udoumoh scored 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting and Jalei Oglesby added 14 points and seven rebounds to lead Oral Roberts (7-3), which shot 20 for 63 (31.7%) from the field and 3 for 20 (15%) from 3-point range.
NO. 12 TCU 92, LOUISIANA TECH 41
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Hailey Van Lith scored 23 points and No. 12 TCU breezed to a victory over Louisiana Tech.
Van Lith buried 7 of 10 shots from the floor with three 3-pointers and all six of her free throws for the Horned Frogs (10-1), who improved to 8-0 at home this season.
Madison Conner made four 3-pointers and scored 18 for TCU. Sedona Prince pitched in with 12 points and seven rebounds. Agnes Emma-Nnopu had 10 rebounds and five assists to go with seven points.
Paris Bradley scored 15 to lead the Lady Techsters (5-4), who dropped to 1-3 away from home. Jianna Morris made three 3-pointers and scored 11.
Conner came off the bench to score five and help TCU to a 19-5 lead after one quarter. Louisiana Tech made 1 of 4 from outside the arc and 1 of 8 from inside it in falling behind.
NO. 25 GEORGIA 82, NO. 14 NORTH CAROLINA 76
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Tonie Morgan had 23 points, freshman Dani Carnegie scored a season-high 22 and unbeaten and 25th-ranked Georgia Tech knocked off No. 14 North Carolina in an Atlantic Coast Conference opener.
Morgan made 8 of 11 shots with a 3-pointer and all six of her free throws for the Yellow Jackets, who have won 11 in a row to begin the season for the first time in school history. Carnegie came off the bench to make 8 of 19 shots with two 3-pointers and all four of her foul shots.
Kara Dunn had 13 points for Georgia Tech, which beat the Tar Heels on the road for the first time since 2012. Reserve Kay Blackshear added 12 points and six rebounds. Zoesha Smith totaled 10 points and eight rebounds.
Maria Gakdeng led the Tar Heels (10-2) with a season-high 21 points on 9-for-11 shooting. Indya Nivar scored 16 and Reniya Kelly and Lexi Donarski scored 15 apiece.
Donarski scored the first five points in a 7-0 run to begin the game for the Tar Heels. It was all Georgia Tech from there.
NO. 15 WEST VIRGINIA 68, TEMPLE 46
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kyah Watson had 15 points and 10 rebounds, four of her teammates also reached double figures in scoring, and the No. 15 West Virginia women defeated Temple.
Backup forward Celia Riviere had 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists and Jordan Harrison had 11 points to go over 1,000 for her career and added seven rebounds and seven assists for the Mountaineers (10-1). Ja’Naiya Quinerly had 11 points and Syndey Shaw 10.
West Virginia shot 42% overall and made 9 of 25 3-pointers.
The Mountaineers led 31-21 at halftime and extended their lead throughout the second half. They led 52-36 after three quarters and their lead peaked at 24 points after an 8-0 run late in the fourth quarter.
NO. 17 MICHIGAN STATE 68, NO. 21 IOWA 66
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Julia Ayrault had 19 points, Nyla Hampton scored 13 in the fourth quarter and the No. 17 Michigan State women stunned No. 21 Iowa with a huge fourth-quarter run on the way to a victory in a Big Ten opener.
The Spartans fell behind 58-49 early in the fourth quarter but rallied to extend their program-best season-opening start to 10-0. The Spartans stormed back as Hampton scored six points, Theryn Hallock hit a 3-pointer and Ayrault scored the last five points in a 14-0 run that put Michigan State in front 63-58. The lead peaked at 67-60 with about three minutes to go.
During MSU’s run, the Hawkeyes missed seven shots and went 7-plus minutes without a field goal until Taylor Stremlow finally made a layup that got Iowa within 67-64 with a little more than a minute remaining.
Thanks in large part to a blocked shot by Jaddan Simmons and another by Ayrault, the Spartans held on despite missing four free throws in the final minute.
NO. 22 MISSISSIPPI 94, SOUTH ALABAMA 39
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Freshman Sira Thienou had her season high with 23 points on near-perfect shooting as No. 22 Mississippi overwhelms South Alabama.
Thienou made 7 of 8 field goals overall, went 2 for 2 from 3-point distance and was 7 for 8 on free throws. Starr Jacobs added 15 points and Christeen Iwuala and Rhema Collins had 10 points each off the bench for the Rebels (7-3).
Mississippi shot only 27% in the first quarter but made 10 free throws to lead 22-16. From there, the Rebels dominated, particularly in the second quarter when they outscored the Jaguars 23-3 and had scoring runs of 12-0 and 11-0.
The Rebels had 15 steals among 30 South Alabama turnovers, leading to 37 points. The Rebels also had 54 points in the paint and 34 bench points.
Daniela Gonzalez led the Jaguars (3-6) with 13 points.
NO. 22 NORTH CAROLINA STATE 72, LOUISVILLE 42
LOUISVILLE, Ky (AP) — Freshman Zamareya Jones scored 11 of her season-high 18 points in the second quarter and did not miss a shot until the fourth as the No. 22 North Carolina State women posted a win over Louisville in the Jimmy V Women’s Classic which doubled as the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams.
The Wolfpack (8-3) jumped to a 10-0 lead in the first three minutes and held Louisville scoreless for the first five. Jones subbed in in the first quarter and scored a layup and knocked down a 3-pointer in the final 40 seconds to make it 19-4 before Nyla Harris’ late layup cut the Cardinals deficit to 13 going into the second quarter.
Jones opened the second quarter by hitting two 3s, turning one into a four-point play and her layup at the seven-minute mark gave her 16 points, matching her career-best mark.
NC State led by 20 points at the break and was up 61-34 to start the fourth quarter while earning its sixth straight win over Louisville to lead the all-time series, 9-8.
NO. 24 NEBRASKA 66, CHATTANOOGA 42
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Alexis Markowski scored 18 points to lead No. 24 Nebraska to a victory over Chattanooga.
Markowski made 7 of 9 shots with a 3-pointer and grabbed eight rebounds in 20 minutes of play for the Cornhuskers (10-1), who upped their win streak to five while improving to 9-0 at home. Markowski became the first player in program history to reach 1,500 points and 1,000 rebounds in a career last time out. The senior also has a school-record 44 double-doubles.
Callin Hake added 10 points, five rebounds and three assists for Nebraska. Britt Prince hit two 3-pointers and scored eight. Prince is the first freshman to score 100 points in her first eight games for the Cornhuskers.
Gaia Elisaldez and reserve Ava Card both scored 10 to lead the Mocs (4-8), who lost their fifth straight game and fell to 1-4 on the road.
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