COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Kaylene Smikle scored 14 of her 21 points in the first half, surpassing 1,000 for her career as No. 8 Maryland rolled past William & Mary 107-57 on Thursday.
The 11 a.m. start time was part of Maryland’s Field Trip Day, which included free admission for schoolchildren, teachers and chaperones. That made for a loud, high-pitched environment, and the Terrapins (11-0) gave the youngsters plenty to cheer about.
William & Mary (3-8) was led by Bella Nascimento, who scored 16 points.
Smikle reached the 1,000-point mark in the second quarter with a 3-pointer that gave Maryland a 44-21 lead. She played two seasons at Rutgers before transferring to Maryland.
The Terps finished the game with a 20-1 run.
NO. 2 SOUTH CAROLINA 82, CHARLESTON SOUTHERN 46
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Joyce Edwards scored 20 points as No. 2 South Carolina shook off an awful start to win its 64th straight home game, a victory over Charleston Southern on Thursday.
The Gamecocks (11-1) get the next 10 days off from competition and may have been thinking about that early on as they made two of their first 13 shots and trailed the Buccaneers 15-11 after 10 minutes.
Bree Hall hit a 3-pointer to start a 23-11 run to gain control and South Carolina pulled away over the final two quarters.
Ashlyn Watkins had eight points, eight rebounds and three of South Carolina’s six blocked shots.
Catherine Alben had 14 points to lead Charleston Southern (4-9), which fell to 0-9 all time against the Gamecocks.
NO. 5 LSU 91, ILLINOIS CHICAGO 73
CHICAGO (AP) — Aneesah Morrow had 19 points and 13 rebounds playing in her hometown, and No. 5 LSU beat Illinois Chicago.
Flau’Jae Johnson added 23 points and 11 boards, and Mikaylah Williams chipped in with 17 points and seven assists. LSU (14-0) pulled away from UIC (2-6) in the third quarter, scoring 12 straight to break open an eight-point game.
Morrow, who came in leading the nation with 14.1 rebounds per game, got a warm reception from a large contingent of family and friends in the crowd. The 6-foot-1 forward starred at Simeon Career Academy on the South Side, where former NBA MVP Derrick Rose played, and then at DePaul for two years. She transferred to LSU prior to last season to compete for national championships.
Morrow got off to a sluggish start, missing six of her first seven shots, but finished 8 of 16 from the field.
Arin Freeman led UIC with 19 points, and Makiyah Williams scored 15.
NO. 15 MICHIGAN STATE 69, MONTANA 38
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Julia Ayrault scored 15 points, Ines Sotelo added 13 and No. 15 Michigan State beat Montana in the West Palm Beach Classic to extend its best start to a season in program history.
Michigan State (11-0), which has topped the previous best starts of 8-0 in the 2012-13 and 2020-21 seasons, has won 16 regular-season games dating to last season.
Michigan State scored 21 straight points in the second quarter, with seven points apiece from Ayrault and Theryn Hallock, to help build a 39-15 lead and the Spartans led by 20-plus points for the rest of the game.
Michigan State added a 19-0 run in the third quarter, with six points from Sotelo, for a 65-22 lead. Montana combined to make just 5 of 22 shots in the second and third quarters.
Michigan State scored 43 points off 30 Montana turnovers.
Adria Lincoln scored a team-high seven points for Montana (4-6).
NO. 21 NC STATE 61, JAMES MADISON 47
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Aziaha James scored 16 of her 21 points in the second half and No. 21 N.C. State beat James Madison for its fifth straight victory.
James took over in the third quarter by scoring 10 of N.C. State’s 12 points to build a 40-27 lead with 4:42 left in the frame. But the Wolfpack only made one more field goal the rest of the quarter as JMU got within 42-33. James also scored the opening four points of the fourth quarter to regain a double-digit lead.
Madison Hayes added 11 points and Zoe Brooks scored 10 with six assists and three steals for N.C. State (9-3), which closed its nonconference slate. Wes Moore picked up his 840th win — 282nd with N.C. State — in his 1,100th game as a head coach.
Kseniia Kozlova had 15 points and 13 rebounds for James Madison (8-4), which was picked to finish first in the Sun Belt preseason poll. Peyton McDaniel, the preseason Sun Belt player of the year, was held to five points on 2-of-10 shooting after averaging 14.5 points per game coming in.
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