Top-ranked Connecticut rolls past No. 16 Notre Dame

Notre Dame stopped Maya Moore after she scored the first 15 points for Connecticut. The Fighting Irish never could come up with an answer for Tina Charles, though.

Charles scored 22 points, including nine during a decisive 22-4 first-half run, to lead the top-ranked Huskies to an 81-64 victory over No. 16 Notre Dame on Sunday in South Bend, Ind.

Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said her team couldn’t slow Charles.

“She was the difference,” McGraw said. “I think they went to her six times in a row and we were trying to get the top of the zone down to prevent the ball from getting into her, but we weren’t able to get that point across.”

With the score tied at 21 after Melissa D’Amico’s rebound basket with 11:13 left in the first half, UConn (19-0, 6-0 Big East) took control as the Irish (15-5, 3-3) went 10:52 without a field goal, going 0 for 12 from the field during the run.

UConn went through a bit of a drought as well, making just one basket during a four-minute span. But Brittany Hunter, who missed the last three games because of soreness in her surgically repaired right knee, got the Huskies going with a pair of baskets inside. Then Charles, who had eight rebounds, scored nine points in 3:42, putting UConn ahead 41-27 with 1:04 left before intermission.

“Coach always tells the post players to be aggressive in the lane and dominate as much as you can, and that’s what I did,” Charles said.

(9) LSU 72, Kentucky 46: At Lexington, Ky., Sylvia Fowles had 20 points and 10 rebounds for her 72nd career double-double and the Tigers (16-3, 5-0 Southeastern Conference) beat the Wildcats (10-10, 4-2).