After tourney, Terps perfect in Big Ten
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: As Lexie Brown stepped to the foul line in the closing seconds with No. 4 Maryland clinging to a one-point lead, one thought crossed her mind.
“Don’t miss,” she said.
She made her free throws. A desperation heave by Ohio State hit the rim, and just like that, the celebration started.
Brown scored 19 points, and Maryland beat the Buckeyes 77-74 Sunday in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, to capture the Big Ten tournament and cap a perfect run through the conference.
The Terrapins (30-2) will enter the NCAA tournament with 24 straight wins.
“We’re happy, we’re going to ride it out for a day or two, then lock back in,” Shatori Walker-Kimbrough said. “We’re not done yet. Two goals down, we still got one more to go.”
They made a seamless transition to the Big Ten after 37 years in the ACC, going 18-0 in conference play.
But they sure got all they could handle, hanging on after Ohio State (23-10) cut a 15-point lead to one.
Maryland was leading by four when Cait Craft raced back on defense to strip Walker- Kimbrough as she went for a layup following a turnover by Ohio State’s Kelsey Mitchell. Craft then nailed a 3 with a minute left to make it 75-74, but the Terrapins hung on.
Mitchell, who had 31 points, got called for traveling with 7 seconds left, and Brown hit two free throws to make it a three-point game.
“I didn’t want to let my team down so I locked in and knocked those two free throws down,” Brown said.
• South Carolina wins first SEC: Tiffany Mitchell scored 17 points as No. 3 South Carolina earned its first women’s Southeastern Conference Tournament title with a 62-46 victory over No. 5 Tennessee in North Little Rock, Arkansas.
Mitchell was 5 for 10 from the field, while Aleighsa Welch added 14 points and eight rebounds for the top-seeded Gamecocks (29-2), which shot 14 for 26 (53.8 percent) in the second half. Jordan Reynolds had 17 points to lead the Lady Vols (27-5), who finished with their lowest point total in tournament history.
• Notre Dame repeats in ACC: Jewell Loyd scored 18 points and No. 2 Notre Dame (31-2) earned its second straight Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championship, beating No. 7 Florida State (29-4) 71-58 in Greensboro, N.C.
Northern Iowa rallies to win MVC tourney
MEN’S BASKETBALL: Seth Tuttle had 15 points, nine rebounds and three assists, leading No. 11 Northern Iowa back from an 18-point first-half deficit to beat Illinois State 69-60 for the Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship in St. Louis.
Nate Buss added 15 points and the Panthers (30-3) took control with a 25-4 run that erased a 36-22 deficit at the break. Daishon Knight had 16 points for fourth-seeded Illinois State (21-12), which was coming off a win over No. 9 Wichita State.
• Badgers rout Ohio State: Frank Kaminsky scored 20 points and Bronson Koenig touched off a 16-0 second-half run with two 3-pointers to lead No. 6 Wisconsin to a 72-48 victory over No. 23 Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio. The Badgers (28-3, 16-2) tied a school record for league wins while extending the best start in school history. D’Angelo Russell had 17 points for the Buckeyes (22-9, 11-7).
• SMU wins league title: In Dallas, Markus Kennedy scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half and No. 22 SMU won its first league title in 22 years, rallying past Tulsa 67-62 in a game that decided the American Athletic Conference regular-season championship.
The Mustangs (24-6, 15-3) are looking for their first NCAA berth since winning the old Southwest Conference in 1993. James Woodard scored all of his career-high 30 points on 3-pointers for the Golden Hurricane (21-9, 14-4), who settled for second place after starting 10-0 in the conference.
Brassard, Rangers beat Blackhawks 1-0
NHL: Derick Brassard scored 32 seconds into overtime and Cam Talbot made 29 saves for his fifth shutout of the season in the New York Rangers’ 1-0 victory over at Chicago.
Brassard swooped in from left wing and fired a shot past Corey Crawford on the stick side after taking a cross-ice feed from Mats Zuccarello.
• Lindholm hat trick sparks Hurricanes: Elias Lindholm had three goals and two assists, Jeff Skinner scored twice and Carolina rallied from three goals down to beat visiting Edmonton 7-4. Lindholm’s hat trick was the first of his career. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had his second career hat trick to increase his scoring total to 19 goals for Edmonton.
Westbrook does it again: 30-17-11
NBA: Russell Westbrook posted his fifth triple-double in six games to help Oklahoma City beat visiting Toronto 108-104.
Westbrook, the NBA’s leading scorer, had 30 points, matched a career high with 17 assists and grabbed 11 rebounds for his seventh triple-double of the season and 15th of his career.
Enes Kanter had 21 points and 12 rebounds and Serge Ibaka had 21 points and five blocks for the Thunder, who remained alone in eighth place in the Western Conference standings.
• Parker sparks Spurs: In San Antonio, Texas, Tony Parker had a season-high 32 points in leading the Spurs to their fifth straight victory, 116-105 over Chicago.
Vonn wins World Cup Super-G race
MISCELLANY: In Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Lindsey Vonn of the United States won a World Cup Super-G to regain the lead in the discipline with one race remaining.
Vonn is chasing her fifth Super-G World Cup title.
• Jansrud claims men’s Super-G title: Kjetil Jansrud claimed the World Cup super-G title in Kvitfjell, Norway, as the main challengers faltered in difficult conditions.
With one super-G remaining this season, Jansrud has an unassailable 123-point lead.
• Kwiatkowski wins Paris-Nice prologue: Polish rider Michal Kwiatkowski won the prologue of the Paris-Nice race in Maurepas, France, beating Australian Rohan Dennis. Kwiatkowski posted a time of 7 minutes, 40 seconds on the 6.7-kilometer (4.2-mile) course, finishing .31 seconds ahead of Dennis – who holds the world hour record.
• Penn coach resigns: Penn basketball coach Jerome Allen, a two-time Ivy League player of the year with the Quakers, will resign after the season finale Tuesday.