Women’s Top 25 roundup: Turner-led No. 2 Notre Dame beats Michigan State 79-61

Brianna Turner had 19 points, seven rebounds and five blocks, leading No. 2 Notre Dame to a 79-61 win over Michigan State on Tuesday night in East Lansing, Michigan.

The Fighting Irish (11-1) have won three straight since losing to top-ranked UConn.

The Spartans (10-3) had won four straight since getting beat by No. 19 Syracuse.

Notre Dame’s Marina Mabrey had 19 points and five assists, one of three players on her team with at least five assists. Kathryn Westbeld scored 12 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Reserve Arike Ogunbowale added 11 points.

Michigan State’s Tori Jankoska had 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Reserve Victoria Gaines had 12 points.

The Irish never trailed and led by as much as 13 in the first half and by 19 points in the second half.

(5) Mississippi State 90, Alabama State 47: Victoria Vivians scored 28 points to lead the Bulldogs (13-0) over the Lady Hornets (1-8) in Starkville, Mississippi.

Vivians, a junior, has now scored more than 1,300 points in her career. Freshman forward Ameshya Williams also scored in double figures with 12 points.

Mississippi State had a 40-30 rebounding advantage over the Hornets and shot 28 of 40 (70 percent) from the free throw line.

The Bulldogs played their first home game in a month and just the second game at Humphrey Coliseum this season. The win over the Hornets came after eight games in a row away from Starkville.

Mississippi State took advantage of 29 Alabama State turnovers, converting them into 40 points.

Alabama State was led by Daniele Ewert’s 13 points.

(10) UCLA 83, North Carolina A&T 42: Monique Billings and Kari Korver scored 15 points apiece to lead five players in double figures as the Bruins (9-2) coasted to a win against the Aggies (2-9) in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Jordin Canada had 12 points and 10 assists for the Bruins, who are off to their best start since opening the 2010-11 season with 10 straight wins.

Kennedy Burke and Kelli Hayes both added 11 points apiece for UCLA, which had 20 assists on its 31 made field goals and shot 54.4 percent from the floor.

Kala Green scored 12 points for North Carolina A&T, which struggled all game on offense and finished with more turnovers (23) than made field goals (13).

(16) Texas 80, New Orleans 48: Kelsey Lang scored a career-high 23 points on 11-of-11 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Longhorns (6-4) routed the Privateers (4-5) in Austin, Texas, for their fourth straight win.

Lang, a senior center, has posted five double-doubles in her last six games. She entered the season with one career double-double.

Ariel Atkins scored seven of her 15 points in the third quarter as the Longhorns outscored New Orleans 25-2 to stretch their 15-point halftime lead. Joyner Holmes and Lang added four points apiece, and the Privateers shot 1 of 11 from the field in the third quarter.

Tasia Foman scored eight points and had a career-best six assists for Texas.

Jewel Angelo scored 17 points to lead New Orleans. Randi Brown added 14 points.

(19) Syracuse 92, Old Dominion 66: Alexis Peterson had 27 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds and seven steals, and the Orange (9-3) held the nation’s second-leading scorer in check for a victory over the Lady Monarchs (5-4) in the Florida Sunshine Tournament in Winter Park, Florida.

Peterson made a 3-pointer in the final second before halftime and she hit a 30-foot runner to beat the third-quarter buzzer for a 73-56 lead.

Syracuse, which won its fifth straight, hadn’t played since Dec. 10th when it scored the second-most points (109) in program history. It was only the ninth time SU had eclipsed the century mark.

Brittney Sykes scored 10 of Syracuse’s 19 first-quarter points and finished with 20 points.

Jennie Simms, who entered averaging 26.6 points, finished with 13 points for Old Dominion.

California 82, (20) Oklahoma 74: Kristine Anigwe scored 32 points and grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds and the Golden Bears (11-0) held off the Sooners (8-3) in the Puerto Rico Shootout in Las Vegas.

The tournament was moved to Las Vegas because of concerns over the Zika virus in Puerto Rico.

The Bears held the Sooners to seven points in the second quarter and led 38-20 at the half, both season lows for Oklahoma. Cal stretched the lead to 64-41 after three quarters before Oklahoma stormed back.

A technical foul on Cal’s Courtney Range with 2:57 to play allowed Maddie Manning to sink four free throws cut the deficit to 71-68. Anigwe answered with a 3-point play and the Bears pulled away at the free-throw line plus a key putback by Penina Davidson with 57 seconds left. Oklahoma scored a season-high 33 points in the fourth quarter.

Anigwe made 16 of 22 free throws and the Bears finished 28 of 40 from the line, which offset 33 turnovers.

Gabbi Ortiz scored 17 points for the Sooners, who had a season-high 28 turnovers. Manning added 16 points and Peyton Little had 15.

(21) South Florida 63, Santa Clara 54: Kitija Laksa scored 19 points, Ariadna Pujol had 14 points and 13 rebounds, and the Bulls (9-1) beat the Broncos (4-6) in the Play4Kay Shootout in Las Vegas.

South Florida lost its first game of the season on Monday after moving up one spot in the AP poll. Last week, the Bulls set a program record with 129 points against St. Francis.

Dorottya Nagy added 13 points for South Florida, which shot just 39 percent from the field. The Bulls were 14 of 17 from the free-throw line compared to six makes for the Broncos.

USF led 36-28 at halftime, led by Laksa’s 11 points, and Laia Flores made a third-quarter layup to give the Bulls a 45-35 lead – their first double-digit advantage since 16-6.

Taylor Berry paced Santa Clara with 14 points and Morgan McGwire had 10 points and 13 rebounds. The Broncos lost their third straight after shooting 32.8 percent.

(25) Oregon State 75, Quinnipiac 60: Sydney Wiese set the Pac-12 record for career 3-pointers and had 17 points and 11 rebounds to help the Beavers (10-1) beat the Bobcats (8-4) in the semifinals of the Play4Kay Shootout.

Wiese passed Candice Wiggins (Stanford, 2005-08) on a catch-and-shoot from a step behind the arc on the right wing. It was the Beavers’ fourth straight 3-pointer, capping a 12-4 run to make it 52-44 with 1:28 left in the third quarter.

Wiggins held the previous record at 295 career 3s. Wiese made 3 of 5 from 3-point range to finish the night at 296.

Mikayla Pivec scored 18 for the Beavers, who will face undefeated Oklahoma State in the championship on Wednesday night. The Bobcats play Long Beach State for third place.

Sarah Shewan had 19 points for Quinnipiac, which tied it at 40 with a 12-4 run before the Beavers pulled away.