Women’s Top 25 roundup: UConn breezes to 97th straight win, 96-50 over Tulsa

Napheesa Collier scored 24 points and pulled down nine rebounds to lead top-ranked UConn to its 97th consecutive win, 96-50 over Tulsa on Sunday in Storrs, Connecticut.

The sophomore hit 10 of her 13 shots from the floor in reaching the 20-point plateau for the 12th time this season.

Saniya Chong added 17 points, seven assists and seven rebounds for the Huskies (22-0, 10-0 American Athletic Conference), who have now won 124 straight games against unranked opponents.

All five UConn starters scored in double figures. Katie Lou Samuelson, who has reached double digits in every game this season, had 16 points. Kia Nurse had 14 and Gabby Williams chipped in with 10.

Freshman Shug Dickson had 12 points lead Tulsa (8-15, 4-6).

(3) Maryland 92, Indiana 56: Shatori Walker-Kimbrough scored 23 points, Brionna Jones added 17 and 14 rebounds, and the Terrapins (23-1, 11-0 Big Ten) won their 11th-straight game in dominant fashion topping the Hoosiers (15-8, 5-5) in Bloomington, Indiana.

The Terrapins outscored Indiana 27-13 in the first quarter and then 28-9 in the third, the two deciding periods of the game. Maryland held Indiana’s leading scorer, Tyra Buss (19 ppg) to just six points on 2-of-17 shooting. The Terps blocked 11 shots and outrebounded Indiana 47-32. Indiana relied on Amanda Cahill, who finished with 16 points.

Indiana finished the game shooting just 32 percent from the floor (22 of 69) Jenn Anderson scored eight points, and Alexis Gassion finished with nine for Indiana. The Terps’ bench outscored Indiana’s 20-12 and 14-6 in second-chance points. Maryland shot 58 percent from the floor (36 of 52).

(4) South Carolina 79, Arkansas 49: Alaina Coates put together her second straight dominating performance, scoring 18 points and grabbing a career-best 19 rebounds as the Gamecocks (20-2, 10-1 Southeastern Conference) rolled to a win over Razorbacks (13-10, 2-8) in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The double-double is the 14th of the season for Coates and 55th of her career with the Gamecocks, who have won eight straight games against the Razorbacks.

Coates was 8 of 11 from the field and finished with four assists, a game after scoring 20 points and grabbing 18 rebounds in a win over No. 25 Kentucky.

A’ja Wilson added 18 points for the Gamecocks, while Kaela Davis and Allisha Gray had 10 each.

Aaliyah Wilson scored 16 points to lead Arkansas, which shot just 27.7 percent (18 of 65) in the loss.

(5) Mississippi State 70, Missouri 53: Dominique Dillingham scored a career-high 24 points and the Bulldogs (22-1, 8-1 SEC) forced 29 turnovers to beat the Tigers (16-7, 6-4) in Starkville, Mississippi.

Looking for separation after a tight first quarter that saw MSU lead 18-17, the Bulldogs got it from Dillingham.

The senior leader scored 13 of her 16 first-half points in the second quarter going up against Mizzou’s top player Sophie Cunningham on both ends of the floor. Dillingham hit four 3-pointers as the Bulldogs took a 36-27 lead into the break.

The Bulldogs scored the first 11 points of the third quarter to extend the advantage to 47-27 to put the game away.

Cunningham scored 19 points to lead Missouri.

(10) Washington 79, Colorado 75: Kelsey Plum scored 28 points, Chantel Osahor had 20 points and 16 rebounds, and the Huskies (22-3, 10-2 Pac-12) held on to beat the Buffaloes (13-10, 3-9) in Boulder, Colorado.

The Huskies have won eight of their last nine.

Kennedy Leonard and Alexis Robinson led Colorado with 19 points each and Makenzie Ellis scored 18.

The Huskies haven’t played many close games this season. Only one of their previous 21 wins were by single digits.

Colorado hung around after falling behind by nearly 20. The Huskies led 54-37 midway through the third when Colorado scored 11 straight points, capped by Leonard’s 3-pointer.

(11) Oregon State 65, Arizona 57: Breanna Brown had 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting, grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked three shots and the Beavers (22-2, 10-1 Pac 12) held off the Wildcats (11-12, 2-9) in Tucson, Arizona, for their seventh-straight win.

Gabriella Hanson added 13 points for the Beavers, who won their seventh-straight over the Wildcats and moved a half-game in front of Stanford for the conference lead.

The Beavers scored the first points of the game and never trailed but couldn’t put the Beavers away. Brown sandwich two basket’s around Hanson’s 3-point play in a 7-2 start to the third quarter for the biggest lead, 39-27. But the Wildcats answered with nine straight.

Oregon State led by 10 five different times in the fourth quarter but Arizona used 7-0 and 6-0 runs to keep it interesting. Poor foul shooting, 14 of 25 for the game, 9 of 17 in the second half, and 19 turnovers hurt the Beavers despite a 41-23 rebounding advantage.

Breanna Workman had 17 points and LaBrittney Jones 13 for the Wildcats, who have lost six straight.

(15) Duke 70, Virginia 51: Rebecca Greenwell hit four 3-pointers and scored 21 points to lead the Blue Devils (20-4, 8-3 ACC) to a victory over the Cavaliers (15-8, 4-6) in Charlottesville, Virginia, for Duke’s 20th victory.

Greenwell was 7-of-10 shooting and had a team-high six rebounds for the Blue Devils. Lexie Brown added 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting.

The game matched the ACC’s top two scoring defenses in Virginia (53.9) and Duke (54.3), but only the Blue Devils lived up to the billing, shooting 55 percent while holding Virginia to 36 percent.

Dominique Toussaint made three 3-pointers and scored 10 points for the Cavaliers.

Duke, which led by eight at halftime, broke the game open in the third quarter, outscoring Virginia 23-6 with Greenwell starting it off with a pair of 3-pointers and a layup. The lead reached a high of 27 points early in the fourth quarter.

(17) DePaul 86, Seton Hall 60: Brooke Schulte scored 22 points and pulled down 12 of DePaul’s season-high 61 rebounds and the Blue Demons (20-5, 12-1 Big East) defeated the Pirates (11-13, 4-9) in Chicago.

Tanita Allen added 19 points, Amarah Coleman 17 and Jacqui Grant 11 points and 14 rebounds for the Blue Demons, who rolled to their 14th win in 15 games.

DePaul made up for 6-of-33 shooting from 3-point range by outrebounding Seton Hall 61-35, including 25 on the offensive glass which led to 25 second-chance points. DePaul also scored 24 points off 21 turnovers.

Kaela Hilaire scored 12 points with seven assists for Seton Hall. JaQuan Jackson and Lubirdia Gordon added 10 points each.

Seton Hall led only at 4-2 with DePaul scoring the next 12 points. Claire Lundberg’s bucket to open the second half got the Pirates within three, but they were outscored 29-14 in the third period. The lead reached 30 points in the fourth quarter.

Memphis 62, (20) South Florida 57: Cheyenne Creighton scored 22 points and Breigha Wilder-Cochran made four clutch free throws and the Tigers (11-12, 4-6 American) defeated the Bulls (18-4, 7-2) in Memphis, Tennessee.

Wilder-Cochran made two free throws with 25.4 and 15.9 seconds remaining, both times giving the Tigers a two-possession lead. Those were the only points of the game for the 61 percent free throw shooter.

Memphis started the game by making 8 of 10 shots with three 3-pointers. USF had a brief one point lead early in the second quarter and again in the third. The Bulls cut a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit to 54-53 on a basket by Laia Flores with 2:11 to go. Creighton’s three points had the lead at four with a minute left.

Brea Elmore added 17 points for Memphis, which lost by 30 at South Florida

Maria Jespersen had 20 and Kitja Laksa 16 for the Bulls, who shot 35 percent and went 5 of 24 behind the arc.

(23) Arizona State 68, Oregon 63: Sophie Bruner scored 17 points and the Sun Devils (15-8, 6-6 Pac-12) used a 7-0 surge in the middle of the fourth quarter to end a four-game losing streak with a win over the Ducks (15-9, 5-7) in Tempe, Arizona.

Sabrina Haines started the run with a 3-pointer at the 6:13 mark, putting the Sun Devils up 57-55. It was the 14th lead change to go with 12 ties. Bruner made a jumper and Quinn Dornstauder, who struggled with her shot all day, had a layup that made it 61-55 with 3:45 to go.

Ruthy Hebard ended the Ducks’ 5 1/2-minute drought with 1:36 to go but Haines drilled another 3, the Sun Devils’ season-high-matching seventh, at 36 seconds. After a 3 from Oregon’s Morgan Yaeger, who had nine of her 11 points in the fourth quarter, ASU made four free throws in the final 20 seconds.

Haines hit 4 of 5 from distance and scored 14 for the Sun Devils, who had three losses to top-13 teams during their skid. Dornstauder, who makes 49.5 percent from the field and 56 percent from the line, made 2 of 11 shots and 3 of 12 free throws but grabbed eight rebounds.

Maite Cazorla had 17 points and Sabrina Ionescu 16 for the Ducks.

(24) Syracuse 72, Boston College 45: The nation’s top-scoring backcourt, Alexis Peterson and Brittney Sykes, combined for 44 points, and the Orange (17-7, 8-3 ACC) rolled past the Eagles (8-16, 1-10) in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

Peterson scored 26 points and Sykes 18, bettering their season average of 42.8, in leading the Orange to their fourth straight victory and keeping them tied for third place in the ACC. Syracuse swept the series, beating BC 79-52 on Jan. 8.

Peterson also had eight assists and eight rebounds. Briana Day added 11 points and 11 rebounds for her sixth double-double this season and 29th of her career. Julia Chandler added 12 points. Peterson and Chandler each made four of Syracuse’s 3-pointers.

Georgia Pineau scored 14 points for Boston College, which has lost 10 straight.

Syracuse scored the first 10 points and led 26-9 after one quarter and would go up by as many as 31 in the final period.

(25) Kentucky 71, Vanderbilt 63: Makayla Epps scored 23 points, moving into fifth place on the Kentucky career scoring list, and grabbed eight rebounds and the Wildcats (16-8, 7-4 SEC) defeated the Commodores (11-12, 1-9) in Lexington, Kentucky.

The senior guard, who also had five assists, jumped two places on the all-time list with 1,620 points. Evelyn Akhator added 20 points and eight rebounds and Taylor Murray 18 points and seven assists.

The Wildcats, coming off back-to-back conference losses, made only 2 of 14 3-point attempts but dominated scoring in the paint 42-22 and took advantage of a lopsided free-throw margin, making 19 of 22 to 3 of 4 for Vanderbilt

The Commodores outshot and outrebounded Kentucky but committed 21 turnovers. Kayla Overbeck led Vanderbilt with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Christa Reed added 12 points and Erin Whalen 11.

The game was tied when Kentucky finished the last three minutes of the third quarter on a 9-0 run. Vanderbilt opened the fourth quarter with two 3-pointers but Kentucky rebuilt an 11-point lead with 1:42 to go behind seven points from Akhator.