In brief: A’ja Wilson’s ignites No. 2 South Carolina women

COLLEGE WOMEN: South Carolina moved a step closer to an upcoming showdown against No. 1 Connecticut with another road win over a top-10 team.

A’ja Wilson scored 27 points as the Gamecocks stayed unbeaten by holding on for a 70-63 victory Sunday at No. 10 Texas A&M. South Carolina has a home game against No. 12 Kentucky on Thursday before playing host to top-ranked Connecticut on Feb. 8.

“I was just letting the game come to me,” said Wilson, who scored 13 of her points in the second quarter. “We knew it was going to be rowdy, and that they were going to be excited, and we were going to be excited.”

The excitement peaked with the game tied 54-54 with 7:42 remaining. That’s when the Gamecocks’ Tiffany Mitchell drained a jump shot from the left side, and ensuing layups by Alaina Coates and Khadijah Sessions pushed South Carolina (21-0, 9-0 SEC) to a 60-54 lead.

The Aggies (15-6, 5-3) tightened the gap to four at 60-56 on a jumper by Courtney Walker with 5:06 left, but Mitchell quickly responded with a 3-pointer in giving the Gamecocks a 63-56 lead with 3:38 remaining, putting the Aggies away for good.

The Gamecocks edged A&M 59-58 on Jan. 17. The game at South Carolina featured 19 lead changes, and Sunday’s encore offered nine more.

“Folks, that was as good as we can do, it just wasn’t good enough,” A&M coach Gary Blair said, adding he wasn’t disappointed at all in his team’s showing.

Fields rallies UCLA: Nirra Fields scored 17 of her 24 points in the fourth quarter to rally No. 15 UCLA to a 69-63 win at Utah.

Monique Billings added 12 points, 11 rebounds, six blocks and four steals for the Bruins (16-5, 8-2 Pac-12), who trailed 51-43 after three quarters.

UCLA had a 9-0 run, taking a 54-53 lead on a 3-pointer by Fields with 5:30 to play and scored on seven straight possessions that made it 60-56 midway through the period. The Bruins outscored the Utes (12-8, 4-5) 26-12 with Fields scoring five points in the final minute.

Fields went 5 of 8 from the field and 6 of 8 from the line in the fourth quarter, when the Bruins were 8 of 14 and 9 of 12.

Emily Potter had 16 points and 13 rebounds for Utah, which was 4 of 14 in the fourth quarter.

Florida upsets Kentucky: Eleanna Christinaki figured in all of Florida’s six points in the final 30 seconds to spark the Gators to an 85-79 victory over visiting No. 12 Kentucky.

She picked up her career-high 11th assist on a slick inside pass to Ronni Williams, who scored underneath for an 81-77 lead. After a jumper by the Wildcats’ Makayla Epps, Christinaki hit 1 of 2 free throws before stealing an inbounds pass and scoring for a 3-point play with four seconds left.

Christinaki finished with 12 points for the Gators (18-4, 6-3 SEC). Simone Westbrook made 7 of 10 shots, including three 3-pointers, for a career-high 20 points.

Epps was 10 of 14 for 27 points for the Wildcats (15-5, 4-5), who committed 30 turnovers.

Thompson’s 34 sparks Warriors past Knicks

NBA: In New York, Klay Thompson woke the Warriors from their slowest start of the season with 17 of his 34 points in the second quarter, Draymond Green tied the franchise record with his ninth triple-double of the season, and Golden State beat the Knicks 116-95 for its seventh straight victory.

Green made all nine shots as the Warriors (44-4) offset a quiet 13 points on 5-of-17 shooting from Stephen Curry.

Green finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the Warriors, who were held to a season-low 18 points in the first quarter.

Magic end skid: Evan Fournier scored 24 points and Aaron Gordon had 19 points and 14 rebounds as Orlando snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 119-114 win over visiting Boston, which had won five straight.

Clippers keep sailing: Jamal Crawford scored 12 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter and the Clippers defeated Chicago 120-93 in Los Angeles for their fourth consecutive victory, improving to 15-3 without Blake Griffin.

Lakers tie futility record: In Los Angeles, Marvin Williams and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist had 19 points and 12 rebounds apiece, and Charlotte sent the Lakers to their franchise record-tying 10th consecutive defeat, 101-82.

Blazers win fourth straight: CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard scored 21 points apiece, and Portland handed Minnesota its 11th straight road loss with its fourth straight win, 96-93.

No. 8 Maryland holds off Ohio State

COLLEGE MEN: Melo Trimble scored 20 points and Jake Layman added 16 points and 10 rebounds to help No. 8 Maryland win 66-61 at Ohio State.

Trimble hit a 3-pointer from the left corner with 2:03 remaining for a 60-55 lead before Marc Loving made a pair of foul shots for Ohio State to trim the lead to three.

Maryland’s Robert Carter then made both shots from the line with 24.4 seconds left. JaQuan Lyle made 1 of 2 foul shots for OSU (14-9, 6-4 Big Ten) to cut the deficit to 62-58 but Rasheed Sulaimon hit two free throws for Maryland (19-3, 8-2) with 13.5 seconds to go.

Michigan State goes deep: Bryn Forbes scored all 18 of his points in the first half and No. 12 Michigan State tied a school record with 17 3-pointers in a 96-62 victory over visiting Rutgers.

The Spartans (19-4, 6-4 Big Ten) have won three in a row since a three-game losing streak that dropped them well off the pace in the conference title race but they had little trouble with Rutgers (6-16, 0-9).

Michigan State led 44-33 at halftime after shooting 9 of 16 from 3-point range. The Spartans finished 17 of 32 from beyond the arc, one game after going 16 of 26 from long distance in a blowout win over Northwestern.

Wichita State streak at 11: Fred VanVleet scored 32 points and Connor Frankamp added 10 to lead No. 22 Wichita State to a 78-65 win at Evansville.

The Shockers (16-5, 10-0 Missouri Valley Conference) have won 11 straight since starting the season at 5-5 after the comfortable win against the second-place Aces (18-5, 7-3).

Chelsea dumps captain John Terry

MISCELLANY: Chelsea captain John Terry will leave the defending Premier League soccer champions at the end of the season after the club he has served since the age of 14 told him it would not be renewing his contract.

The 35-year-old central defender, the most successful captain in Chelsea’s history, was informed about the decision before last week’s 1-0 league win over Arsenal.

“I was in last week before the Arsenal game and it (my contract) is not going to be extended,” he said. “It’s not going to be a fairytale ending, I’m not going to retire at Chelsea.”

World Cup races postponed: Organizers canceled a women’s World Cup slalom in Maribor, Slovenia, after 25 starters as the weakening course made a fair race impossible. The men’s giant slalom in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, was canceled because of bad weather.

There was no word if either would be rescheduled. Earlier, the international skiing organization (FIS) said that a men’s slalom that had been canceled in Levi, Finland, will not be replaced.