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Women’s Top 25 roundup: Brianna Turner leads Notre Dame past Florida State for ACC title

Florida State's Ivey Slaughter, center, is pressured by Notre Dame's Kathryn Westbeld, left, and Brianna Turner during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017, in South Bend, Ind. (Robert Franklin / Associated Press)
Associated Press

Brianna Turner scored 24 points to lead No. 5 Notre Dame to its fourth straight ACC regular season title with a 79-61 win over No. 8 Florida State on Sunday in South Bend, Indiana.

Arike Ogunbowale added 19 points and Kathryn Westbeld had 14 for the Irish (27-3, 15-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), who will once again be the top seed in the conference tournament, which they have won every year since joining the league in 2013.

Winners of 11 straight overall, the Fighting Irish are the second ACC team to win four consecutive championships, matching Duke’s run from 2001-04. After losing their first ACC game of the season on Dec. 29, 70-62 at N.C. State, they rattled off 15 straight league wins to defend their crown.

Brittany Brown scored 16 points to lead Florida State (25-5, 13-3 ACC) and Leticia Romero added 14.

(2) Maryland 93, Minnesota 60: The Terrapins (27-2, 15-1 Big Ten) clinched a share of the Big Ten regular-season title, beating the Golden Gophers (14-15, 5-11) in College Park, Maryland, on a special day for senior stars Brionna Jones and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough.

Jones had 24 points and 14 rebounds, and Walker-Kimbrough tallied 27 points and six assists. Following their final regular-season home game, both players had their jersey numbers lifted to the rafters of the arena to honor their contributions to the program over the past four years.

Before that ceremony, the entire team posed with the trophy marking Maryland’s third regular-season Big Ten title since joining the league three years ago. This week, the Terrapins will set out to win the conference tournament for the third year in a row.

Tennessee 82, (3) Mississippi State 64: Jaime Nared scored a career-high 30 points, Diamond DeShields added 20 and the Lady Volunteers (19-10, 10-6 Southeastern Conference) earned a surprisingly easy victory over the Bulldogs (27-3, 13-3) in Starkville, Mississippi.

Tennessee led for nearly the entire game, jumping out to an 18-8 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Lady Volunteers shot 29 of 53 (54.7 percent) from the field, routinely getting open looks near the basket.

Tennessee won a road game against a team ranked in the top three for the first time since 2004.

Mississippi State has lost two straight games to end the regular season. The Bulldogs were led by Victoria Vivians, who scored 18 points. Roshunda Johnson added 16.

(7) South Carolina 95, (22) Kentucky 87: A’ja Wilson had 25 points and 10 rebounds, Kaela Davis added 20 points and the Gamecoacks (24-4, 14-2 SEC) earned its fourth straight conference title with a victory over the Wildcats (20-9, 11-5) in Columbia, South Carolina.

The Gamecocks will wait to see if they’re alone at top or sharing the crown with No. 3 Mississippi State, who’ll take on Tennessee later Sunday to close the regular season. South Carolina has locked up the No. 1 seed for next week’s SEC tournament, a result of its 64-61 win last month over the Bulldogs.

Kentucky had hoped to follow up its 78-75 overtime win against Mississippi State with another stunner against the Gamecocks.

(8) Stanford 65, Oregon 59: Erica McCall had 16 points and 14 rebounds and the Cardinal (25-5, 15-3 Pac-12) rebounded from a loss at No. 10 Oregon State with a victory over the Ducks (18-11, 8-9) in Eugene, Oregon.

Stanford wrapped up the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in the conference tournament that starts Thursday in Seattle. Karlie Samuelson added 18 points for the Cardinal, who led by as many as 13 points.

Sabrina Ionescu had 18 points and seven rebounds for Oregon which lost its third straight. Lexi Bando’s 3-pointer pulled the Ducks to 56-51 with 2:35 left but they couldn’t get closer until Ionescu made free throws to close the gap to 58-54.

Free throws from Marta Sniezek put Stanford up 61-54 before Ruthy Hebard made a layup and a free throw for Oregon with 52 seconds left, but the Ducks couldn’t catch up.

(10) Oregon State 71, California 56: Sydney Wiese scored 19 points and the Beavers (27-3, 16-2 Pac-12) clinched the Pac-12 regular season title outright with a win over the Golden Bears (18-12, 6-12) in Corvallis, Oregon.

Marie Gulich added 14 points while Kolbie Orum had 11 for the Beavers.

Jaelyn Brown came off the bench to score 21 points and Kristine Anigwe had 15 points and eight rebounds for the Golden Bears.

Oregon State took control of the game with a 10-2 run after halftime that made the score 51-36. Gulich scored six points during the stretch.

California never got closer the nine points the rest of the way and trailed by as many as 19 in the second half.

(12) Ohio State 73, Rutgers 45: Kelsey Mitchell scored 21 points to help the Buckeyes (25-5, 15-1 Big Ten) win their first Big Ten title since 2010 with a victory over the Scarlet Knights (6-23, 3-13) in Piscataway, New Jersey.

The Buckeyes finished in a tie with Maryland atop the conference, but earned the top seed in the tournament next week by beating Maryland last Monday. It’s Ohio State’s first conference regular season since the school won six straight from 2005-10.

Ohio State trailed 3-0 before scoring 15 straight points, including the last seven by Mitchell to take early command. The Scarlet Knights couldn’t get within nine the rest of the game. Rutgers has dropped eight straight.

Shrita Parker led Rutgers with 16 points.

(13) Duke 95, North Carolina 71: Rebecca Greenwell scored 30 points, knocking down six 3-pointers, Lexie Brown added 19 points and the Blue Devils (25-4, 13-3 ACC) closed out the regular season on an eight-game win streak, defeating the Tar Heels (14-15, 3-13) in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

The Blue Devils opened the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run, beginning with a Greenwell 3-pointer and ending on a Brown steal and fast-break layup.

Kyra Lambert scored 12 points and made 13 assists to notch her first career double-double, and Leaonna Odom added 13 points and seven rebounds.

Duke dominated the Tar Heels. The Blue Devils shot 56 percent for the game (40 of 71), made 8 of 16 tries from 3-point range and outrebounded North Carolina 42-22.

The win gave Duke its 18th 25-win season and the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament. North Carolina is the 14th seed has a first-round game against 11th-seeded Pitt on Wednesday.

Paris Kea led North Carolina with 19 points, Jamie Cherry added 16 and Olivia Smith 15.

(14) Louisville 75, Wake Forest 46: Myisha Hines-Allen had 22 points and 12 rebounds for her 13th double-double, Asia Durr added 15 points and the Cardinals (25-6, 12-4 ACC) beat the Demon Deacons (15-14, 6-10) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

The Cardinals only led 31-27 at halftime but outscored the Demon Deacons 24-8 in the third and 20-11 in the fourth. An 11-2 run – with six straight points from Hines-Allen and five by Durr – to open the third quarter broke the game open. The lead never dipped below double digits the rest of the way.

Sydney Zambrotta chipped in 10 points for Louisville, which had 23 assists – with nine from Mariya Moore – on 31 field goals.

Kelila Atkinson was the lone player in double figures for Wake Forest with 15 points. The Demon Deacons were just 12-of-62 shooting.

(15) UCLA 55, Arizona State 52: Kennedy Burke scored 16 points with nine rebounds, Jordan Canada had 12 with eight boards and eight assists and the Bruins (22-7, 13-5 Pac-12) held off the Sun Devils (18-11, 9-9) in Tempe, Arizona.

Relli Richardson hit a 3-pointer and the Sun Devils made four free throws for a 7-0 run and a 52-50 lead with 1:46 to play.

Canada tied it with two free throws on the next possession and Nicole Kornet made 1 of 2 after grabbing an offensive rebound following an ASU turnover. Canada made two more at 21 seconds after a Sun Devils miss and they missed two more 3s in the closing seconds.

The Bruins made 7 of 8 free throws in the fourth quarter while the Sun Devils were 4 of 9.

(17) Miami 75, Georgia Tech 70: Keyona Hayes scored a career-high 24 points, Adrienne Motley had 17 and the Hurricanes (21-7, 10-6 ACC) made 7 of 8 free throws in the last 30 seconds to hold off Georgia Tech in Coral Gables, Florida.

Trailing by two entering the fourth quarter, the Hurricanes scored the first six points and stretched that into a 15-2 run and led 68-59 with 1:35 to play.

Francesca Pan nailed a 3-pointer to end a drought that lasted more than six minutes when the Yellowjackets missed six shots. Pan connected on a jumper after a Jessica Thomas free throw, and Hayes added four free throws around an Imani Tilford 3-point play. Thomas clinched it with two with 3.1 seconds immediately after another Pan 3.

Pan finished with 21 points and Kaylan Pugh had 15 for Georgia Tech (16-13, 5-11).

(18) North Carolina State 59, Virginia 48: Dominique Wilson scored 17 points and the Wolfpack (22-7, 12-4 ACC) turned back the Cavaliers (18-11, 7-9) in Charlottesvile, Virginia, despite missing 11 free throws in the fourth quarter.

Ashley Williams added 12 points for the Wolfpack, who matched the 1998 Final Four team in conference wins. They enter the league tournament as the fourth seed because of an earlier overtime win over Louisville, which is also 12-4.

N.C. State entered the fourth quarter with a 41-33 lead but struggled to put the Cavaliers away by making just 8 of 19 from the line. Five of the misses were in the final minute but Virginia made just 6 of 19 from the field in the fourth quarter and finished 16 of 56 (28.6 percent).

Aliyah Huland El had 10 points for Virginia.

N.C. State’s first three baskets in the game were 3-pointers and a closing 6-0 run, which including four free throws, made it 19-11. The lead was 11 at half and stayed mostly in double figures until the free throw woes.

(19) DePaul 79, Georgetown 70: Jessica January posted a triple double as the Blue Demons (24-6, 16-2 Big East) closed out the regular season by holding off the Yellow Jackets (17-11, 9-9) in Chicago.

Playing her final home game, January scored 16 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and dished out 10 assists. The preseason Big East Conference Player of the Year injured her hand in the conference opener and returned Saturday to score 13 points and spark the Blue Demons to a 77-50 win over Villanova.

DePaul shares the Big East Conference regular season championship with Creighton (22-6, 16-2), and enters the conference tournament as the No. 1 seed. The tournament will be held at Marquette University in Milwaukee. First-round games are scheduled for March 4.

Amarah Coleman scored 17 points off the Blue Demons’ bench. Seniors Jacqui Grant and Brooke Schulte added 14 and 12 points, respectively, in their home court finale.

Senior Faith Woodard scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in her Georgetown regular season finale.

(20) Syracuse 73, Pittsburgh 57: Alexis Peterson scored 25 points, Brittney Sykes had 21 points, nine rebounds and four steals, and the Orange (20-9, 11-5 ACC) beat the Panthers (13-16, 4-12) in Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh cut it to six points early in the fourth quarter but the Orange went on a 11-0 run – with four points from Briana Day – for a 69-52 lead with 4:31 to go. The lead didn’t dip below 14 the rest of the way.

Day finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds for Syracuse.

Brandi Harvey-Carr led Pittsburgh with 18 points on 10-of-13 shooting at the stripe.

(24) Missouri 65, Alabama 56: Sierra Michaelis scored 22 points and Sophie Cunningham had 20, combing for 18 of Missouri’s 23 fourth-quarter points to rally the Tigers (21-9, 11-5 SEC) to a win over the Crimson Tide (17-12, 5-11) in the regular-season finale in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Michaelis hit a 3-pointer and Cunningham scored the next five to close out the third quarter, cutting Missouri’s deficit to 44-42. Amber Smith tied the game eight seconds into the fourth quarter and Cunningham put the Tigers ahead for good with a 3 to cap the 13-0 run.

Lindsey Cunningham had a free throw and Smith another bucket but in the final five minutes, Michaelis had two 3s and eight points and Sophie Cunningham a 3 and a pair of free throws.

Missouri, won its fifth straight and 10 of 12, and reached 11 league wins for the first time since 1990 with back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time 30 years.

Quanetria Bolton had 13 points and Jordan Lewis 12 for Alabama.

Penn State 76, (25) Michigan 75: Teniya Page scored 19 points, Kaliyah Mitchell made a free throw with 5.8 seconds left and the Nittany Lions (19-9, 9-7 Big Ten) shocked the Wolverines (22-8, 11-5) in University Park, Pennsylvania, denying the Wolverines a school record for victories.

After the Nittany Lions’ Amari Carter hit a 3-pointer to tie the game, the Wolverines called a timeout with 32.9 seconds left. A defensive miscue left Nichole Munger alone cutting down the lane and Hallie Thorme fed her a backdoor pass. Munger missed the layup and Thome went over Mitchell’s back on the rebound.

After Mitchell’s free throw, Page knocked the ball away from Kysre Gondrezick as she drove down the lane for a potential winning back and time expired.

Lindsey Spann added 15 points for Penn State.

Gondrezick tied her career high with 25 points and Katelynn Flaherty 22 for the Wolverines.