Notre Dame guard Kayla McBride (21) is fouled by Boston College guard Kelly Hughes (23) as McBride goes up for a shot during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Boston, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2014. Notre Dame won 82-61. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
BOSTON (AP) — Kayla McBride scored 19 points, Jewell Loyd had 18 and second-ranked Notre Dame coasted to an 82-61 win over Boston College on Thursday night, giving the Fighting Irish their best start in school history.
Notre Dame (24-0 11-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) and top-ranked Connecticut are the only unbeaten teams in the country. The start surpasses the season-opening 23 straight wins by the 2000-01 team that went on to win the school’s first national championship.
Kat Cooper led Boston College (12-13, 3-9) with 13 points and Katie Zenevitch added 12 points and eight rebounds. The Eagles have lost seven of eight.
Kristen Doherty, BC’s leading scorer, was out with concussion symptoms.
No. 9 MARYLAND 67, MIAMI 52
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Alyssa Thomas scored 18 points to lead Maryland over Miami.
The Terrapins started the game on a 10-0 run and never trailed in their first victory at Miami since 2009.
The Hurricanes overcame the early double-digit deficit and tied it at 21-21 on Maria Brown’s 3-point play with 6:35 remaining in the first half.
Maryland (20-4, 8-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) outscored Miami 15-6 in the final 4:55 of the half. Malina Howard’s layup with 3 seconds remaining gave the Terrapins a 36-27 lead at the break.
Brionna Jones’ layup with 12:53 remaining in the second half gave Maryland its first 20-point lead, 51-31.
The Hurricanes (12-12, 4-7) got no closer than 62-47 after Caprice Dennis’ jumper with 2:46 left.
Adrienne Motley scored 12 points for the Hurricanes, who have lost five of their last six.
No. 10 N.C. STATE 69, CLEMSON 63, OT
CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Markeisha Gatling scored 20 points to help North Carolina State beat Clemson in overtime.
Gatling and Kody Burke combined for 10 of the Wolfpack’s 13 overtime points. N.C. State has won six straight to improve to 22-3 overall and 9-2 in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
Nikki Dixon led Clemson (11-15, 3-9) with 18 points. The Tigers erased a late six-point deficit to force overtime.
No. 11 PENN STATE 71, INDIANA 63
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Maggie Lucas scored 32 points to lead Penn State past Indiana.
Lucas made all eight of her free throws and is 140 of 145 this season for 96.5 percent. She is on target to break the NCAA single-season record of 96.4 percent set by PSU’s Adrienne Squire in 2006. The senior passed 500 career rebounds to become the first Lady Lion with 2,000 points, 500 rebounds, 250 assists and 200 steals.
PSU (19-5, 10-2) is a game up in the loss column over second-place Nebraska and Michigan State in the Big Ten.
Larryn Brooks led the Hoosiers (17-7, 4-7) with 16 points. Simone Deloach had 13 points and 15 rebounds — her fifth career double-double.
Down two, PSU went on a 13-3 run to lead 62-53 with 5:09 left. Indiana closed to 67-63 with 44 seconds left, but from there Lucas made four free throws.
No. 13 WEST VIRGINIA 76, OKLAHOMA 75
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Bria Holmes scored 19 points and West Virginia rallied to edge Oklahoma.
Averee Fields hit a jumper with 13 seconds left to put the Mountaineers up 75-74. After Morgan Hook missed a contested layup at 2 seconds, Taylor Palmer made 1 of 2 free throws for West Virginia. She committed a foul after she missed the second free throw, but T’ona Edwards made only 1 of 2 free throws with 0.3 seconds left and the Mountaineers escaped with the victory.
West Virginia (21-3, 10-2 Big 12) made 24 of 27 free throws, while the Sooners (15-10, 6-6) were 26 of 38, 4 of 10 down the stretch, when they missed their last six shots.
Aaryn Ellensburg scored 18 points to move into second on Oklahoma’s career list with 2,190 points.
Oklahoma, up 44-33 at the half, shot 9 of 30 in the second half while West Virginia was 14 of 30.
No. 14 TEXAS A&M 78, GEORGIA 73, OT
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Courtney Walker scored 25 points as No. 14 Texas A&M came back to beat Georgia 78-73 in overtime on Thursday night.
Texas A&M (19-6, 9-2 SEC) trailed 62-56 with just more than a minute left in regulation, but scored six straight points — including a layup by Jordan Jones with 25 seconds left — to force overtime.
In the extra period, Courtney Williams hit a jumper with 35 seconds remaining to give Texas A&M a 74-72 lead. The Aggies then hit four free throws down the stretch to seal their 12th win in 14 games.
Georgia (16-8, 4-7) seized a 19-4 lead to begin the game as Texas A&M went more than 7 minutes without a point. The Aggies erased a double-digit deficit in the second half with 15 straight points to take a 38-35 lead.
Williams finished with 13 points while Merritt Hempe had 19 for Georgia.
NASHVILLE 68, NO. 16 VANDERBILT 62
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tyrese Tanner scored on a jumper with 24 seconds left to give Auburn the lead, and Peyton Davis and Kiani Parker both added a pair of free throws to lift the Tigers to victory at Nashville for the first time since 1999.
Auburn went 14 years and 21 games between wins at Vanderbilt. The Commodores have lost two straight after a road loss at Tennessee.
Tanner scored 18 points to lead Auburn (14-10, 5-6 SEC), which took a 29-21 lead at intermission. Brandy Montgomery added 13 and Davis had 12 points.
Christina Foggie, who tied the game with two free throws with 39 seconds left, finished with 24 points for Vanderbilt (17-7, 6-5), hitting 2 of 8 from long range to tie the record for most career 3-pointers in program history. Marqu’es Webb grabbed nine rebounds for the Commodores.
No. 17 NORTH CAROLINA 86, PITTSBURGH 50
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Allisha Gray scored 21 points and Diamond DeShields added 19 to help North Carolina roll past Pittsburgh.
Coming off an 11-point win at No. 3 Duke on Monday, the Tar Heels (19-6, 7-4 ACC) shot 48.6 percent from the field and limited the Panthers (10-15, 2-9) to 27.9 percent, including a dismal 2 for 21 from 3-point range.
Asia Logan led Pitt with 14 points.
The Tar Heels only made half of their 16 free throws but were 8 of 20 from behind the arc.
No. 18 KENTUCKY 108, MISSISSIPPI 78
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Jennifer O’Neill scored 27 points to pace Kentucky’s rout of Mississippi.
Kentucky (18-6, 6-5 SEC) bounced back from its loss to Florida on Sunday in a big way by shooting 47 percent, including 8 of 16 from beyond the arc. DeNesha Stallworth had 19 points and 11 rebounds, Bria Goss added 15 points and Linnae Harper had 10 for the Wildcats.
Tia Faleru led Ole Miss (10-16, 1-11) with career highs in points (31) and rebounds (16), while Valencia McFarland added 21 points.
Kentucky was up by one after 11:20 in the first half and then went on a 14-2 run over 5:30, as Ole Miss went 1 for 9 in the stretch. The Wildcats led 48-39 at the break.
It was more of the same in the second half, as Kentucky opened the frame with a 16-2 run and cruised to the victory.
No. 20 GONZAGA 66, SAN DIEGO 48
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Haiden Palmer had 16 points, eight rebounds and seven steals to propel Gonzaga past San Diego for its 13th straight win.
Keani Albanez had 12 points as did reserve Kiara Kudron, who matched her career-high by hitting 5 of 6 shots, and the Bulldogs (23-3, 13-1 West Coast Conference) handed the Toreros (19-6, 8-6) their first loss in 14 home games. It was Gonzaga’s 14th straight win over San Diego.
Sophia Ederaine had 21 points and 9 rebounds for the Toreros, who shot 31 percent and committed 23 turnovers. Amy Kame, their leading scorer at 16.4 points, was held to 7.
Gonzaga held San Diego scoreless for the first five minutes but only led 18-10 midway through the first half. The Bulldogs pulled away to lead 36-22 at the break.
Back-to-back baskets by Ellie Tinkle pushed the lead to 62-42 with 5:43 left.
No. 21 NEBRASKA 76, MICHIGAN 68
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Jordan Hooper scored 23 points to move into second on Nebraska’s career scoring list and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Cornhuskers over Michigan.
Hooper made 8 of 10 field goals, including 3 of 3 behind the arc, and 4 of 4 free throws for Nebraska (18-5, 8-3 Big Ten), which shot 59 percent from the floor, 55 percent from 3-point range and 86 percent from the free-throw line.
The Cornhuskers used a 20-9 run, including eight points from Hooper, to open up a 57-45 lead with 14:16 left.
Michigan (15-10, 6-6) scored six straight to pull within 74-68 with 37 seconds remaining, but Hoover found Allie Havers for a jumper 12 seconds later to ice the game.
Cyesha Goree paced the Wolverines with 20 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
Thursday’s Top 25 College Women’s Basketball Capsules: No. 2 Notre Dame beats BC, 82-61 is a post from: PhatzRadio.com
