SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - Kayla McBride scored 31 points and No. 2 Notre Dame jumped to an 18-point lead early and held on to beat seventh-ranked Duke 81-70 Sunday to claim the Atlantic Coast Conference title in its inaugural season in the league.
The Blue Devils scored six points in the final 7 seconds of the first half and eventually cut the lead to seven points three times in the second half, the final time when Kendall McCravey-Cooper hit a jumper to make it 66-59. But McBride answered with back-to-back baskets to spark an 8-0 run.
The Irish (27-0, 14-0 ACC) won their third straight regular-season league title, with the first two coming in the Big East. The Blue Devils (24-4, 11-3) saw their streak of four straight ACC regular-season titles end.
Elizabeth Williams led Duke with 20 and Alexis Jones had 15 before leaving with an injured knee midway through the second half.
No. 3 LOUISVILLE 73, No. 25 RUTGERS 58
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Asia Taylor had 25 points and 15 rebounds to lead Louisville to a win over Rutgers.
Sara Hammond added 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Cardinals (27-2, 15-1 American Athletic Conference), who tied a school record with 17 home wins this season set in 2006-07.
Tyler Scaife led Rutgers (20-6, 11-4) with 17 points. Betnijah Laney posted a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
No. 4 SOUTH CAROLINA 69, FLORIDA 55
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Tiffany Mitchell scored 20 points, Alaina Coates added 16 points and 12 rebounds as South Carolina won its ninth straight game with a victory over Florida.
The Gamecocks (25-2, 13-1 Southeastern Conference) matched their overall win totals of the past two seasons and won their record 13th game in SEC play. They clinched at least a tie for the SEC title with Texas A&M’s loss to Kentucky later Sunday.
The Gamecocks led by 16 points midway through the second period until Florida rallied with an 13-3 run that cut things to 49-43 with 5:19 left. But Mitchell followed with a open 3-pointer from the left corner before Aleighsa Welch and Coates had inside baskets to restore the double-digit lead.
Once more the Gators (17-10, 7-7) fought back to trim the lead to 58-51 and again Mitchell’s jumper and foul shot put the Gamecocks ahead 61-51.
No. 5 STANFORD 65, UCLA 56
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Chiney Ogwumike scored 26 points and had 15 rebounds to help Stanford beat UCLA.
Ogwumike also had five blocks and four steals while Mikaela Ruef had seven points and 11 rebounds as the Cardinal (26-2, 15-1) clinched its 14th straight Pac-12 regular season title outright. It had already clinched the top seed for the Pac-12 Tournament.
Stanford pulled away with a 14-4 run midway through the second half. Ogwumike completed a three-point play in heavy traffic in the paint and then got a steal and drove the length of the court for a layup to push the lead to 56-42.
Nirra Fields led the Bruins (12-16, 6-10) with 24 points and shot 5-for-6 from 3-point range.
No. 8 MARYLAND 79, GEORGIA TECH 62
ATLANTA (AP) - Alyssa Thomas had 15 points and 10 rebounds, Katie Rutan and Brionna Jones each added 15 points and Maryland beat Georgia Tech.
The Terrapins (22-5, 10-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) never trailed in winning their second straight game and sixth in the past seven.
Kaela Davis finished with 21 points as Georgia Tech lost its second in a row. The Yellow Jackets (17-10, 7-7 ACC) have dropped seven straight to Maryland and 11 of the past 13 meetings.
No. 10 TENNESSEE 56, MISSOURI 50
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - Meighan Simmons scored 20 points and Mercedes Russell grabbed 11 rebounds to help Tennessee edge Missouri.
Simmons’ steal and breakaway layup with 11:50 remaining capped a 22-5 run to give the Lady Vols (22-5, 11-3 SEC) a 43-27 lead, but Missouri clawed back to within 50-47 on Bri Kulas’ layup with 1:22 left.
Tennessee’s Isabelle Harrison then converted two free throws with 34.7 seconds to go and two more with 11.4 seconds left to end Missouri’s chances. Kulas added a 3-pointer just before the buzzer.
Kulas finished with 22 points and Morgan Eye added 15 for the Tigers (16-11, 5-9), who only trailed by one point at halftime despite shooting 2 of 14 from 3-point range before the break.
VIRGINIA TECH 50, No. 11 NORTH CAROLINA 47
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - Vanessa Panousis tied a career-high with 24 points as Virginia Tech won for the first time in Chapel Hill, upsetting North Carolina.
Virginia Tech led the second half until North Carolina used a 13-1 run to take a 43-37 lead with 6:55 remaining. The Hokies answered with an 8-0 run, capped by Panousis’ three points, to regain the lead at 46-43 with 1:56 to play.
UNC’s Diamond DeShields was fouled on a 3-point attempt, yet made just two of three free throws to pull the Tar Heels within one. Panousis then made four straight free throws to give the Hokies a five-point lead with 6 seconds left.
Virginia Tech (13-14, 3-11 ACC) won for the first time in 10 tries at UNC.
Xylina McDaniel scored 13 points to lead cold-shooting North Carolina (21-7, 9-5), which shot 15 of 56 (26.8 percent) from the floor.
No. 12 OKLAHOMA STATE 63, TEXAS TECH 62
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) - Tiffany Bias went the length of the court for the game-winning basket with 1.5 seconds left on as Oklahoma State narrowly avoided an upset with a win over Texas Tech.
Bias took the inbounds pass and raced down the court, but slowed down as she neared the right wing and shook free of her defender, Amber Battle, who flew by. Bias then went uncontested to the hoop for the layup.
Battle had just given Texas Tech a 62-61 lead on a three-point play with 7.1 seconds to go.
Bias led OSU (21-5, 10-5 Big 12) with 22 points and eight assists. Liz Donohoe scored 17 points and three 3-pointers, and LaShawn Jones added 12 points and nine rebounds.
Battle had 19 points and 10 rebounds as Texas Tech (6-20, 0-15) almost avoided its 16th straight loss.
No. 14 N.C. STATE 68, VIRGINIA 66
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Markeisha Gatling scored 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while Kody Burke sank the game-winning 3-pointer, as N.C. State slipped past Virginia.
NC State (23-5, 10-4 ACC) led most of the game but fell behind midway through the second half during a 17-2 run by Virginia that made it 61-52 with 6 minutes to play. The Wolf Pack closed the gap in the final 2 minutes on a Miah Spencer 3-pointer that tied the game at 61, setting up a back and forth battle for the lead before Burke’s game-winner with 11 seconds left.
Ataira Franklin and Faith Randolph scored 15 points apiece for Virginia (13-14, 6-8), which has lost four of its last five games.
No. 15 KENTUCKY 83, No. 16 TEXAS A&M 74
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) - Jennifer O’Neill had 17 points and Linnae Harper scored 16 on Sunday to lead Kentucky to its fifth 20-win season in a row in a victory over Texas A&M.
Kentucky (20-7, 8-6 SEC) led the entire second half but needed an 8-2 run at the end of the game to secure the win.
After the Aggies (21-7, 11-3) closed within 75-72 on Karla Gilbert’s putback with 2:34 left, they missed their last five field goals while the Wildcats pulled away.
The loss drops A&M into a second-place tie with No. 10 Tennessee, and No. 4 South Carolina clinches at least a share of the SEC regular-season title.
No. 18 CALIFORNIA 76, SOUTHERN CAL 67
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Reshanda Gray scored 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead California past USC.
The Bears opened the second half with a 15-2 run, with Gray scoring the first eight points, to take a 49-32 lead with 16:00 to play. The Trojans would only get as close as eight points the rest of the way.
Gray scored 14 points in the second half and finished 10 of 14 from the floor. Afure Jemerigbe added 16 points for California (20-7, 12-4 Pac-12), which has won six in a row and has a one game lead over Arizona State for second place in the standings.
Cassie Harberts scored 18 points to lead USC (16-12, 9-7). Kiki Alofaituli and Ariya Crook each added 10 points for the Trojans, who have lost three straight.
ARKANSAS 57, No. 19 LSU 53
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Jessica Jackson scored 25 points to lead Arkansas in an upset of LSU.
Keira Peak added 10 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and four steals for Arkansas (18-9, 5-9 SEC).
LSU (18-9, 7-7 SEC) scored the first seven points of the game - including a 3-pointer by DaShawn Harden - en route to a 27-17 lead at the break.
But Arkansas stormed back in the second half. A 9-0 run early, with six coming from Jackson, cut the deficit to six. Jackson’s trey at 7:42 tied it at 39, then she hit another a minute later to put Arkansas up 42-39 with 6:28 left.
Jackson nailed another trey at 2:42 and followed with a layup for a 54-50 lead and Arkansas held on for the mild upset.
Theresa Plaisance led LSU with 14 points and nine rebounds while Jeanne Kenney added 10.
No. 20 ARIZONA STATE 60, UTAH 40
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - Promise Amukamara hit a 3-pointer in the closing second seconds of the first half to give Arizona State the lead at halftime and the Sun Devils took charge to start the second half en route to a win over visiting Utah.
Six minutes into the second half Arizona State had built a 10-point lead and never looked back.
Arizona State (22-6, 11-5 Pac-12) got the win in its final home game of the season. The Sun Devils play their final two road games at Oregon and Oregon State. ASU is in third place in the Pac-12 standings, a game behind California.
Joy Burke led Arizona State with 11 points, with Deja Mann contributing 10. The Sun Devils had a dozen players see minutes and had nine figure in the scoring.
Utah (11-16, 4-12) got 12 points off the bench from Malia Nawahine.
No. 21 PURDUE 70, WISCONSIN 54
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - April Wilson scored 18 points and dished off eight assists to lead Purdue to a win over Wisconsin, sweeping the season series with the Badgers.
After Wisconsin cut Purdue’s six-point halftime lead to two, 31-29, early in the second half, the Lady Boilermakers reeled off a 25-3 run to take a 20-point lead, 52-32.
Wisconsin battled back with a run of its own, rolling off eight straight points on a Nicole Bauman layup and back-to-back 3-pointers by Tessa Cichy and Taylor Wurtz to make it 54-42. The Badgers got within eight on two free throws by Cichy with 6:29 to play, but managed just two more points the rest of the way.
The win was the fifth straight for Purdue (20-7, 10-5 Big 10), which got 12 points and 10 rebounds from Whitney Bays.
Michala Johnson finished with 18 points for Wisconsin (10-17, 3-12).
CREIGHTON 65, No. 22 St. JOHN’S 62
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Marissa Janning scored 24 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, to lead Creighton to an upset win over St. John’s.
Creighton (17-10, 11-4 Big East) jumped out to an early lead with a 10-0 spurt in the first half and never let it go, taking a 35-23 advantage into the break and then hanging on in the second half as a St. John rally fell short in the final minute.
Sarah Nelson added 15 points and McKenzie Fujan 13 for the Bluejays, who shot 53 percent from the floor in avenging last month’s loss to St. John’s (19-7, 12-3).
Trailing by 20, St. John’s rallied to close the gap to single digits in the final minute. Creighton hung on with 5-of-8 shooting from the penalty stripe.
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