No. 2 Baylor women top Kansas State, celebrate Big 12 title
WACO, Texas (AP) — Lauren Cox and NaLyssa Smith both had double-doubles as No. 2 Baylor beat Kansas State 83-58 on Saturday night, then celebrated the 10th consecutive Big 12 title that the Lady Bears already had secured before tipoff.
Smith had 23 points and 13 rebounds, while Cox scored a season-high 22 points with 10 rebounds. Juicy Landrum had 14 points and six assists, while DiDi Richards had a career-high 10 assists for the Lady Bears (27-1, 16-0 Big 12).
The defending national champion Lady Bears clinched at least a share of the Big 12 championship with their 64-39 win at West Virginia on Monday night, and had the outright title when second-place TCU lost to Texas two days after that. Their 10 consecutive regular season titles is the nation's longest active streak.
Baylor has won 57 Big 12 regular-season games in a row, and also has a national-best home winning streak of 55 games. Both of those streaks began after a home loss to Texas on Feb. 6, 2017.
Angela Harris had 17 points for Kansas State (14-13, 8-8).
No. 6 UCONN 92, HOUSTON 40
HOUSTON (AP) — Megan Walker had 21 points and nine rebounds, Anna Makurat added 16 points and UConn beat Houston.
Olivia Nelson-Ododa added 14 points and nine rebounds, Crystal Dangerfield chipped in 10 points and seven assists and Christyn Williams had 12 points and seven rebounds for the Huskies (25-3, 15-0 American). UConn shot 56%, including hitting on 10 of 26 on 3-pointers.
The Huskies forced Houston into 20 turnovers, which they converted into 23 points and held a 52-22 advantage in points in the paint.
Tatyana Hill had 11 points, and Dymond Gladney had nine points for Houston (12-17, 5-10), which lost its sixth straight. The Cougars shot 24%.
No. 11 GONZAGA 56, PORTLAND 42
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — LeeAnne Wirth had 14 points while twin sister Jenn Wirth had 14 points and 12 rebounds, and No. 11 Gonzaga wrapped up its best regular season ever a victory over Portland.
Gonzaga (28-2, 17-1 WCC) had already clinched the West Coast Conference regular season title, matched the record for conference wins its set in 2018. The Bulldogs have won five straight going into the conference tournament and have held opponents to 50 points or less 17 times.
Haylee Andrews had 10 points and 10 rebounds for Portland (18-11, 11-7 WCC), which has already secured at least a fourth-place finish in the standings.
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Pilots, including road wins against Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount last weekend.
No. 14 NORTHWESTERN 75, ILLINOIS 58
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Abbie Wolf scored 21 points and Northwestern defeated rival Illinois to clinch a share of its first Big Ten title in 30 years and set a school record with its 26th win.
Lindsey Pulliam added 17 points, Veronica Burton 13 and Abi Scheid 10 for the Wildcats (26-3, 16-2), who have won nine straight.
Scheid had all 10 of her points, Northwestern shot 50% and held Illinois to 30% to take a 36-25 lead at the half.
Wolf provided the spark in the third quarter with three consecutive and-on conversions, part of a 14-4 run that pushed the lead to 16. She also had a pair from free throws in a 6-0 spurt that made it 56-35 late in the quarter.
Brandi Beasley scored 18 points for the Illini (11-17, 2-15), who take a six-game losing streak into the conference tournament.
No. 20 SOUTH DAKOTA 76, NORTH DAKOTA 47
VERMILLION, S.D. (AP) — Ciara Duffy scored 17 points, Taylor Frederick added 15 and No. 20 South Dakota rolled to its second undefeated Summit League season and school-record 27th win with a win over North Dakota,
Reserves Monica Arens and Hannah Sjerven added 11 points apiece for the Coyotes (27-2, 16-0), who posted the only other perfect season in conference history in 2017-18. South Dakota won 26 regular-season games in 2007-08 and last year.
Jaclyn Jarnot scored eight points for North Dakota (15-14, 6-10), which shot 29% and had 23 turnovers.
PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) — Bella Alarie scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead Princeton to its 20th straight win, beating Yale.
Carlie Littlefield added 18 points for the Tigers (24-1, 12-0 Ivy League), who are 14-0 at home.
Roxy Barahman had 14 points to lead Yale (17-8, 7-5), which lost the first matchup 55-39. Ellen Andrews added 11 points.
Princeton trailed 16-14 after the first quarter but held Yale to 1-of-15 shooting in the second and took a 27-19 lead at the half.
Alarie tied the game opening the second quarter but Alex Cade answered for Yale. After a Megan Gorman free throw put Yale back on top midway through the quarter, the Tigers scored the next nine points, taking the lead for good on a Grace Stone 3-pointer.
Baraham ended Yale's drought with a layup two minutes into the third quarter.
The Tigers only shot 37% but outrebounded Yale 47-31 and turned 14 turnovers into 19 points.
