No. 19 Purdue takes down Illinois 80-68
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Courtney Moses led a balanced scoring attack with 22 points as No. 19 Purdue beat Illinois for the sixth consecutive time 80-68 on Monday.
KK Houser added 17 points and six assists for Purdue (15-5, 5-3 Big Ten). April Wilson had 15 and eight rebounds and Liza Clemons scored 13.
Purdue will host No. 12 Penn State, which sits atop the conference, on Thursday. The Boilermakers beat the Lady Lions 84-74 on Jan. 12.
Jacqui Grant scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds for Illinois (9-11, 2-5). Ivory Crawford added 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Illinois pulled within 56-54 midway through the second half after two consecutive baskets by Grant.
Then Purdue went on a 12-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Moses with 6:26 left, and the Boilermakers led by double digits from the 5-minute mark on.
No. 2 Notre Dame defeats No. 8 Maryland 87-83
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Jewell Loyd scored a career-high 31 points, Kayla McBride had 20 and second-ranked and unbeaten Notre Dame blew a 22-point lead before coming back to beat No. 8 Maryland 87-83 Monday night.
The Irish (19-0, 6-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) appeared on their way to another easy victory after building a 41-19 lead late in the first half. But Maryland (16-3, 4-2) stormed back behind senior star Alyssa Thomas to go up 64-63 with 10 minutes left.
Notre Dame answered with a 10-2 run and the Terrapins never got even after that.
McBride hit a long jumper as the shot clock was about to expire to make it 87-83 with 12.2 seconds to go, the last in a series of clutch shots by the Irish in their closest game of the season.
Loyd, a 5-foot-10 sophomore guard, missed Notre Dame's previous game with a sprained knee. She returned to score 20 points in the first half and finished 12-for-20 from the floor and 7-for-8 at the foul line.
Thomas had 29 points and 12 rebounds, her NCAA-leading 17th double-double. Thomas scored 19 after halftime, but it wasn't enough to prevent Maryland from absorbing its second consecutive defeat. Two of the Terrapins' three losses this season have come at home against the top two teams in the country: Connecticut and Notre Dame.
Ogwumike leads No. 4 Stanford women past USC 86-59
STANFORD, Calif. -- Chiney Ogwumike had 30 points and 12 rebounds to lead No. 4 Stanford to an 86-59 victory against Southern California on Monday night in a game between the Pac-12's top teams.
Mikaela Ruef added 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Cardinal (19-1, 8-0 Pac-12), who won their 18th in a row to open a two-game lead at the top of the conference standings.
Amber Orrange and Lili Thompson scored 12 points apiece, Karlie Samuelson had 10 and Stanford beat the Trojans for the 13th consecutive time.
Ariya Crook scored 18 points and Cassie Harberts added 17 for USC (14-7, 7-2 Pac-12), which had won four in a row and nine of its past 10. The loss was in overtime at then-No. 23 Arizona State.
Ogwumike scored at least 30 points for the 10th time this season, adding to her Stanford record. She also recorded her 15th double-double.
