No. 23 Middle Tennessee rallies to beat UAB 68-58
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- Ebony Rowe, kept in check most of the game, scored nine-consecutive points in a late 12-0 run and finished with 22 as No. 23 Middle Tennessee rallied to defeat UAB 68-58 on Saturday.
Their seventh-consecutive win gave the Blue Riders (25-4, 14-1) their sixth Conference USA title outright in a row. KeKe Stewart added 15 points and Shanice Cason 12.
Behind Karisma Chapman, the Blazers (15-12, 7-7) led until Rowe took over. Chapman had 15 points and 13 rebounds but her only bucket of the second half came with 14:05 to play. Chelsee Black led UAB with 16 points.
Middle Tennessee, down by 11 with 11:30 to play, was behind 53-49 at the 4:33 mark before the critical surge. Rowe had a 3-point play, two free throws and two layups with Cason capping the run with a 3 with 1:35 left.
The Blue Raiders needed the hot finish to shoot 41 percent.
No. 1 UConn rolls past No. 24 Rutgers 72-35
STORRS, Conn. -- Breanna Stewart and Bria Hartley each scored 20 points to help No. 1 UConn remain unbeaten with a 72-35 victory against No. 24 Rutgers on Saturday.
The victory gave the Huskies (30-0, 17-0 American) at least a share of the inaugural American Athletic Conference regular season title. The Huskies will play No. 3 Louisville on Monday with a chance to win the conference championship outright. If Louisville wins, a coin flip would determine the top seed for the conference tournament.
UConn won the Big East regular season title 20 times before its move to the American this past year.
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, who missed the previous four games with mononucleosis, returned and scored seven points in 27 minutes.
No. 3 Louisville pulls away from UC 75-51
CINCINNATI -- Tia Gibbs scored 17 points and No. 3 Louisville pulled away from Cincinnati in the second half for a 75-51 victory Saturday.
Antonita Slaughter added 14 points, Asia Taylor finished with 12 and Shoni Schimmel scored 10, helping keep alive Louisville's bid for a share of the inaugural American Athletic Conference championship.
The second-place Cardinals (28-2, 16-1) went into Saturday's game trailing top-ranked and conference-leading Connecticut by one game.
The two are scheduled to meet in the regular-season finale on Monday in Louisville.
The Cardinals have won five consecutive games since an 84-61 loss at Connecticut on Feb. 9.
Before a crowd of 1,088 on Cincinnati's Senior Day, Bearcats' senior Jeanise Randolph had 22 points and 11 rebounds - her ninth double-double of the season and 14th of her career.
Alyesha Lovett added 15 points for Cincinnati (12-16, 5-12).
Ogwumike, No. 5 Stanford top Washington State 84-64
STANFORD, Calif. -- With time winding down Saturday night and No. 5 Stanford leading Washington State by double-digits, the only drama was whether senior Chiney Ogwumike would set a new career high for scoring in her final regular-season game.
Ogwumike scored from close range with 2:17 left, giving her 37 points, one more than her previous high. Then she left the game to a thunderous ovation from her fans and family and enjoyed the rest of Stanford's 84-64 win from the bench.
''Honestly, this sounds horrible, but I don't care about scoring, career highs or whatever,'' Ogwumike said. ''I just care about doing enough to get a win. I always say, if I score two points and we win, I'm perfectly fine. I just do what I have to do to win as a team.''
All Ogwumike did Saturday was make 14 of 23 shots from the field, go 9 for 10 from the line and grab 13 rebounds.
Penn State clinches share of Big Ten title
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Ariel Edwards scored 21 points and No. 8 Penn State beat Michigan 77-62 on Saturday to clinch a share of the Big Ten title for the third consecutive season.
Penn State can win the title outright Sunday if Nebraska loses to Purdue, and Michigan State falls to Indiana.
Edwards' senior teammates, Maggie Lucas, Talia East and Dara Taylor, scored 17, 16 and 11 points, respectively for Penn State (22-6, 13-3 Big Ten).
The four-woman senior class has won 99 games for Penn State thus far in their careers, and this marks the fourth season in a row the Lady Lions have won more than 20 games. Michigan (17-12, 8-8) got 21 points from Shannon Smith and 14 from Madison Ristovski. Siera Thompson added 10 points.
The Wolverines had only lost one road game this season, but Penn State pulled away in the second half.
No. 15 Oklahoma State holds off Kansas State 67-62
STILLWATER, Okla. -- Senior Tiffany Bias scored 17 points in her final home game and Brittney Martin added 13 rebounds as No. 15 Oklahoma State held on in the last 3 minutes to defeat Kansas State 67-62 on Saturday afternoon.
Oklahoma State (22-6, 11-6 Big 12) led by 13 at the half but Kansas State went on a 7-0 run, sparked by Kindred Wesemann's 3-pointer, to take the lead by four points with 2:59 left to play.
The Cowgirls quickly responded with a 7-0 run of their own after forcing three Wildcat turnovers to go ahead for good with 2:30 remaining. Bias made 5 of 6 free throws in the final 3 minutes to keep the Cowgirls ahead. Martin finished with 13 points and Liz Donohoe chipped in 12.
Leticia Romero and Ashlynn Knoll scored 19 points apiece to lead the Wildcats (11-17, 5-12), and Wesemann added four 3-pointers.
Washington upends No. 18 California 70-65
BERKELEY, Calif. -- Kelsey Plum scored 22 points with six boards and six assists, while Jazmine Davis added 20 points, as Washington upended No. 18 California 70-65 on Saturday.
Washington (17-12, 10-8 Pac 12) used a 9-0 run midway through the first half, including a 3-pointer by Plum, to take a 36-32 lead at the break.
The Huskies led by as much as 10 in the second half, but Cal (21-8, 13-5) cut its deficit to three with 33 seconds left on a pair of free throws and a layup by Reshanda Gray, who finished with 16 points and 16 rebounds.
The Bears missed their last two shots and two free throws though as Washington escaped with the mild upset.
Talia Walton had 12 points for Washington, which bounced back from consecutive losses to Oregon State and highly-ranked Stanford.
Afure Jemerigbe led California with 24 points, including five 3-pointers, and six assists.
Greinacher leads No. 22 Gonzaga past Pacific 81-77
SPOKANE, Wash. -- Sunny Greinacher scored a career-high 24 points as No. 22 Gonzaga held on to beat Pacific 81-77 on Saturday to close the regular season.
Lindsay Sherbert added 18 points and Haiden Palmer 17 for the Bulldogs (26-4, 16-2), who wrapped up their 10th-consecutive West Coast Conference title in their last game and went 16-0 at home.
KiKi Moore kept Pacific (17-11, 12-6), which had a six-game winning streak end, in the game by matching her career-high of 33 points. Hailie Eackles added 20 and Kendall Kenyon 12 with 10 rebounds.
Gonzaga went on a 17-3 tear in the first half to open a 27-10 lead but the Tigers came back to close within 39-34 at the half. Pacific's last lead was 53-51 with 12:28 to go but Palmer scored the next four, followed by a Sherbert layup.
GU had a 50-34 rebound advantage (24-10 offensive) and 28-2 in bench points.
