Texas slips past No. 18 Oklahoma State 65-58
AUSTIN, Texas -- Imani McGee-Stafford scored 16 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead Texas to a 65-58 win against No. 18 Oklahoma State on Monday night.
Texas (20-10, 11-7 Big 12) took the lead early in the first half with a 3-pointer from Nekia Jones that made it 11-8 and the Longhorns never trailed again, carrying a 30-21 advantage into the break and holding off the Cowgirls in the second half.
Chassidy Fussell contributed 13 points for Texas, who controlled the boards 42-30 and sank 25 of their 36 free throw attempts -- a 3-to-1 scoring advantage from the penalty stripe -- to avenge a Jan. 2 loss to Oklahoma State. The win moved Texas into a third-place tie with the Cowgirls, the Longhorns' best conference finish since the 2004-05 season.
Oklahoma State (22-7, 11-7) was led by Kendra Suttles, who scored 14 points, while Tiffany Bias had 13 and Liz Donohoe 10.
No. 1 UConn routs No. 3 Louisville 68-48
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Breanna Stewart had 22 points and 14 rebounds and top-ranked Connecticut blew out No. 3 Louisville 68-48 on Monday night to complete an unbeaten regular season.
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis added 13 points and 10 boards for the Huskies (31-0, 18-0 American Athletic Conference), who outrebounded Louisville (28-3, 16-2) 47-30 and outran the Cardinals to add the inaugural league title to their collection of Big East trophies. The defending NCAA champions also beat the Cardinals for the 14th consecutive time.
Like last month's meeting in Storrs, Conn., UConn turned a small run into big momentum ending with another decisive victory. This time, it was an 11-0 first-half spurt for a 32-22 lead that eventually grew to 22 in the second half.
The end of Louisville five-game winning streak spoiled the home finales for four seniors including guard Shoni Schimmel, who scored nine points before a school record crowd of 22,163.
South Florida beats No. 24 Rutgers 60-51
PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- Courtney Williams scored 26 points and grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds, leading South Florida to a 60-51 win against No. 24 Rutgers on Monday, taking over sole possession of third place in the American Athletic Conference.
After Betnijah Laney's jumper with 4:08 left in the first half pulled Rutgers within four, South Florida (18-11, 13-5) used a 15-3 run that bridged the two halves to open up a 40-24 lead with 16 minutes left.
Rutgers (21-8, 12-6) made just 9 of 26 field goals and committed nine turnovers in the first half.
The Scarlet Knights used a 14-4 run to pull within three with 1:27 remaining, but Williams hit a 3-pointer 30 seconds later to make it 57-51 before Rutgers missed its final four shots of the game.
Syessence Davis led Rutgers with 12 points. Kahleah Copper, who came in averaging a team-high 16.1 points, scored seven on 2 of 11 shooting.
