AMES, Iowa — Zia Cooke scored 19 points and No. 1 South Carolina got back into a groove with a 83-65 win over 23rd-ranked Iowa State on Sunday.
The Gamecocks (4-1) were beaten by No. 8 N.C. State 54-46 on Thursday, but never trailed against the Cyclones (2-2) during the SEC/Big 12 Challenge matchup.
Cooke shot 4 of 6 from 3-point range, 6-of-12 overall, helping South Carolina finish 13 of 26 from behind the arc.
“That’s what offensive flow is,” Gamecocks Coach Dawn Staley said. “The ball should find who should shoot it. Any team that is in rhythm, it’s a high possibility they’re going to make shots.”
Aliyah Boston and Brea Beal added 13 points each for South Carolina while Destanni Henderson had 12.
Ashley Joens scored 32 points for Iowa State, which shot just 37.1% for the game and was outrebounded 50-24.
(5) LOUISVILLE 85, UT MARTIN 67: Dana Evans scored 26 points to lead the Cardinals (4-0) to a victory over the Skyhawks (0-1) in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Cardinals used an 18-3 run over the final 6:58 of the first half to take a 40-27 halftime lead and break away from a solid Skyhawks squad playing their first game of the season. Evans, a preseason All-American, scored 10 of her points during that spurt.
The senior guard made 9-of-18 shots, including 4-of-9 3-pointers to lead Louisville, which shot 42 percent from the floor. She sat after three quarters and finished just two points shy of tying her career high set last year against Oklahoma State
Freshman Hailey Van Lith and junior Kianna Smith scored 10 each for the Cardinals.
(7) ARIZONA 78, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 77: Aari McDonald scored 30 points and Cate Reese added 25, helping the Wildcats (3-0, 2-0 Pac 12) outlast the Trojans (1-2, 0-2) in Tucson, Arizona.
The Wildcats picked up their first marquee win of the season on Friday, beating No. 9 UCLA for their third win in the past four games against top-10 teams. Arizona found itself in another tight game against the Trojans and fell into an 11-point hole early in the third quarter.
McDonald and Reese keyed a 22-3 run that carried into the fourth quarter and Arizona stretched the lead to 77-72 late. USC’s Madison Campbell hit a 3-pointer with 18 seconds left to pull the Trojans within two.
(9) UCLA 63, ARIZONA STATE 59: Lindsey Corsaro scored 14 points and made three 3-pointers in the final 3:11 to help the Bruins (2-1, 1-1) rebound from their first loss of the season with a Pac-12 victory over the Sun Devils (4-1, 1-1) in Tempe, Arizona.
Charisman Osborne also had 14 and Michaela Onyenwere added 10 points for the Bruins, who led by 17 points early in the second quarter but fell behind by two early in the fourth quarter before staging a comeback.
Eboni Walker had 12 points and Jaddan Simmons had 10 for the Sun Devils, who were attempting to start 5-0 for the first time since 2002-03.
(10) OREGON 85, UTAH 43: Erin Boley and Te-Hina Paopao each scored 17 points as the Ducks (4-0) defeated the Utes (0-1) in a Eugene, Oregon.
Boley added five rebounds and three assists while Paopao had a team-high four assists for the Ducks, who improved to 2-0 in conference play as they seek a fourth straight Pac-12 title. Freshman Sydney Parrish added 12 points while sophomore Jaz Shelley scored 11.
Niyah Becker scored 11 points while Kennady McQueen added eight points for Utah, which shot 28.6% from the field. The Utes were playing their first game of the season following a coronavirus outbreak.
(11) KENTUCKY 72, (13) INDIANA 68: Rhyne Howard scored 22 points and the Wildcats (4-0) rallied from 10-points down in the fourth quarter to defeat the Hoosiers (2-1) in Lexington, Kentucky in the SEC-Big Ten Challenge.
Gorham graduate Mackenzie Holmes had 16 points and 11 rebounds for Indiana.
The Wildcats were without first-year head coach Kyra Elsy, who missed the game for health reasons not related to COVID. Associate head coach Niya Butts stepped in for Elsy.
Three different Wildcats made a pair of free throws in the final 25 seconds, the clinchers coming from Chastity Patterson with four seconds to play.
(16) ARKANSAS 83, (4) BAYLOR 78: Amber Ramirez scored 23 points and Chelsea Dungee added 22 to help the Razorbacks (5-1) beat the fourth-ranked Bears (2-1) in the Big 12/SEC Challenge, in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
The Razorbacks led by 10 early in the fourth quarter before the Lady Bears cut it to 78-76 on DiJonai Carrington’s layup with 3:06 left.
Dungee hit two free throws 10 seconds later to restore a four-point edge. NaLyssa Smith’s layup with 29 seconds remaining brought Baylor back within two. Ramirez hit the second of two free throws with 22 seconds left to give Baylor a chance to tie the game.
Caitlin Bickle’s 3-pointer from the top of the key missed and Ramirez sank two free throws to seal the win.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 75, (18) GONZAGA 72, OT: Myah Selland scored 11 of her 18 points beginning in the final 20 seconds of regulation and assisted on Lindsey Theuninck’s 3-pointer with 3.5 seconds left in overtime to lift the Jackrabbits (3-0) to a win over the Bulldogs (1-2) in Brookings, South Dakota.
Selland had a three-point play with 16 seconds remaining to force the overtime, tying it at 64. She had another three-point play that put the Jackrabbits up by one in the middle of OT and a 3-pointer that was good for a 72-70 lead with 28 seconds left before setting up the winner.
(19) OHIO STATE 96, NORTHERN KENTUCKY 63: Jacy Sheldon scored 13 of her 20 points in the first quarter and the Buckeyes (3-0) cruised to a win over the Norse (0-4) in Columbus, Ohio.
Dorka Juhasz added 18 points and Madison Greene 17 for the Buckeyes, who went 10 of 25 from 3-point range and shot 58%.
Sheldon hit three 3-pointers and scored 11 straight points as the Buckeyes took a 13-5 lead. She added a layup to open a 10-0 run that saw Greene contribute six points to put the lead in double digits for the first time.
(22) SYRACUSE 82, PENN STATE 72: Kiara Lewis had 17 of her 26 points in the second half, backcourt partner Tiana Mangakahia had another solid game in her return from missing a year with cancer and the Orange (3-0) turned back the Nittany Lions (3-1) in Syracuse, New York.
Mangakahia, who missed all of last season after undergoing chemotherapy and then a double mastectomy in November, finished with 14 points, eight assists, six rebounds and two steals. However, she also had nine turnovers.
The Orange trailed by 14 midway through the second quarter but closed the half with a 15-0 run, taking a 33-32 lead on a Lewis basket. Syracuse went 2 of 17 on 3-pointers and shot just 29% but the Nittany Lions missed their last eight shots with seven turnovers and shot only 31%.
(24) MICHIGAN 82, WRIGHT STATE 59: Junior transfer Leigha Brown scored 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting, Naz Hillmon added a double-double and the Wolverines (4-0) rolled to a win over the Raiders (0-2) in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Brown, who led Nebraska in scoring last season, helped the Wolverines (4-0) get off to a strong start by hitting all four of her shots in the first quarter. She scored nine points and the lead was 26-16.
Hillmon, who finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds, scored 11 points in the second quarter, including the last eight to push the halftime lead to 48-27. Brown, a 6-foot-1 wing out of Indiana, also had seven rebounds.
Michigan lost nine points off its lead in a cold third quarter but still finished at 49% shooting for the game. The Wolverines were 7 of 15 from 3-point range and went 19 of 26 from the foul line.
Wright State (0-2), which got 17 points from Angel Baker, shot 31%, going 1 of 18 from distance and 10 of 19 from the line.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
(12) VILLANOVA 68, (17) TEXAS 64: Jermaine Samuels and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl each scored 19 points and the Wildcats (4-1) held on late to hand the Longhorns (4-1) their first loss after a strong start, in Austin, Texas.
Collin Gillespie made four free throws over the final 15 seconds to secure the victory for the Wildcats. Samuels, who sat out practice this week because of a sprained pinky on his right hand, also collected a game-high 12 rebounds.
Courtney Ramey and Matt Coleman III each scored 17 points to pace the Longhorns. Texas had won the Maui Invitational in the program’s best start in six years under coach Shaka Smart, who just last season was under intense pressure and speculation he could lose his job.
Ramey fouled out to send Gillespie to the line and he calmly stroked both shots to put the Wildcats up by four. After Coleman made a twisting layup, Gillespie was again back at the line and swished two more. Gillespie finished with 12 points.
Ramey made a long 3-pointer to tie the game at 57 before Villanova answered with a 3-pointer from Cole Swider with 1:58 to play and the Wildcats held the lead to the end.
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