WACO, Texas – Brittney Griner scored 12 of her 25 points during a closing run that pushed top-ranked Baylor past No. 2 Connecticut 66-61 on Sunday night.
The Lady Bears (11-0) won their second No. 1 vs. No. 2 game this season while avenging a one-point loss at Connecticut early last season when the rankings were reversed.
Griner also had nine rebounds and nine blocked shots. She made all seven of her free throws, six of them coming in a game-ending 27-11 run as Baylor overcome its biggest deficit of the season. The 6-foot-8 Griner missed eight free throws in last year's game against the Huskies, including some key misses down the stretch.
Odyssey Sims had 23 points for the Lady Bears, whose 29-game home winning streak includes a 94-81 win over then-No. 2 Notre Dame in November.
Bria Hartley led Connecticut (9-1) with 25 points, while Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis had 15.
NO. 3 NOTRE DAME 92, NO. 8 KENTUCKY 83
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Skylar Diggins' only 3-pointer Sunday was a big one, leading No. 3 Notre Dame to a 92-83 victory and handing No. 8 Kentucky its first loss of the season.
Natalie Novosel led five players in double figures with 23 points, and Diggins (16 points, 11 assists) and Devereaux Peters (13 points, 13 rebounds) each had double-doubles for Notre Dame (10-1), which has won seven straight since losing to top-ranked Baylor.
Samantha Drake had 21 points for the Wildcats (10-1), who had tied Baylor and Vanderbilt for the second-longest winning streak in the country by opening the season with 10 straight victories. A'dia Mathies added 17 before fouling out with 7:25 to play.
NO. 10 TEXAS A&M 71, SOUTHERN CAL 70
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Sydney Carter made a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left and Texas A&M rallied for its 47th straight nonconference home win.
Southern Cal (4-5) led 69-61 with 2:34 remaining before Texas A&M (8-2) took over. Ashley Corral missed a 3-point attempt for the Trojans with 4 seconds remaining.
Adrienne Pratcher led the Aggies with a career-high 22 points. Corral had 16 for USC.
Tyra White, who had 17 points for Texas A&M, made a free throw and Carter had a layup with 24 seconds left that closed the Aggies' deficit to 69-68. After Corral made one of two free throws with 19 seconds to go, Carter hit from the right side of the key.
NO. 11 RUTGERS 62, IONA 29
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) — April Sykes scored 18 points and Rutgers held Iona to just two baskets in the second half.
Rutgers (10-2) let a 23-15 halftime lead dwindle to four, missing 11 of its first 12 shots to start the second half. Freshman Betnijah Laney finally ended the drought, hitting a 3-pointer from the corner with 11:21 left. Then her classmates took over during a 36-7 run to close the game. Shakena Richardson had nine points during the spurt and Syessence Davis added five.
Kristina Ford scored 11 points for Iona (4-6), which got its only basket during the spurt on a 3-pointer by Ford with 8:08 remaining, ending a 9 1/2-minute drought without a field goal.
NO. 16 PENN ST. 103, WAGNER 42
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Alex Bentley and Maggie Lucas each scored 23 points to lead Penn State to the easy victory.
The Lady Lions (9-2) got off to a slow start, then put together a 33-3 run to take a 35-10 lead. Lucas capped the run with two free throws and had 18 points in the first half.
Veronick Fournier had 12 points and six rebounds for Wagner (2-8).
The Lady Lions held Wagner to 16 percent shooting in the first half and led 57-19 at the break, overwhelming the Seahawks with their athleticism. Penn State forced 24 turnovers and had 12 steals, sparked by ball pressure from guards Bentley, Zhaque Gray and Ariel Edwards.
SOUTH CAROLINA 79, NO. 18 NORTH CAROLINA 48
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) — La'Keisha Sutton scored 21 points, Markeshia Grant added 20 and South Carolina held North Carolina to its lowest point total in nearly two years.
The Gamecocks (9-2) broke out to an 11-0 lead and never let off the gas pedal against the Tar Heels (7-2), who came in as the nation's highest-scoring team at 87.5 points a game.
Tar Heels coach Sylvia Hatchell brings her team to the Myrtle Beach Convention Center each year and had gone a decade since UNC's last loss to the Gamecocks, 85-53, in 2001.
Chey Shegog scored 17 points for the Tar Heels, whose point total was their lowest since an 88-47 loss to Connecticut on Jan. 9, 2010.
N.C. STATE 66, NO. 20 VANDERBILT 59
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Kody Burke scored a career-high 21 points and North Carolina State withstood a furious rally by Vanderbilt in the upset.
Bonae Holston added 15 points and seven rebounds for the Wolfpack (7-3).
Stephanie Holzer had 15 points and Christina Foggie added 13 for Vanderbilt (10-1).
N.C. State took control with an early 21-4 run. The Wolfpack scored the final five points of the half and led 34-22 at intermission. Burke had 17 points in the first half.
Vanderbilt closed to 43-37 about 5 minutes into the second half but lost momentum when Foggie sat down for almost 6 minutes because of foul trouble.
NO. 22 PURDUE 62, AUBURN 54
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Alex Guyton scored a career-high 19 points and Purdue hit its free throws late in the game to hold on for the win.
After trailing by as many as 12 points in the second half, Auburn (6-3) cut the deficit to four with 4:41 to go but couldn't get any closer. The Boilermakers hit eight of their nine free throws in the final 4 minutes to seal it.
Senior guard Brittany Rayburn, recently diagnosed with pneumonia, came off the bench for the first time since her sophomore season and scored 15 points for the Boilermakers (8-3).
Hasina Muhammad led the Tigers with 17 points and Blanche Alverson scored 15.
NO. 25 NEBRASKA 94, VERMONT 41
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Jordan Hooper scored 21 points and Emily Cady had 18 for Nebraska, which broke away in the second half for the win.
The Cornhuskers (10-1) led by 13 points at the break and opened the second half with a 23-1 run, scoring seven points in the first 49 seconds.
The Catamounts (6-4) did not have a second-half basket until Nikki Taylor's layup with 13:10 remaining. They made just 4 of 33 shots in the period.
Lindsey Moore added 14 points and Rebecca Woodberry had 13 for the Huskers.
Sam Simononis led Vermont with 11 points.
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