WOMEN'S COLLEGE ROUNDUP Saturday's Top 25 games
No. 2 Connecticut 81,No. 23 Boston College 60
BOSTON -- Jessica Moore and Ashley Battle helped UConn erase an early deficit, then Diana Taurasi returned with a taped ankle to score eight consecutive points during a 20-2 run and the Huskies pulled away. Moore had a season-high 21 points and eight rebounds and Battle added 17 and seven. Taurasi finished with 13 points and six assists, and Barbara Turner added 10 points for UConn (22-2, 12-1 Big East). The Huskies won their 11th consecutive game, a streak that started with a victory over Boston College on Jan. 17 that followed a loss to Notre Dame -- UConn's only conference loss in its last 56 games and its only road loss in its previous 40. Although Taurasi was the national player of the year last season, she has been just one cog in the Huskies' latest winning streak. She is scoring about the same amount -- about 13 points per game -- as Turner and Ann Strother; Battle is also averaging in double figures with just over 10 points per game since the Jan. 13 loss to the Irish. Amber Jacobs scored 15 and Jessalyn Deveny had 13 for Boston College (18-6, 8-5).
No. 6 Louisiana Tech 89, SMU 79
DALLAS -- Amisha Carter had 33 points and 17 rebounds, and Trina Frierson added 29 points as Louisiana Tech clinched its 13th consecutive 20-win season. The Lady Techsters (20-2, 13-1 WAC) have won at least 20 games in 27 of the program's 30 seasons. SMU (12-11, 8-6) is winless in 15 games against Louisiana Tech. Louisiana Tech led 77-74 with three minutes left before going on a 7-0 run over the next 90 seconds to seal the win. Neither team had led by more than five points in the second half before that. Carter, who scored 24 in the second half, hit two free throws and a layup to put Louisiana Tech ahead 84-74. Erica Smith-Taylor added 16 points and 15 rebounds for Louisiana Tech. Frierson had 11 boards. Kaira White, who hit five of SMU's 12 3-pointers, scored a career-high 24 points. Kendall Shead and Shanta Ramdhanny each added 16.
No. 13 Colorado 72, Oklahoma State 57
BOULDER, Colo. -- Tera Bjorklund had 18 points and 16 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season to lead Colorado. Oklahoma State's Nina Stone fell on a drive to the basket in the first half and had to be taken off the court on a stretcher. She scored 12 points in the first 14 minutes before being injured. X-rays on Stone's neck were negative. Randie Wirt and Kate Fagan each scored 16 points and Veronica Johns-Richardson added 12 for Colorado (20-5, 9-4 Big 12), which had lost two in a row. Trisha Skibbe scored 19 points to lead the Cowgirls (8-17, 3-11).
No. 22 Miami 81, Seton Hall 43
CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- Tamara James scored 22 points, and Miami opened each half with big runs. The victory was Miami's fourth in a row and gave the Hurricanes their first 20-win season since 1992-93. Miami scored the first 12 points of the game and sealed the victory with a 22-1 run to start the second half, pushing the lead to 63-19. The Hurricanes (20-4, 9-4 Big East) also closed the first half on an 8-0 run. That came after Seton Hall missed 14 of its first 17 shots and went scoreless for nearly seven minutes following the opening tip. LaNedra Brown scored 15 points to lead Seton Hall, which shot 27 percent and turned the ball over 26 times. The Pirates (14-10, 6-7) have lost three of five, scoring 42 points or fewer in each of the losses.