WOMEN’S TOP 25 | Saturday’s games

No. 4 Rutgers 64, Syracuse 49

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Essence Carson and Matee Ajavon each scored 14 points in their final home game, and No. 4 Rutgers hit a season-high 10 3-pointers. The Scarlet Knights (24-4, 14-1) travel to Hartford on Monday night to face Connecticut with the Big East regular season championship on the line. Erica Morrow scored 15 points to lead Syracuse (21-7, 9-6), which is having one of its best seasons. The Orange were ranked for the first time in school history earlier this year and are in a battle for the fifth seed in the conference with Louisville and Pittsburgh. It’s been an emotional week for Rutgers. Coach C. Vivian Stringer became only the third women’s basketball coach to win 800 games when the Scarlet Knights beat DePaul on Wednesday.

No. 20 Texas A&M 72, No. 8 Baylor 53

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Morenike Atunrase had 24 points and the Aggies got a surprisingly easy win to extend their Big 12 conference-best winning streak to five games. Sixteen of Atunrase’s points came in a key run in the first half that helped A&M (22-7, 10-5) stretch its lead from one point to 19 and spoil the Bears’ chance to clinch at least a share of the regular season Big 12 title. Baylor (24-4, 12-3) won its first meeting with A&M this season with a last-minute 3-pointer, but this time the Aggies took over midway through the first half and led by double-digits for the rest of the game.

No. 13 West Virginia 78, Louisville 70

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Meg Bulger and Olayinka Sanni each scored 20 points and the Mountaineers overcame a sluggish start to clinch a first-round bye in the Big East tournament. Chakhia Cole scored 10 of her 13 points in the second half and finished with 11 rebounds for the Mountaineers (23-5, 12-3), who overcame 22 turnovers to clinch the No. 3 tournament seed. Angel McCoughtry had 29 points, 11 rebounds and five steals for the Cardinals (20-8, 9-6). Candyce Bingham added 13 points and 10 rebounds.

No. 14 Notre Dame 70, Seton Hall 55

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Charel Allen scored 22 points and the Irish made all eight of their free throws in the final 1:25 to beat clinch a first-round bye in the Big East tournament. Notre Dame (23-6, 11-4) led by as many as 14 in the first half, then weathered a comeback to beat Seton Hall, which had lost two straight by at least 28 points. The loss knocked the Pirates (13-14, 3-12), losers of nine straight, out of the tournament. Seton Hall fell to 8-104 all-time against ranked opponents.

No. 15 George Washington 66, Fordham 27

WASHINGTON — Fordham completed the worst season in NCAA women’s basketball history, becoming the first team to go 0-29 and extending its losing streak to 33 games overall. The Rams finished with one loss more than the 0-28 teams of Charleston in 1990-91 and Centenary in 1999-2000. They haven’t won since beating Duquesne 74-65 on Feb. 4, 2007. George Washington (24-5, 12-2) pulled away with an early 19-0 run and clinched at least a share of its seventh consecutive A-10 regular season championship.

No. 19 UTEP 65, Tulsa 50

EL PASO, Texas — Kasia Krezel scored 13 points and Natasha Lacy had 12 to help UTEP increase its Conference USA-record winning streak to 21 games.

No. 21 Kansas State 81, Missouri 52

MANHATTAN, Kan. — Shalee Lehning matched her career high with 21 points to help Kansas State move back into a first-place tie in the Big 12.

Associated Press