college basketball roundup Sunday’s games

TOP 25 WOMEN

No. 5 Ohio State 117, Illinois 74

COLUMBUS

Ameryst Alston was nearly perfect in scoring 39 points and Kelsey Mitchell was right behind with 35 as Ohio State routed Illinois in a record-setting game. Mitchell made 11 of 14 field goal attempts, including 8 of 9 from 3-point range before sitting out the final quarter. Alston, a senior playing her final game at home, made 15 of 24 shooting. She had five of the Buckeyes’ 16 3-pointers. Ohio State (23-4, 15-1 Big Ten) set a record for points at Value City Arena, and came up two points short of equaling the program record of 119 points in a game. The arena record was 113 points set Nov. 16, 2014, against Saint Francis (Pa.). Alex Wittinger led Illinois (9-18, 2-14) with 21 points while Kyley Simmons and Sarah Hartwell had 10 apiece.

LSU 57, No. 24 Tennessee 56

BATON ROUGE, LA.

Alexis Hyder scored 17 points, including two free throws with 3.4 second left, and LSU beat Tennessee to put the Lady Vols’ streak of 565 consecutive weeks in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll in jeopardy. Tennessee’s Mercedes Russell missed two free throws with 4.5 seconds left and Hyder was inadvertently fouled after grabbing the rebound. Hyder hit both free throws at the other end and Tennessee missed a long 3-pointer at the buzzer. Tennessee has been ranked in the AP poll dating back to Feb. 17, 1985. The Lady Vols played their third game in seven days after losing to South Carolina 62-56 on Monday and beating Mississippi 57-51 Thursday. Tennessee scored just 18 points in the first half and trailed by 10 points, but the Lady Vols had 19 in the third quarter to pull to 39-37. Akilah Bethel had nine points and 12 rebounds for LSU (9-18, 3-11 SEC). Diamond DeShields scored 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting for Tennessee (16-11, 7-7).

No. 6 Maryland 73, Rutgers 59

PISCATAWAY, N.J.

Shatori Walker-Kimbrough scored 22 points and Brionna Jones added 14 points and 11 rebounds to lead Maryland to a win over Rutgers. Maryland (24-3, 13-2 Big Ten) trailed by one after the first quarter, but outscored the Scarlet Knights 20-8 in the second quarter to take control of the game. The Terrapins hit three straight 3-pointers to build a 34-21 lead at the half. Brene Moseley got the period started with a 3 and then assisted on Kristen Confroy’s three at 7:34 to give Maryland a 19-13 lead. Walker-Kimbrough hit a three with 5:38 left in the half to give Maryland a 22-17 advantage. Kahleah Copper had 23 points for Rutgers (16-12, 7-9). Tyler Sciafe added 11 points for the Scarlet Knights.

No. 8 Texas 73, West Virginia 50

AUSTIN, TEXAS

Brooke McCarty scored 18 points and Texas defeated West Virginia.Imani Boyette had 12 points, eight rebounds and three blocks for Texas (24-2, 13-2 Big 12). Ariel Atkins scored 10 points. With the victory, Texas assured itself of no worse than the No. 2 seed for the Big 12 tournament and its best conference regular season record since 2004-05. Tynice Martin led West Virginia (20-8, 9-6) with 12 points, two more than Chania Ray. Bria Holmes scored six points, nearly 11 fewer than her team-best average.

No. 11 Louisville 55, Boston College 45

CHESNUT HILL, MASS.

Myisha Hines-Allen scored 18 points and Louisville defeated Boston College. Asia Durr added 14 points, Cortnee Walton 12 with nine rebounds and Mariya Moore 10 for the Cardinals (22-6, 13-1 ACC), who won their fourth straight and 19th in the last 20 games. Walton had two 3-pointers, giving her 67 to tie for 10th on the single season list. However, those were the Cardinals’ only two treys in 10 attempts, well below their average (six) and usual accuracy (.337). They did have 11 assists, upping their string with at least 10 to 53 straight games. Kelly Hughes had 14 points and Mariella Fasoula 12 for the Eagles (14-13, 2-12), who have lost eight straight.

No. 12 Texas A&M 75, Vanderbilt 63

NASHVILLE, TENN.

Courtney Walker scored 22 points and No. 12 Texas A&M survived a scare from Vanderbilt. Texas A&M (20-7, 10-4) earned its 11th straight 20-win season, extending the second longest such streak by a current member of the SEC. Aggie coach Gary Blair is 11th all-time with 25 20-win seasons. Vanderbilt (15-12, 4-10), which has lost seven in a row, was led by Morgan Batey with 15 points.

No. 23 Syracuse 70, Pittsburgh 56

PITTSBURGH

Brianna Butler scored 20 points and Syracuse pulled away in the second half for a win over Pittsburgh. Brittney Sykes added 16 points and Alexis Peterson 15 for the Orange (22-6, 12-3 ACC), who won their eighth straight. Butler had all four of Syracuse’s 3-pointers. Aysia Bugg and Yacine Diop had 15 points apiece for the Panthers (12-15, 4-10) and Fred Potvin added 12.

No. 25 Michigan State 114, Minnesota 106

EAST LANSING, MICH.

Aerial Powers scored a career-high 40 points and No. 25 Michigan State beat Minnesota, withstanding Rachel Banham’s 52 points that made her the Big Ten’s all-time leading scorer. Banham has 2,921 points to pass Penn State’s Kelly Mazzante (2001-04), who has 2,919. Sunday she was 14 of 28 from the field, 9 of 13 from 3-point range and 15 of 16 on free throws in coming within eight points of her career high of 60 set against Northwestern in a 112-106 double-overtime win on Feb. 7. Carlie Wagner added 20 points. Minnesota (18-9, 10-6) rallied from a 19-point first-quarter deficit to take a two-point lead early in the third quarter before the Spartans (20-7, 11-5) regained the lead for good with a 23-5 run, with 10 points from Powers, for an 80-64 advantage.

TOP 25 MEN

No. 6 Maryland 86, Michigan 82

COLLEGE PARK, MD.

Robert Carter scored 17 points and Maryland bounced back from consecutive losses. Jake Layman had 16 points and Melo Trimble finished with 13 for Maryland (23-5, 11-4 Big Ten). Freshman center Diamond Stone added 13 points after being suspended for the previous game by Maryland coach Mark Turgeon for a flagrant foul against Wisconsin. Mark Donnal went 10 of 13 from the field and scored 25 points for Michigan (19-9, 9-6), which shot 13 for 27 from 3-point range.

No. 21 SMU 74, East Carolina 63

DALLAS

Nic Moore had 22 points, including four 3-pointers after halftime, and seven assists as SMU beat East Carolina. Markus Kennedy added 19 points and Jordan Tolbert had 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Mustangs (22-4, 10-4 American Athletic Conference), who have alternated losses and wins in their last eight games since an 18-0 start. SMU never trailed after an 8-0 run going into the halftime, and took the lead for good when Moore hit consecutive 3s in a 27-second span after that. Prince Williams had 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting for last-place East Carolina (10-17, 2-12).

Associated Press