BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Mackenzie Holmes of Gorham led a balanced attack with 17 points and No. 16 Indiana took over in the second half to defeat Michigan State 79-67 on Sunday for the 800th victory in program history.
Ali Patberg added 15 points, Aleksa Gulbe 14 points and Jaelynn Penn 13 for the Hoosiers (10-4, 8-2 Big Ten Conference). Grace Berger added nine points, nine rebounds, seven assists and two steals. Patberg had six rebounds and five assists.
Indiana trailed by as many as 10 in the first quarter before cutting the deficit to two and were down 41-33 at the break.
But the Hoosiers, who shot 42% (11 of 26) in the first half despite making 5 of 8 from 3-point range, pounded the ball inside in the second half. Indiana made both of its 3-pointers but went 16 of 23 (70%) inside the arc and for good measure made 12 of 13 from the foul line.
Danielle Patterson’s basket in the closing seconds of the third quarter put Indiana up 58-56 and Holmes opened the fourth quarter with a three-point play.
Nia Clouden paced Michigan State (9-5, 4-4) with 19 points and Alisia Smith added 17 with eight rebounds. After shooting 67% (16 of 24) in the first half, the Spartans cooled off to 32% (9 of 28) in the second.
(3) UCONN 100, (17) DEPAUL 67: Christyn Williams scored a career-high 29 points, Paige Bueckers added 22 points and personal-best 10 assists and UConn (11-1, 9-0 Big East) bounced back from a rare loss to beat host DePaul (9-4, 6-2).
The Huskies haven’t dropped consecutive games in 28 years. And they weren’t about to let it happen this time, after losing at No. 19 Arkansas on Thursday.
UConn used a dominant second quarter to build a 14-point halftime lead. The Huskies remained in control the rest of the way and improved to 19-1 all time against DePaul – 19-0 under Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma.
(4) SOUTH CAROLINA 87, ALABAMA 63: Zia Cooke scored 12 of her 21 points in the third quarter as host South Carolina (14-1, 9-0 SEC) won its 18th straight over Alabama (12-4, 5-4) and 28th in a row over Southeastern Conference opponents.
Cooke, the team’s leading scorer, struggled to find her touch early on with just four points at the half as the Gamecocks trailed. But Cooke, the lightning quick 5-foot-9 sophomore, got it going in a major way after halftime as she led a 15-5 surge that put South Carolina ahead for good.
(6) STANFORD 74, WASHINGTON 48: Hannah Jump matched her season high with 15 points off the bench and visiting Stanford (14-2, 12-2 Pac-12) used a fast start beat short-handed Washington (4-8, 1-8) for its fourth straight win.
Washington had only nine players in uniform and was without leading scorer Tameiya Sadler.
(8) TEXAS A&M 60, (22) GEORGIA 48: N’dea Jones had 15 points and 12 rebounds to lead host Texas A&M (16-1, 7-1 in SEC) to a win over Georgia (13-4, 5-4).
(9) BAYLOR 85, IOWA STATE 77: Nalyssa Smith scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as visiting Baylor (12-2, 7-1 Big 12) held on to beat Iowa State (11-6, 7-3) to remain alone atop the Big 12 standings.
The Lady Bears had lost their last two meetings with the Cyclones, including a 75-71 defeat on Jan. 6.
(15) KENTUCKY 61, MISSOURI 55: Rhyne Howard scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and host Kentucky (13-4, 6-3 Southeastern Conference) closed the game with an 11-2 run to defeat Missouri (6-6, 3-5).
In the final three minutes, after the Tigers scored nine straight pints to take a 53-50 lead, the Wildcats were 9 of 10 from the foul line and Missouri went 1 of 4 from the field, missed two critical free throws and had a shot clock violation.
(19) ARKANSAS 77, AUBURN 67: Amber Ramirez hit three of her five 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and scored 19 points as host Arkansas (13-5, 3-5 Southeastern Conference) turned back Auburn (5-10, 0-8).
The Razorbacks, a little sluggish after handing No. 3 UConn its loss first of the season 90-87 in an emotional game on Thursday, overcame a big early deficit with a strong second quarter before putting the Tigers away in the fourth quarter.
(20) TENNESSEE 79, FLORIDA 65: Tamari Key had the fourth triple-double in school history with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 10 blocked shots as Tennessee (12-3, 6-1 Southeastern Conference) beat visiting Florida (9-8, 2-7).
MEN’S BASKETBALL
(6) HOUSTON 70, SMU 48: Marcus Sasser scored 19 points and host Houston (15-1, 10-1 American Athletic Conference) beat SMU (9-4, 5-4) for its eighth straight win.
The Cougars won despite shooting only 34%.
(13) OHIO STATE 79, MICHIGAN STATE 62: E.J. Liddell had 20 points and eight rebounds to lead Ohio State (14-4, 8-4 Big Ten) to a win at home over Michigan State (8-6, 6-2).
Justin Ahrens added 17 for the Buckeyes, who have won three in a row and 6 of 7.
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