Indiana held a 27-6 scoring advantage in the third quarter, former Gorham High star Mackenzie Holmes finished with 26 points and the sixth-ranked Hoosiers held on for a 78-65 win over second-ranked Ohio State on Thursday in Bloomington, Indiana.
Indiana improved to 18-1 in the season, the best start in program history, while the Buckeyes fell to 19-2.
Yarden Garzon added 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Hoosiers while Sydney Parrish had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Cotie McMahon scored 21 for Ohio State.
(5) CONNECTICUT 84, TENNESSEE 67: Lou Lopez Senechal scored 26 points and Aaliyah Edwards added 25 to lead No. 5 Connecticut (19-2) over Tennessee (19-2) in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Aubrey Griffen and Dorka Juhasz, each scored 13 points for the Huskies, who led by as many as 16 points at the end of the first quarter and extended their winning streak to 12 games. Nika Muhl had 13 assists.
(7) NOTRE DAME 70, (24) FLORIDA STATE 47: Sonia Citron had 19 points and No. 7 Notre Dame recovered from a poor-shooting first half to cruise by No. 24 Florida State.
The Seminoles led 23-22 at the half before the Fighting Irish rang up 48 points over the final two periods.
Irish freshman KK Bransford scored 15 points off the bench. Lauren Ebo added 12 points and 10 rebounds.
(10) MARYLAND 72, (13) MICHIGAN 64: Diamond Miller scored 21 points, and visiting Maryland (17-4, 8-2) closed the first quarter with a 13-2 run and led the rest in a victory over No. 13 Michigan (16-5, 6-4).
Abby Meyers contributed 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Terrapins, who won for the 10th time in 11 games. Lavender Briggs scored 14 points and Shyanne Sellers added 13.
Leigha Brown led Michigan with 16 points.
(15) NORTH CAROLINA 72, PITTSBURGH 57: Deja Kelly scored 23 points, Kennedy Todd-Williams added 22 points and visiting North Carolina (15-5, 6-3 ACC) used a big fourth quarter to beat Pittsburgh (7-13, 5-7).
It was tied at 44-all after three quarters until North Carolina opened the fourth on a 17-1 run to take control. Todd-Williams highlighted the run by making a 3-pointer and collecting a steal at the other end before completing a three-point play.
Todd-Williams, Kelly and Alyssa Ustby combined to score North Carolina’s opening 26 points of the fourth.
Ustby had 16 points, 11 rebounds and five steals for North Carolina.
Dayshanette Harris scored 16 points, Liatu King had 12 points and nine rebounds for Pittsburgh.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
(21) FLORIDA ATLANTIC 85, MIDDLE TENNESSEE 67: Johnell Davis scored 25 points as No. 21 Florida Atlantic (20-1, 9-0 Conference USA) won its school-record 19th straight game, beating Middle Tennessee(13-8, 6-3) in Boca Raton, Florida.
The victory gave FAU only the second 20-win season in the program’s Division I history and Coach Dusty May his first 20-win season
Davis, the Owls’ leading scorer, once again came off the bench early in the first half, this time calming what had been a jittery FAU offense that missed its first eight shots. The sophomore hit six of his eight first-half shots en route to 19 points in the first 20 minutes.
DUKE: Duke won’t have touted freshman Dariq Whitehead for Saturday’s game at Georgia Tech due to a left-leg injury and it’s unclear exactly when he’ll return.
Coach Jon Scheyer didn’t reveal specifics beyond describing it as a “strain.” But he seems to have avoided what appeared to be a serious injury during Monday’s loss at Virginia Tech.
“I think he got a lot of relief once we had done the testing, got the MRI and no structural damage, which is important,” Scheyer said. “So he’s relieved, I know that. We just need to make sure we make smart decisions and take our time with him.”
Whitehead was hurt when he jumped to knock a ball away from Hokies forward Justyn Mutts. He grabbed at the back of his lower leg near his ankle as he landed. He ended the night on crutches with ice wrapped around his leg.
The 6-foot-7, 220-pound wing had averaged 8.4 points and 2.3 rebounds in his 16 appearances, starting the past five games. He arrived at Duke as the 247sports’ No. 2-ranked recruit as part of the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class.
Now Duke (14-6, 5-4 ACC) will be without a backcourt player who has scored in double figures in five of the eight ACC games in which he’s participated. He topped out at 18 points in Duke’s 65-64 win at Boston College on Jan. 7, and had 16 points in an 86-67 win over Florida State on Dec. 31.
But the projected first-round pick in this June’s NBA Draft has also had less productive games, like scoring six points in Duke’s 77-69 win over Pittsburgh on Jan. 11, and two points when Duke lost 72-64 at Clemson on Jan. 14.
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