STANDISH — Cassandra Stapelfeld scored 17 points as St. Joseph’s continued its hot streak by beating Norwich 78-46 Monday night in women’s basketball.
The Monks (16-4, 10-2 GNAC) have won two straight and 5 of 6. They used a 17-8 second quarter to pull away from the Cadets (8-10, 6-5).
Jane Howe and Nina Howe chipped in with 13 points each. Hailey Anderson added 12.
(5) N.C. STATE 59, (11) GEORGIA TECH 48: Diamond Johnson scored 12 points and host North Carolina State (21-3, 12-1 ACC) built a big lead in the third quarter to beat Georgia Tech (18-5, 9-3).
Raina Perez added 11 points for the Wolfpack, who turned a marquee matchup of top Atlantic Coast Conference teams into a largely one-sided show. Most importantly, N.C. State made things difficult on the Yellow Jackets defensively through the middle of the game, which has been an area Coach Wes Moore has been pushing for a team with Final Four aspirations.
Eylia Love scored 16 points to lead Georgia Tech.
(14) LSU 68, MISSISSIPPI 64: Khayla Pointer and Faustine Aifuwa had a triple-double and double-double and visiting LSU (19-4, 7-3 SEC) held off a late rally by Mississippi (18-5, 6-4).
Pointer had 16 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for the Tigers and Aifuwa had 20 points and 14 rebounds. Alexis Morris added 17 points.
(21) OHIO STATE 61, RUTGERS 57: Taylor Mikesell made six 3-pointers and scored 26 points to help host Ohio State (17-4, 9-3 Big Ten) beat Rutgers (7-17, 0-12) for Coach Kevin McGuff’s 100th Big Ten victory.
Mikesell made two free throws with 24.2 seconds left for a 59-56 lead. Rutgers missed a long 3-pointer but Tyia Singleton grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled at 3.3. She made the first free throw and intentionally missed the second but it didn’t hit the rim, and Jacy Sheldon sealed it with two free throws at 1.9.
AP POLL: Florida Coach Kelly Rae Finley has the Gators playing their best basketball in years, with wins over four ranked teams in their past five games.
Buoyed by that success, the Gators jumped into The Associated Press women’s basketball poll at No. 19, the team’s first ranking since 2016.
Florida knocked off then-No. 7 Tennessee and 14th-ranked Georgia last week. Those wins closed out a stretch of five straight games against ranked Southeastern Conference foes. The Gators’ only loss in that span was to No. 1 South Carolina on Jan. 30.
The Gamecocks remained the top team in the poll this week and were a unanimous choice from the 30-member national media panel. South Carolina was followed by Stanford, Louisville, Michigan and North Carolina State.
Florida (17-6) has beaten five ranked opponents for the first time since the 2005-06 season. The Gators beat Kentucky and LSU to begin their tough five-game stretch and topped then-No. 25 Texas A&M earlier this season.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
BATES 87, UM-FARMINGTON 81: Stephon Baxter scored 31 points and Jahmir Primer added 20 as the Bobcats (9-9) handled the Beavers (11-6) at Farmington.
Stephen Ward helped with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Terion Moss scored 28 points for UMF. Jack Kane had 23 points and 13 rebounds.
VIRGINIA 69, (3) DUKE 68: Reece Beekman hit a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds remaining as visiting Virginia (15-9, 9-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) knocked off Duke (19-4, 9-3).
It was just the second 3-pointer on 12 attempts for the Cavaliers.
Jayden Gardner scored 17 points, Kadin Shedrick posted a career-high 16 points – many coming on a variety of dunks – and Armaan Franklin had 11 points.
Virginia has won three games in a row.
Foul-plagued Mark Williams scored 16 points and Trevor Keels got all 12 of his points in the second half for Duke, which had a three-game winning streak snapped.
LOUISVILLE: Interim coach Mike Pegues says leading scorer and rebounder Malik Williams will return to the team this week from suspension for not upholding program standards.
The fifth-year senior forward did not play against Syracuse or North Carolina following last week’s suspension that Pegues announced on his radio show.
Pegues said during Monday’s Atlantic Coast Conference coaches virtual teleconference he and Louisville interim athletic director Josh Heird met with Williams and his mother (via phone) and agreed to allow his return on the condition Williams “can be the guy we expect him to be on the court and in the locker room.”
“With the rank of being a captain, (comes) the responsibility of carrying yourself differently,” Pegues added. “And on the worst day being able to come in and be compliant, be competitive and bring energy and not drain energy from the jump. There was too much of that going on in my opinion, which created the situation in the first place where I felt like I had to suspend him.”
Williams leads the Cardinals (11-12, 5-8 ACC) with 10.0 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. Louisville visits second-place Notre Dame (16-7, 9-3) on Wednesday night.
AP POLL: Auburn keeps finding ways to win – even sometimes in tougher-than-expected games – to maintain its hold on No. 1 in the The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll.
Bruce Pearl’s Tigers haven’t lost since November and are firmly locked into the top spot after earning 48 of 61 first-place votes in Monday’s poll. That came after a narrow road win against a six-win Georgia team over the weekend, which came less than two weeks after a one-point escape against a nine-win Missouri team.
Still, Auburn (22-1) has won 19 straight games since losing in double overtime to Connecticut in November, including all 10 of its Southeastern Conference games.
Mark Few’s Bulldogs earned the other 13 first-place votes and have sat at No. 2 throughout Auburn’s three-week stay at the top. Gonzaga has won 12 straight since falling to Alabama in early December.
Purdue climbed a spot to No. 3, followed by Arizona in the Wildcats’ second stint inside the top five this season. Kentucky and Houston were next.
Duke rose two spots to No. 7 after a lopsided win at rival North Carolina in retiring Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski’s final visit to Chapel Hill, followed by Kansas, Texas Tech and reigning national champion Baylor to round out the top 10.
MEN’S HOCKEY
BEANPOT TOURNAMENT: Matt Brown and Ethan Phillips scored second-period goals and Boston University held off Harvard for a 4-3 victory in the semifinal of the 69th annual Beanpot tournament at TD Garden.
Boston University (15-10-3) looks for its 31st title – the most of four schools in the tournament – next Monday night at TD Garden.
BU will face Northeastern, which beat Boston College, 3-1.
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