Norfolk State’s women won their fifth consecutive game and stayed in the hunt for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference regular-season championship, beating Morgan State 69-60 Thursday night in Baltimore.
Niyah Gaston and LeAire Nicks led the Spartans (15-12, 10-2) with 12 points apiece. Gaston sank four 3-pointers, while sophomore Anjanae “AJ” Richardson added 11 points, a career-high nine assists, seven rebounds and two steals.
An 11-0 Morgan State run gave the Bears an 11-4 lead. NSU quickly answered and led by as many as eight, but the Bears pulled even in the third quarter. NSU closed that quarter on a 6-0 run for a 49-43 edge.
The teams alternated runs in the final quarter, but NSU sealed the victory with a 6-0 stretch run.
The Spartans trail Howard (21-7, 11-1) by one game; both teams have two to go, including their finale against each other March 5 at Echols Hall.
No. 21 North Carolina 82, Virginia 70: UNC took a 9-0 lead, never trailed and held on at John Paul Jones Arena. The Cavaliers, who trailed 28-13 and 40-23 at the half, couldn’t further enhance their solid NCAA Tournament credentials.
Elina Aarnisalo led the Tar Heels (24-6, 13-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) with 20 points. Kymora Johnson had 22 and Romy Levy for UVA (19-9, 11-6), which got no closer than 66-57 in the second half.
As of Tuesday morning, the Cavaliers and Virginia Tech were among the “last four byes” in the NCAA field of 68, according to ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme. The Commonwealth Clash rivals play Sunday in Charlottesville.
No. 1 Connecticut 84, Georgetown 52: Azzi Fudd scored 24 points and had four steals in Hartford in her final regular-season home game as UConn extended its winning streak to 46 games. Sarah Strong added 13 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists for the Huskies (19-0 Big East), who improved to 30-0 for the 10th time. UConn won seven NCAA titles in the first nine of those seasons.
Summer Davis led the Hoyas (14-16, 6-13) with 12 points.
No. 3 South Carolina 112, Missouri 71: Madina Okot had 26 points and 17 rebounds, Joyce Edwards added 23 points and host South Carolina (28-2, 14-1) clinched its fifth straight Southeastern Conference regular-season title.
The Gamecocks have dominated the past five years in a league with five teams currently in the top 10. South Carolina is 76-3 against the SEC in its run.
No. 4 Texas 79, No. 23 Georgia 50: Madison Booker scored 18 points in the Longhorns’ 42nd straight home victory. Texas (27-3, 12-3 Southeastern Conference) has won four straight games, the last three by an average of 36.6 points.
Booker converted 8 of 9 free throws and finished with five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Justice Carlton and Kyla Oldacre each scored 14 points.
Rylie Theuerkauf led Georgia (21-8, 7-8) with 16 points, and Manchester High graduate Mia Woolfolk added 12.
No. 5 Vanderbilt 85, Alabama 60: Mikayla Blakes scored 35 points as the Commodores posted a 16-0 home record for the first time in program history.
After a low-scoring second quarter in which Vanderbilt (26-3, 12-3 SEC) had just eight points and turned over the ball seven times, the Commodores broke the game open in the second half by outscoring Alabama (21-8, 7-8) 31-16.
No. 6 LSU 89, Tennessee 73: Mikaylah Williams had 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for the host Tigers (25-4, 11-4 SEC). She became the 17th player in LSU history to score 1,500 career points when she hit a jumper about midway through the third quarter.
Jaida Civil scored 17 for Tennessee (16-11, 8-7), which has lost five games in a row.
No. 7 Oklahoma 89, Arkansas 44: Payton Verhulst and Raegan Beers played key roles for the Sooners (22-6, 10-5 SEC) in their final regular-season home games. Verhulst had 14 points and five assists, and Beers had 11 points and 12 rebounds.
No one reached double figures for Arkansas (11-19, 0-15), which lost its 16th consecutive game and shot 22.4%.
No. 9 Iowa 82, Illinois 78: Ava Heiden scored a career-high 28 points, and the Hawkeyes (23-5, 14-3 Big Ten) won their fifth consecutive game and extended their home winning streak over the Illini (19-9, 9-8) to 13 games.
Heiden, averaging 25 points over her last four games and fourth nationally in field-goal percentage, was 13 of 18 from the field.
The Illini, who saw their three-game winning streak snapped, were 8 of 8 on 3-pointers in the second half, but couldn’t get one off while down 81-78 with four seconds left because Destiny Jackson was called for an offensive foul.
No. 10 Louisville 69, Georgia Tech 50: Elif Istanbulluoglu scored 18 points, Imari Berry added 13 and Louisville (25-5, 15-2 ACC) finished 9-0 in true road games.
The Cardinals would tie for the conference regular-season title if they beat Notre Dame on Sunday and No. 12 Duke loses one of its final two games.
