No. 1 Connecticut Gets Serious in a 88-36 Rout

A bad week in practice for top-ranked Connecticut turned into a dominating defensive effort against Pittsburgh.

Shea Ralph, who led the Huskies with six steals, called Saturday night’s 88-36 rout at Storrs, Conn., “a confidence booster.”

“Since the Tennessee game, our practices have gone downhill,” she said. “We took this game very seriously.”

Connecticut, 14-0 overall and 4-0 in the Big East Conference, has beaten six ranked opponents, including a 74-67 victory over No. 2 Tennessee on Jan. 8.

What the Huskies tried to accomplish in recent practices was more ball pressure and cutting off the passing lanes. It all came together against the Panthers (11-5, 2-3).

Connecticut had 21 steals, scored 47 points off 32 Panther turnovers and denied Pittsburgh a field goal during a nearly 18-minute first-half stretch.

No. 6 Notre Dame 71, Syracuse 56--Niele Ivey contributed a season-high 22 points and eight assists as the Irish (13-2, 4-0) stretched their home winning streak to 16 games with a Big East victory over the Orangemen (7-7, 0-3) at South Bend, Ind.

Ivey made a career-high six three-point shots. Ruth Riley added 15 points for the Irish and Danielle Green had 14.

No. 8 Iowa State 89, Nebraska 66--Angie Welle scored 20 of her career-high 24 points in the second half and sparked a 24-2 run that carried the Cyclones (12-2, 3-0) over the Cornhuskers (7-7, 1-2) in a Big 12 Conference game at Ames, Iowa.

Iowa State dominated the final 10 1/2 minutes and extended its home winning streak to 22 games. Stacy Frese added 19 points for the Cyclones.

Nebraska stayed close for much of the game with some unusually accurate three-point shooting and led, 56-54, after Charlie Rogers scored inside with 10:54 to play. Iowa State then scored 24 of the next 26 points to take control.

Villanova 66, No. 9 Rutgers 65--Trish Juhline made two late free throws in overtime as the Wildcats (9-5, 2-1) upset the Scarlet Knights (11-3, 4-1) in a Big East game at Piscataway, N.J.

Villanova, which scored its last 19 points from the foul line, made six free throws in overtime to end Rutgers’ eight-game winning streak.

Rutgers had a chance to win, but Tasha Pointer missed two shots in the final six seconds.

No. 16 Texas Tech 76, Oklahoma State 51--Aleah Johnson had 19 points and nine rebounds to lead the Red Raiders (13-2, 2-2) over the Cowboys (10-5, 2-1) in a Big 12 game at Lubbock, Texas.

Plenette Pierson had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Katrissa O’Neal added 13 points for the Red Raiders.

Texas Tech made only 39% of its shots but scored 36 points off turnovers.

No. 20 Arizona 96, Washington 85--Lisa Griffith scored a career-high 26 points and matched her own school record with seven three-point baskets in leading the Wildcats (14-2, 3-1) to a Pacific 10 Conference victory over the Huskies (5-11, 1-3) at Seattle.

It was the Wildcats’ first victory at Washington since the two teams started playing each other in 1979.

Griffith’s performance moved her into sixth place on Arizona’s all-time points list. Angela Lackey added 24 points, and Felecity Willis had 15.

Loree Payne scored 27 points for Washington.

No. 21 Kansas 78, Colorado 56--Lynn Pride scored 18 points and had 10 rebounds and the Jayhawks (11-4, 2-1) held the Buffaloes (5-9, 0-3) scoreless for lengthy periods in each half of a Big 12 game at Lawrence, Kan.

Kansas outrebounded the Buffaloes, 49-34, had 14 steals and caused 22 turnovers.

Suzi Raymant scored 16 points for Kansas and Jaclyn Johnson added 12 points and nine rebounds.

The Jayhawks led, 10-9, then went on a 15-0 run midway through the half, holding Colorado scoreless for almost six minutes. Kansas went on another run late in the second half, outscoring the Buffaloes, 12-0, in 4 1/2 minutes.

Stanford 78, No. 23 Oregon 62--Lauren St. Clair scored 25 points and sparked one of the biggest comebacks in team history as the Cardinal (10-4, 3-1) overcame a 26-point deficit to upset the Ducks (11-4, 2-1) in a Pac-10 game at Palo Alto.

The 42-point turnaround was believed to be the largest in Stanford women’s basketball history, which started in 1976 when the Cardinal began competing in the AIAW.

The Cardinal, which couldn’t do anything right for most of the first half, missed 19 of its first 21 shots, made nine turnovers and trailed the defending co-Pac-10 champions, 36-10, with 4:15 to play in the half.

But St. Clair made a three-point shot, was fouled and added the free throw. Coach Tara VanDerveer had her team press, and Stanford went on a 22-8 run.

No. 25 Boston College 72, Providence 52--Cal Bouchard scored 20 points to help the Eagles (15-3, 4-0) extend their winning streak to 11 games with a Big East victory over the Friars (8-6, 3-2) at Boston.

After a sluggish start, the Eagles used a 16-5 run midway into the first half to open a 32-22 advantage. Their lead was never less than 10 points the rest of the game.

Jen Gombotz led Providence with 20 points despite sitting out much of the second half because of an ankle injury.