Winless Trojans Fall to Drake, 55-51

Point guard Stephanie Schmitz scored 25 points, 17 in the second half, to lead Drake to a 55-51 women’s basketball victory over USC on Sunday at Des Moines, Iowa.

Schmitz also had 11 rebounds for Bulldogs, who erased a 30-29 deficit with a 14-2 run midway through the second half.

Carla Bennett added 11 points and Kristin Santa had 10 for the Bulldogs, including two free throws with 8.1 seconds to play.

USC (0-2) was led by guard Tiffany Elmore, who scored 11 points.

The Trojans made only 31.4% of their shots, connecting on only one of 23 three-point attempts, and were outrebounded, 47-41.

USC, which lost Friday night at Creighton, opens its home season against UC Santa Barbara on Friday night at the Sports Arena.

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Camille Cooper scored 19 points as No. 4 Purdue advanced to the Preseason NIT title game with a 71-49 victory over Texas at West Lafayette, Ind.

Purdue will play Louisiana Tech in today’s championship game. The Boilermakers (3-0) went on a 23-10 run to start the game and cruised to a 32-17 halftime lead.

The Boilermakers pressured Texas (2-1) into 22 turnovers and 30% shooting.

In other Top 25 games: Kelly Miller scored 27 points as No. 5 Georgia (1-1) overcame a sluggish start to beat Massachusetts (1-1), 71-63, at Athens, Ga. . . . Ayana Walker scored 15 points and led five players in double figures as No. 8 Louisiana Tech beat No. 13 Virginia, 72-59, at West Lafayette, Ind. . . . LaTonya Sims scored 22 points, leading five Wisconsin players in double figures, as the No. 16 Badgers (1-1) beat Elon (0-2), 102-49, in the consolation game of the GlaxoWellcome Invitational at Raleigh, N.C. In the championship game, Kourtney Shreve scored her only four points in the final 41 seconds as No. 24 Oregon defeated No. 19 North Carolina State, 50-47. . . . LaQuanda Barkdale scored 24 points and freshman guard Coretta Brown had 19 points and six rebounds as No. 22 North Carolina defeated Syracuse, 81-68, at Syracuse, N.Y. . . . Nicole Levandusky scored 19 points as Xavier defeated No. 20 Vanderbilt, 64-60, in the season opener at Cincinnati.