Sooners Celebrate New Rank With Win

Hollis Price made it clear he and his Oklahoma teammates like where they are in the rankings.

The Sooners moved up to a season-best No. 5 on Monday, then beat Connecticut, 69-67, at Hartford, Conn., for their 11th straight victory.

“We’re ranked No. 5 in the nation and if we had lost it would be that way for one day,” Price said. “We didn’t want that. All year we want No. 5 or higher.”

The Sooners (12-1) dominated Connecticut (8-3) on the offensive boards.

In the new Associated Press poll released Monday, Kansas is No. 1, replacing Duke, which dropped to No. 2. Florida is ranked third, Maryland fourth. UCLA moved from No. 14 to No. 11

No. 19 Wake Forest 87, Navy 65--Craig Dawson scored 21 points, all on three-point shots, and Wake Forest never trailed at Annapolis, Md.

The Demon Deacons (12-3) have won four straight games against the Midshipmen (5-10).

No. 24 Butler 62, Cleveland St. 45--Rylan Hainje and Thomas Jackson scored 14 points each and Butler shook off a sluggish start at Cleveland.

The Bulldogs, 14-1 overall and 1-1 in the Horizon Conference, looked rusty early on. Pete Ritzema scored seven points to lead Cleveland State (7-7, 1-2).

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OTHER GAMES

Jeff Johnsen scored 11 points as Utah (10-3) won its seventh straight game, beating St. Mary’s (5-8), 41-35, at Moraga, Calif.... Brandon Mouton scored 18 points to lead Texas (10-4) to a 68-48 victory over Providence (9-7) at Austin, Texas.

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No. 18 Gonzaga, which played New Mexico late Monday night, will be without reserve guard Winston Brooks indefinitely because he has a broken right wrist.... Utah senior point guard Travis Spivey was suspended by the team for an indefinite period for team misconduct.

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WOMEN’S TOP 25

Kara Braxton had 20 points and No. 15 Georgia (12-1) held Morris Brown (2-10) to an NCAA-record low seven first-half points in a 105-36 rout at Athens, Ga. The previous record for fewest points in a half was eight, by Liberty against Radford Jan. 27, 2001, and by Prairie View against Louisiana State on Dec. 22, 2001.

No. 8 Vanderbilt 71, Louisville 32--Jillian Danker scored 19 points at Nashville, Tenn.

Vanderbilt (14-3) scored 23 of the game’s first 25 points and was never slowed by Louisville (9-5).

No. 17 North Carolina 90, Tennessee Martin 67--Nikki Teasley scored 18 points to lead North Carolina (13-2) at Chapel Hill, N.C. Kelly Pendleton scored 26 points for Tennessee Martin (2-10).

New Orleans 76, No. 20 Tulane 69--Yolanda White made 17 of 21 free throws and scored 21 points to lead New Orleans (4-11) to the upset of Tulane (13-3) at New Orleans.