Another short list of NCAAW games last night for the Top 25.
Well, as far as the stats are concerned, a win is a win. Some might say “Let’s forget this one,” but no, you have to remember it. There is always going to be that game when the basket might as well be on a remote Polynesian island. Such was the first half for No. 11 UConn Vs. Seton Hall. Although the Huskies eventually won 67-34, the first half was almost mystifying. To say the shooting was ice-cold would be an understatement.
Seton Hall scored 12 in the first half. UConn freshman Ashlynn Shade scored 12 in the first half. UConn led 29-12 at the half. Then the game got…better. To be fair, there was some good defense in the first half. For a while, Seton Hall made it difficult for the Huskies to get in the paint, and no one on either team, except for Shade, was making 3s. In the third quarter, Seton Hall hit double figures in scoring with 13, while UConn scored 19. The fourth quarter saw Seton Hall score only 9 and UConn grabbing 19.
For UConn, Aaliyah Edwards finished with 18 points and 15 boards. Ashlynn Shade scored 17 points, and Paige Bueckers, who had a really off night, added 13. The high scorer for Seton Hall was I’yanna Lops with 9. Maybe this was the kind of game UConn needed before heading down to Columbia for Sunday’s matchup with South Carolina. I suspect a lot of people expect UConn to get their clock cleaned, but I don’t know.
I think it might be unwise to completely write them off. As the saying goes, “on any given day…” Well, you know the rest. I don’t think that UConn will dismiss last night’s game, but will take it very seriously, look at what went wrong, and find the tenacity to correct those things. Of course, the Gamecocks won’t be resting on their laurels. With Cardoso gone, they’ll have some adjustments to make, which they will. So let’s wait and see.
Oklahoma took care of TCU by convincing fashion in NCAAW
The Horned Frogs of TCU leaped into Norman to see if they could sink the Sooners in the pond. Oklahoma had other ideas. After a relatively close first half, which ended with the Sooners up by four, Skylar Vann and Payton Verhulst led the way for the Sooners to pull ahead of TCU for a 72-55 victory. Vann scored 17 and Verhulst had 14, with Kiersten Johnson adding 11 points and 8 boards. For TCU, Sydney Harris had 17 points off the bench, while starter Aaliyah Roberson contributed 13 points and 9 boards.
Oklahoma is on a seven-game winning streak, with close wins over two ranked teams, Texas and Kansas State. TCU has lost nine of its last ten games, and it doesn’t get any easier with Texas and West Virginia up next.
BYU takes down ranked Baylor in an upset
And yes, we’ve got an upset! The Cougars of BYU savaged the No. 18 Bears of Baylor, feasting on a win of 78-66. A low-scoring first half had BYU up 35-21, and although Baylor upped their scoring in the second half, it just wasn’t enough to overcome BYU’s lead. Lauren Gustin topped the scoring for BYU with 23 points and 16 rebounds, with Kailey Woolston getting all of her 14 points in the second half. Emma Calvert scored 10 of her 14 points in the second half, and Amari Whiting had 14 points, 8 boards, and 9 assists.
Baylor’s Darianna Littlepage-Buggs scored 17 points and had 12 rebounds, with Yaya Felder adding 15 points and Jana Van Gytenbeek 10. Currently, Baylor sits at a five seed in Charlie Creme’s Bracketology. They’ve gone 5-5 in their last ten games, with No. 22 West Virginia and No. 24 Oklahoma up next. They will have to re-group and get some winning consistency to avoid falling in the seeding.
What is ahead on Thursday’s NCAAW slate of games?
We have some good games tonight, with No. 16 Virginia Tech headed to Raleigh to take on No. 3 NC State, and No. 12 Notre Dame facing No. 15 Louisville in, you guessed it, Louisville. Let’s see what the dynamic Hokies duo of Kitley and Amoore can and, and if Hannah Hidalgo can clip the wings of the Cardinals.
And that, my friends, as they say, ‘is that.’ — Martin Ruben.
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