Not a lot to cover today in NCAAW, so with Café Bustelo in hand, here we go.
Only two Top 25 games last night, No. 22 West Virginia vs Texas Tech, and No. 21 Creighton vs Xavier. First, the Mountaineers easily handled the Lady Raiders, winning 82-59. West Virginia led only by 12 at the half, 40-28. Not an insurmountable lead, but then in the third quarter they outscored TTU 30-10. That did it, although the Lady Raiders made a valiant effort in the fourth, outscoring the Mountaineers 21-12.
Currently, West Virginia sits second in the Big 12 at 9-2 behind Oklahoma, who is at 9-1. Oklahoma is ranked No. 24 in the AP poll, and climbing. Right now, the mountain that West Virginia needs to climb looks pretty small to overtake the Sooners in conference play. JJ Quinerly dropped 21 for West Virginia, with Kyah Watson adding 19 with 8 boards, Lauren Fields with 11, and Kylee Blacksten rounding out the double-digits players with 10.
For Texas Tech, Jasmine Shavers scored 16, and Jordyn Merritt scored 13 with 11 rebounds.
In the other Top 25 game, No. 21 Creighton steamrolled Xavier 77-46. Creighton sits 1.5 games behind UConn in the Big East at 9-2, losing only to Marquette and UConn. Currently, Charlie Creme has Creighton as a 6 seed in Bracketology. Xavier is 0-11 in Big East play and 1-19 overall. Scoring for Creighton was fairly balanced, with Lauren Jensen scoring 17, Mallory Brake with 17 points and 8 boards, and Morgan Maly with 14. For Xavier, Mackayla Scarlett scored 26 of Xavier’s 46 points.
Maryland and Nebraska won close in NCAAW action
As for other games, Maryland squeaked by Rutgers 67-59. For Maryland to make the NCAA tournament, they’ll have to end conference play on a tear. Of the six remaining games, they’ve beaten three teams, lost to two, and have yet to play one. Right now they’re on the bubble. We’ll have to wait and see how precarious it is.
And finally, Nebraska edged out Michigan 65-59. Michigan took the first quarter 15-8, but then Nebraska turned it up some and only trailed by one at the half. Nebraska then took the second half 37-30, and that was it. Currently, Nebraska sits at a 10 seed at the moment, but trending down. Michigan would be playing for an 11-seed, so both of these teams need to stay focused if they want to make the tourney.
‘And that, my friends, as they say, is that.’ — Martin Ruben.
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