NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — NCAA scoring leader Mikayla Blakes had 34 points, Aubrey Galvan added 18 points and eight rebounds and No. 5 Vanderbilt beat No. 4 Texas 86-70 on Thursday night.
Blakes raised her scoring average to 26.2 points. She reached 30 or more for the fourth straight game and ninth time this season.
The Commodores (24-2, 10-2 Southeastern Conference) won their third straight over a Top 25 team and fourth overall. They trailed early before taking control midway through the first quarter.
Madison Booker led Texas (23-3, 9-3) with 20 points and eight rebounds. Breya Cunningham had 14 points before fouling out late in the third quarter.
Vanderbilt has won 14 consecutive home games this season, further extending the school record for a season.
After falling behind 7-4 early in the first quarter, Vanderbilt went on a 14-0 run and finished the opening frame up 27-15 thanks to 9-of-12 shooting, including 4 of 5 from behind the 3-point line. The Commodores led 47-30 at the half, paced by Blakes’ 15 points and Galvan’s 13.
The Commodores led by as many as 26 midway through the third before Texas closed the gap to as few as 11 with 2:15 left in the fourth.
NO. 7 MICHIGAN 80, NORTHWESTERN 58
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Olivia Olson had 21 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and Michigan beat Northwestern.
Michigan (21-4, 12-2 Big Ten) shook off a slow start while bouncing back from a 69-66 home loss to No. 2 UCLA on Sunday. Next up is a big matchup with rival Michigan State on Sunday.
Syla Swords scored 16 points for the Wolverines, and Kendall Dudley had 12 points on 6-for-9 shooting.
Northwestern (8-16, 2-11) dropped its sixth consecutive game. Caroline Lau had 16 points and six assists for the Wildcats. Grace Sullivan also scored 16, and Tayla Thomas finished with 13.
Michigan erased a seven-point deficit with a 21-3 run in the third quarter. The Wolverines went ahead to stay on Swords’ driving layup with 5:42 left, and Dudley’s basket made it 56-45 with 1:19 to go.
Thomas missed two foul shots for Northwestern during the decisive sequence, and Sullivan had a costly turnover.
The Wolverines led by 23 on Olson’s jumper with 3:30 left. The sophomore guard scored 14 points in the second half.
NO. 9 LOUISVILLE 86, WAKE FOREST 67
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Laura Ziegler scored 13 points, Tajianna Roberts had 12 and Louisville held Wake Forest to just nine points in each of the first two quarters on the way to a rout.
The Cardinals (23-4, 13-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) have won their past two contests by 19 points each since their initial league loss to No. 11 Duke snapped a 14-game winning streak. They and the Demon Deacons each shot 52% overall and 44% from long range, but Louisville consistently stayed above 50% for three quarters while all 12 players scored at least one basket.
The Cardinals led by 32 late in the fourth before inserting reserves. Wake Forest outscored them 15-2 over the final 4:20.
Elif Istanbulluoglu added 10 points with two 3-pointers for Louisville, which made 11 of 25 from behind the arc.
Grace Oliver scored 20 points while Milan Brown and Aurora Sorbye had 12 each for the Demon Deacons (13-13, 3-11) who have dropped 10 of 11. Wake Forest overcame 38% shooting in the first half to make 19 of 31 (61%) after halftime and 65% in the fourth (11 of 17).
NO. 10 OKLAHOMA 81, FLORIDA 74
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Zya Vann scored 18 points and Peyton Verhulst had 16 points and nine rebounds as Oklahoma rallied to beat Florida.
Aaliyah Chavez added 16 points and seven assists and made all 10 of her free throws for Oklahoma (18-6, 6-5 Southeastern Conference), which overcame poor shooting in the first half.
Liv McGill had 29 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for Florida (15-12, 3-9), which held the Sooners scoreless for four minutes in the second quarter and led 37-26 at halftime. Me’Arah O’Neal scored 14 points and Jade Weathersby added 11 for the Gators.
Oklahoma played a forgettable first half. The Sooners made 10 of 36 shots (28%) and were one of nine from behind the arc while the Sooners’ two best players — Chavez and Raegen Beers, struggled.
NO. 14 MISSISSIPPI 80, ARKANSAS 57
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Cotie McMahon racked up 21 points and dished five assists as Mississippi cruised by Arkansas to reach 20 wins for the fifth straight season.
McMahon scored 20 or more points for the fourth straight game and has scored double figures in all but one outing this season.
The Rebels (20-5, 7-3 Southeastern Conference) bounced back from a 64-63 loss at then-No. 21 Alabama last Thursday to comfortably get back into the win column in their first home game in over a month.
Latasha Lattimore added 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season, and Denim DeShields tacked on 12 points for Ole Miss.
Ole Miss took the lead for good just 2:25 into the first quarter on a Lattimore layup and built a double-digit lead before the end of the first frame. They kept the lead the rest of the way, with a 40-27 lead at the half stretching to 20 points after a 7-0 run to open the second half.
For the Razorbacks (11-15, 0-11), Taleyah Jones led in scoring with 16 points, and Bonnie Deas had 14 with eight rebounds.
NO. 17 TCU 83, NO. 12 BAYLOR 67
WACO, Texas (AP) — Olivia Miles poured in career highs with 40 points and 10 3-pointers to lead TCU over Baylor.
Miles scored 10 points in the first half before an outrageous, 23-point third quarter in which she went 7 of 9 from behind the arc, and accounted for all but two of the Horned Frogs’ 25 points.
She turned a four-point halftime lead into a 13-point advantage by the end of the third, scoring the most points in a single quarter by any Division I player since Caitlin Clark on Feb. 15, 2024.
She hit her 10th 3-pointer with 5:31 left in the fourth quarter. It’s her second-straight game with 31 or more, in a season in which she’s never scored fewer than 12 points in a game.
Marta Suarez also added 27 points to go with six rebounds for the Horned Frogs (22-4, 10-3 Big 12).
Taliah Scott led the Bears (21-5, 10-3) with 22 points on 5-of-10 shooting, and crossed the 1,000-point threshold for her career. Jana Van Gytenbeek had 14 points to go with six assists. Darianna Littlepage-Buggs scored 14 to go with five rebounds and two blocks.
NO. 18 KENTUCKY 75, TEXAS A&M 55
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Asia Boone and Tonie Morgan each scored 19 points and Clara Strack posted a double-double as Kentucky breezed past Texas A&M.
Boone was 5-of-11 shooting, with four made 3-pointers, and Morgan added eight assists. Strack had 17 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks for the Wildcats (19-7, 6-6 Southeastern Conference).
Strack continued her double-double average at 16 points and 10.5 rebounds per game heading into the contest. She has 13 double-doubles on the year after entering tied for the 14th-most double-doubles in the country.
The Wildcats opened the game on a 16-0 run to build a commanding 27-5 lead at the end of the first quarter. Boone had eight points in the quarter, including a pair of 3-pointers during the opening run.
It was 38-18 at the half, and the Aggies never got closer than a 17-point deficit after that.
The Aggies (10-10, 2-9) have lost four consecutive games on the road.
NO. 20 MARYLAND 81, PENN STATE 62
COLLEGE Park, Md. (AP) — Yarden Garzon led with 19 points, four other Terrapins scored in double figures, and Maryland took down Penn State.
Oluchi Okananwa (15 points), Addi Mack (13), Saylor Poffenbarger (10), and Mir McLean (10) each chipped in for the Terrapins (20-6, 8-6 Big Ten), who won their third straight game.
Poffenbarger hauled in 11 rebounds and had five assists in her third double-double of the season, and Okananwa dished six assists and tied her career-high with six steals.
Maryland led 38-34 at the half, shooting 46% fro the field but just 17% from beyond the arc. An 11-0 run early in the third quarter put them up double figures, and the Terrapins opened the fourth with a 13-3 run that put the game out of reach.
Kiyomi McMiller racked up 30 points on 12-of-26 shooting for the Lady Lions (8-17, 1-13), her third straight game with 30 or more points.
NO. 21 NORTH CAROLINA 94, SMU 42
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Lanie Grant scored 15 points, Indya Nivar added 14 and North Carolina routed SMU for its eighth straight victory.
Courtney Banghart secured her 400th career win to become one of 48 active coaches in Division I women’s basketball to reach the mark.
North Carolina jumped out to a 28-9 lead by the end of the first quarter after making 6 of 8 3-pointers, while SMU went 3-for-14 overall. Five different Tar Heel players made a 3-pointer in the first quarter, with Laila Hull going 2 for 2.
Then the Tar Heels went on a 14-0 run, with 3-pointers by Nyla Brooks and Taliyah Henderson, early in the second quarter for a 31-point lead. Hull made North Carolina’s ninth 3-pointer of the first half — on just 12 attempts — for a 49-18 lead at the break.
North Carolina’s lead did not drop below 31 points in the second half.
Henderson finished with 13 points and Hull had 11 for North Carolina (21-5, 10-3 ACC).
NO. 22 TENNESSEE 98, MISSOURI 53
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Janiah Barker scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds, Talaysia Cooper added 17 points and four steals, and Tennessee rolled past Missouri.
Barker shot 9 of 16 from the field and 2 for 5 from beyond the arc for the Lady Vols (16-6, 8-2 Southeastern Conference), who had lost three of their last four games.
Alyssa Latham added 15 points (7-for-10 shooting), Nya Robertson scored 14, and Deniya Prawl notched her first career double-double with 13 points and a career-high 10 rebounds for Tennessee.
The Lady Vols took a double-digit lead just under eight minutes into the contest and stretched their advantage to 30 with a 9-0 run in the second quarter. They held a 53-22 lead at the half. Barker scored 16 points and shot 6 for 9 in the first half, and Latham added 10 points. Tennessee shot 55% as a team in the opening half and held Mizzou to 27%.
The Tigers (16-11, 4-8) were paced by Grace Slaughter’s 20 points on 6-of-13 shooting. Shannon Dowell added 11 points, five rebounds, and two steals. Mizzou dropped their second straight contest after a three-game win streak.
The Associated Press
