NCAA Women's Basketball Top 25 Recap
Overall, it was a modest weekend in college basketball, however we did see some teams shine and show that they are moving in the right direction prior to the post season. As we thought may happen, Notre Dame and South Carolina flipped positions in the standings this week. We also saw Oregon State and Texas A&M continue the slow climb upward to #7 and # 12 respectively.
This week Rachel Banham put her name at the top of the Big Ten record books with a 52 point effort in a 114-106 loss to Michigan State. Banham now currently has 2,921 points in her career with the Minnesota Gophers.
We also saw the South Carolina Gamecocks win their third straight Regular Season SEC crown. The SEC, as always, did have upsets with #16 Kentucky knocking off #14 Mississippi State and unranked Georgia beating #22 Florida and unranked LSU topping #24 Tennessee. I wonder if teams in the SEC won’t get the same respect in March due to more losses on their schedule because they play in one of the toughest leagues in the nation?
The Pac12 this week made a case for the best league in the nation. Four teams in the Pac12 have an RPI ranking in the top 10, meaning they have the toughest schedules in the country. One of those teams that is being tested and has risen to the occasion is Oregon State.
Oregon State highlights our Game of the Week. #7 Oregon State faced off with #12 UCLA Sunday night in Corvallis, Oregon. UCLA handed Oregon State their only Pac12 loss in their previous meeting 71-51. Oregon State had won 13 straight since that game, including a win over #9 Arizona State, who also has only that one loss. Oregon State needed the win to stay at the top of the Pac12, UCLA needed the win to continue to move up the standings. Oregon State hadn’t allowed more than 53 points to any Pac12 opponents this year. On Sunday night, Jamie Weisner set the tone early with 20 points in the first half. Ruth Hamblin took over in the second half, scoring 8 points in the 3rd period and playing great defense to stop the Bruins from driving to the basket with 5 blocked shots. Sydney Wiese supported the offense in the second half hitting 7 free throws to seal the deal for the Beavers, 64-54.
Thursday
#2 Notre Dame 86, Wake Forest 52 – Brianna Turner 19 pts, 11 reb
#3 South Carolina 61, Georgia 51 – Tiffany Mitchell 19 pts
#5 Ohio State 96, Nebraska 70 – Alexa Hart 18 pts, 9 reb
#11 Louisville 74, Virginia 59 – Myisha Hines-Allen 22 pts, 11 reb
#12 Texas A&M 68, LSU 54 – Courtney Williams 17 pts
Friday
#7 Oregon State 76, USC 52 – Sydney Wiese 14 pts, 9 ast
#9 Arizona State 61, Washington State 39 – Sophie Brunner 15 pts, 11 reb
#12 UCLA 77, Oregon 72 – Nirra Fields 23 pts
#15 Stanford 80, Colorado 49 – Brittany McPhee 16 pts, 7 reb
#21 DePaul 91, Providence 68 – Megan Podkowa 21 pts, 9 reb
Saturday
#1 UConn 84, ECU 41 – Breanna Stewart 16 pts, 11 reb
#4 Baylor 78, Iowa State 41 – Niya Johnson 13 pts, 10 reb, 8 ast
TCU 79, #17 Oklahoma State 65 – Zahna Medley 20 pts
#20 Oklahoma 72, Kansas 66 – Vionise Pierre-Louis 20 pts
Sunday
#5 Ohio State 117, Illinois 74 – Kelsey Mitchell 35 pts
#6 Maryland 73, Rutgers 59 – Shatori Walker-Kimbrough 21 pts, 9 reb
#8 Texas 73, West Virginia 50 – Brooke McCarty 18 pts
#9 Arizona State 77, Washington 57 – Quinn Dornstauder 25 pts
#11 Louisville 55, Boston College 45 – Myisha Hines-Allen 18 pts, 7 reb
#12 Texas A&M 75, Vanderbilt 63 – Courtney Walker 22 pts
#14 Mississippi State 60, Ole Miss 51 – Victoria Vivians 22 pts, 10 reb
#15 Stanford 72, Utah 54 – Erica McCall 18 pts, 9 reb
#16 Kentucky 77, Arkansas 63 – Evelyn Akhator 14 pts, 11 reb
#18 Miami 67, Virginia Tech 56 (OT) – Emese Hof 15 pts, 7 reb
#19 South Florida 97, Memphis 82 – Alisia Jenkins 20 pts, 17 reb
#21 DePaul 78, Creighton 52 – Jessica January 16 pts, 7 ast
Georgia 74, #22 Florida 63 – Tiaria Griffin 28 pts, 8 reb
LSU 57, #24 Tennessee 56 – Alexis Hyder 17 pts
#25 Michigan State 114, Minnesota 106 – Rachel Banham(Min) 52 pts, Aerial Powers(MSU) 40pts
Follow Kyle Wescott on Twitter @MHSWescott
