COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Aliyah Boston and Victaria Saxon each had 10 points and 10 rebounds to lead No. 1 South Carolina to a 78-45 victory over Missouri on Thursday night.
Zia Cooke and Mikiah Herbert Harrigan scored 14 each for the Gamecocks (17-1, 5-0 SEC), who played their first game since taking over the top spot in the AP Top 25. South Carolina exploited its size advantage, grabbing 37 offensive rebounds and holding a 62-31 edge in total rebounds.
Aijha Blackwell scored 13 points to lead the Tigers (4-14, 1-4). Missouri shot just 27.3%.
After a sluggish start, the Gamecocks started to pull away in the second quarter, outscoring the Tigers 18-3 in the last six minutes of the first half for a 35-17 lead.
Defensively, the Gamecocks blocked eight shots. They smothered Amber Smith, who leads Missouri in scoring by averaging 13 points. Smith didn't score until the final minute of the third quarter and finished with four points on 1-of-8 shooting.
South Carolina's Tyasha Harris finished with 11 points and five assists and became the second player in program history to surpass 1,000 points and 600 assists in a career. She joined Cristina Ciocan, who accomplished the feat from 2000-04.
In other games involving Top 25 teams, Megan Walker scored 19 points and Crystal Dangerfield sparked a big first-half rally, leading No. 4 Connecticut past Central Florida 59-52 in Orlando, Fla. Christyn Williams (Central Arkansas Christian) scored five points and collected five rebounds for UConn. ... Jordan Danberry (Conway) scored 16 points and Jessika Carter had 13 points and 11 rebounds as No. 10 Mississippi State defeated LSU 64-60 in Starkville, Miss. ... Rhyne Howard scored 16 of her 24 points in the second half and No. 11 Kentucky beat No. 12 Texas A&M 76-54 in Lexington, Ky. ... Rennia Davis scored 18 points and No. 24 Tennessee beat host Florida for its third consecutive victory and sixth win in seven games. Davis scored 14 points in 16 first-half minutes as Tennessee led 40-24. ... Sabrina Ionescu had a career-high 37 points to become Oregon's all-time leading scorer, and the sixth-ranked Ducks handed No. 3 Stanford its first conference loss with an 87-55 victory in Eugene, Ore. Ionescu went into the game needing 24 points to match Oregon career leader Alison Lang, who had 2,252 between 1980-84. ... Dana Evans hit seven three-pointers and finished with 27 points, leading No. 5 Louisville over host Boston College 81-70 for its ninth consecutive victory. ... Elissa Cunane had 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead No. 9 North Carolina State past No. 13 Florida State 68-51 in Raleigh, N.C. ... Veronica Burton scored 15 points, including the three-point play that forced overtime and the two free throws that put Northwestern ahead in the extra session on its way to a 71-69 victory over No. 15 Indiana in Bloomington, Ind. Northwestern outscored Indiana 17-5 in the final 7:13 of regulation, including the last five points, and had the last six points in overtime. ... Kaila Charles scored 23 points and No. 20 Maryland controlled the first and last quarters in beating Nebraska 87-69 in College Park, Md. Ashley Owusu added 16 points, Stephanie Jones 14 and Diamond Miller 13 for the Terrapins. ... Monika Czinano scored 21 points on 10-of-11 shooting and No. 22 Iowa hit five of its 10 three-pointers in the fourth quarter to rally from a 13-point deficit with eight minutes left for a 76-75 victory over Minnesota in Minneapolia. ... Ciara Duffy scored 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting and added eight rebounds to lead No. 25 South Dakota to an 80-36 victory over North Dakota State in Fargo, N.D.
SUN BELT
ARKANSAS STATE 76, APPALACHIAN STATE 58
Peyton Martin scored 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting to lead Arkansas State University (7-9, 4-1 Sun Belt Conference) past Appalachian State (4-12, 1-4) on Thursday night at First National Bank Arena in Jonesboro.
The Red Wolves won their fourth consecutive game. They shot 53.7% (29 of 54) from the floor and made 11 of 19 from three-point range.
Jada Ford finished with 16 points for the Red Wolves. Payton Tennison had 14 points, while Morgan Wallace added 13.
Nicola Mathews led the Mountaineers with 18 points.
ASU led 28-15 at the end of the first quarter and 48-29 at halftime. The Red Wolves extended their lead to 64-48 at the end of the third quarter.
Sports on 01/17/2020