Top-ranked South Carolina narrowly avoids upset, edges past Michigan 68-62

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Chloe Kitts had 19 points and 14 rebounds and Tessa Johnson scored 15 points as top-ranked South Carolina defeated scrappy Michigan 68-62 on Monday night in the Hall of Fame Series.

Joyce Edwards added 10 points for South Carolina, which won the national championship last season.

Syla Swords led Michigan with 27 points and 12 rebounds and Jordan Hobbs had 19 points.

South Carolina, which was favored by 21 1/2 points at BetMGM Sportsbook, was pushed in the season opener for both teams. Michigan tried to become the first team since Big Ten Conference rival Iowa in 2023 national semifinals to beat the Gamecocks.

Michigan got to within 64-62 with 22 seconds left, but South Carolina held on from there.

NO. 3 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 68, NO. 20 MISSISSIPPI 66

PARIS (AP) — Kiki Iriafen made a pair of free throws with seconds remaining to lift No. 3 Southern California over Mississippi in a doubleheader in France.

The score was tied 66-66 with 10 seconds left when Iriafen — an Associated Press preseason All-America selection — hit her two free throws.

Iriafen finished with 22 points while teammate JuJu Watkins led the way for USC with 27 points.

K.K. Deans scored 19 points for No. 20 Ole Miss. Madison Scott added 14.

With a little under two minutes left, Deans made a jump shot from near halfway to put Ole Miss ahead 66-64.

The 8,000-capacity Adidas Arena, home to the men’s Paris Basketball team, was about half full.

NO. 5 UCLA 66, NO. 17 LOUISVILLE 59

PARIS (AP) — Lauren Betts had 18 points and four blocks as No. 5 UCLA beat No. 17 Louisville in the second match of a doubleheader in France.

Timea Gardiner had 15 points and Londynn Jones contributed 13 for UCLA.

Tajianna Roberts had a game-high 21 points for Louisville, which opened up an 18-13 lead at the end of the first quarter but then proved wasteful in attack.

Louisville was 6 of 29 from 3-point range compared to 8 of 23 for UCLA. Gardiner made five of them and Jones was a perfect 4 of 4 from the free-throw line.

NO. 6 NOTRE DAME 105, MERCYHURST 61

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Liatu King scored 24 points and Olivia Miles had a triple-double as No. 6 Notre Dame sprinted past Mercyhurst.

King, a Pitt transfer who was the ACC Most Improved Player last season, made her Notre Dame debut one to remember. The 6-foot forward finished 11 of 13 from the field with a double-double, grabbing 11 rebounds.

Miles, a 5-10 senior guard, missed last season rehabbing a knee injury. She had 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. She scored three and-one baskets.

All-American Hannah Hidalgo scored 19 points and had nine rebounds, six steals and two assists. Kate Koval scored 18 points and Cassandre Prosper had 17.

Bailey Kuhns led Mercyhurst with 20 points.

NO. 7 LSU 95, EASTERN KENTUCKY 44

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Flau’jae Johnson scored 25 points, and No. 7 LSU pounded Eastern Kentucky.

Aneesah Morrow had 20 points and nine rebounds for LSU (1-0), which led 48-24 at halftime. Mikaylah Williams scored 18 points after missing a couple of preseason games with a sprained ankle.

Tigers forward Sa’Myah Smith, who missed most of last year with a knee injury, had 15 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots in her return.

Liz Freihofer, Alice Recanati and Kaitly Costner led Eastern Kentucky (0-1) with nine points apiece.

NO. 8 IOWA STATE 96, CHICAGO STATE 56

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Addy Brown scored 20 points and Audi Crooks added 16 as No. 8 Iowa State routed Chicago State for its 30th straight win in a season opener, the longest active streak in Division I.

Brown also had nine rebounds, five assists, three blocks and a steal. Crooks scored in double figures for a 33rd straight game.

Aili Tanke and Alisa Williams had 12 points apiece in their first games for the Cyclones, and Emily Ryan had nine points to go with six assists and four steals, both team highs.

Asha Walker led the Cougars with 18 points and Aiyanna Culver added 14.

NO. 10 OKLAHOMA 76, SOUTHERN 44

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Transfer center Raegan Beers had 21 points and 14 rebounds and Sahara Williams added 19 points to help No. 10 Oklahoma rout Southern.

Beers, a third-team Associated Press All-American for Oregon State last season, made 8 of 11 field goals for the Sooners. Skyler Vann added 12 points and seven rebounds for Oklahoma in its first game as a member of the Southeastern Conference.

Aniya Gourdine was the only Southern player in double figures with 11 points.

Oklahoma scored the game’s first 10 points on its way to avenging last year’s shocking home loss to the Lady Jaguars of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).

NO. 11 DUKE 89, RADFORD 36

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Reigan Richardson scored seven of her 11 points in the first quarter when No. 11 Duke took off to a big lead, Jordan Wood finished with 13 points and eight rebounds, and the Blue Devils cruised to a win over Radford.

Richardson, on the Naismith Trophy watch list, scored nine points to lead Duke in the first half, playing 15 minutes before sitting out most of the second.

Delaney Thomas added 12 points, Jadyn Donovan had 10 points and nine rebounds and Oluchi Okananwa and Toby Fournier scored 10 points each for Duke.

Neither team shot well from deep on a combined 37 shots from the arc, but the Blue Devils scored 41 points off 34 turnovers.

NO. 13 KANSAS STATE 92, GREEN BAY 45

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Kennedy Taylor had 16 points and 11 rebounds, Jaelyn Glenn added 17 points and nine rebounds and No. 13 Kansas State takes the win over Green Bay.

Taylor, a Missouri State transfer, was 5 of 8 from the floor and made all six free throws. Glenn hit four of the Wildcats’ 11 3-pointers. Tulsa transfer Temira Poindexter added 15 points and Serena Sundell 12. Six-foot-6 Ayoke Lee, Kansas State’s leading scorer last season, had seven points and four rebounds in 10 minutes.

Poindexter led the game off with a 3-pointer and Kansas State led thereafter, finishing the first quarter on a 15-2 run to lead 28-7. The Wildcats scored the last 15 points of the half for a 49-12 lead. A couple of Poindexter 3-pointers along with a Sundell bucket gave the Wildcats their largest margin of 49 late in the third quarter.

Natalie McNeal scored 14 points with seven rebounds for the Phoenix, which played their first game under new head coach Kayla Karius.

NO. 15 NORTH CAROLINA 83, CHARLESTON SOUTHERN 53

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Alyssa Ustby had 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists, Lexi Donarski added 14 points, and No. 15 North Carolina beat Charleston Southern.

UNC has won 12 straight games against Charleston Southern and seven consecutive season openers. The Tar Heels open the season ranked for the third consecutive year.

UNC coach Courtney Banghart returns nine players from last year’s NCAA Tournament squad, including starters Ustby, Donarski and Maria Gakdeng. The trio accounted for 47.4% of UNC’s scoring in 2023-24. Ustby averaged a double-double in ACC action last season with 12.4 points and 10.0 rebounds per game.

Trayanna Crisp, a transfer from Arizona State, added 11 points off the bench for UNC. Gakdeng grabbed seven of the Tar Heels’ 46 rebounds, while Charleston Southern had just 34.

NO. 18 MARYLAND 74, UMBC 32

BALTIMORE (AP) — Christina Dalce scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and No. 18 Maryland clamped down on defense in the second half to defeat UMBC.

The Terrapins held the Retrievers to 10 points in the second half on 3 of 20 shooting after leading by 11 at halftime.

Shyanne Sellers added 12 points and Allie Kubek had 11 for the Terrapins, who have a rebuilt roster with 10 new players, including seven transfers. Dalce was last season’s co-Defensive Player of the Year in the Big East for Villanova.

Jordan Lewis scored 10 points for UMBC, which finished 10 of 43 from the field — 5 of 24 inside the arc and 5 of 19 on 3-pointers.

Maryland made 6 of 10 shots and held UMBC to 2 of 11 in the first quarter to open an 18-8 lead. The teams combined for 27 turnovers in the first half when the Terrapins took a 33-22 lead.

Although the Terps finished with 22 turnovers, they had a 48-18 rebounding advantage and outscored the Terriers 50-10 inside.

NO. 19 FLORIDA STATE 119, NORTH FLORIDA 49

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Ta’Niya Latson scored 27 points, Makayla Timpson had 17 points and 22 rebounds for her 32nd career double-double and No. 19 Florida State set a single-game program record for points scored in a victory over North Florida.

Latson scored eight points and Timpson grabbed 10 rebounds during Florida State’s 20-0 run to start the game. The Seminoles led 56-20 at the break and scored 39 points in the third quarter.

Timpson is tied with Sue Galakantas (1981-84) for career double-doubles in FSU history, trailing Natasha Howard’s 41 from 2011-14. Timpson secured her double-double with 11 points and 21 rebounds midway through the third quarter. The program record for rebounds in a game is 24.

Florida State brought back 75% of its scoring from a year ago as well as 82% of rebounding, led by Latson, Timpson and O’Mariah Gordon.

NO. 22 KENTUCKY 98, SOUTH CAROLINA UPSTATE 43

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Clara Strack scored 22 points, Georgia Amoore added 11, and No. 22 Kentucky started with a win over South Carolina Upstate in the Wildcats’ first game under Kenny Brooks.

Brooks built Virginia Tech into an NCAA Tournament regular and brought Strack, a 6-foot-5 sophomore, and Amoore, a graduate senior and All-American candidate, with him as his Wildcat roster has 11 new players.

Amoore had nine points in the first quarter, and Kentucky used runs of 11 and nine points to lead 26-11 after one quarter. A 15-point run helped boost the Wildcats’ lead to 47-18 at the half.

NO. 23 NEBRASKA 88, OMAHA 48

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Alexis Markowski had 14 points and 11 rebounds to lead No. 23 Nebraska to a win over Omaha.

Markowski, a senior 6-foot-3 center who led the team in scoring and rebounding last year and is on the Naismith Trophy watch list for a third straight season, shot 7 of 8 from the field.

Last season’s Big Ten freshman of year, Natalie Potts, also scored 14 points for Nebraska. Logan Nissley, who was a conference All-Freshman team choice along with Potts last season, added 12 points.

Allison Weidner, who missed 55 straight games with injuries, returned to score 11 points for Nebraska. Freshman Britt Prince, a two-time Nebraska high school player of the year, added 10 points.

NO. 24 ALABAMA 115, NEW ORLEANS 53

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Aaliyah Nye scored 25 points, Sarah Ashlee Barker added 23 and No. 24 Alabama rolled to a win over New Orleans.

Freshman Eris Lester scored 16 points and Zaay Green had 12 for the Crimson Tide, who shot 52% (45-86), including 14 of 31 from 3-point range. Nye was 7 of 12 behind the arc and Barker hit three from distance in the sixth-highest scoring game in school history.

Jayla Kimbrough led the Privateers with 13 points. Nora Francois and Jasmine Jones both added 10.

Alabama forced 35 turnovers and turned those into 38 points. At halftime it was 28 turnovers and 24 points as the Crimson Tide took a 58-27 lead. The rebounding difference was 49-27, 22-4 on the offensive end, leading to 27 second-chance points.

An 18-2 run led to a 25-13 lead after one quarter and an 18-3 run to start the second half pushed the lead to 76-30.

NO. 25 INDIANA 82, BROWN 60

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Sydney Parrish scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and No. 25 Indiana rolls past Brown.

Tennessee transfer Karoline Striplin added 17 points, Yarden Garzon had four 3-pointers and 16 points and Lilly Meister had 12 points for the Hoosiers, who shot 50% (30 of 60) from the field and went 17 of 20 from the foul line.

Isabella Mauricio led the Bears with 15 points and Olivia Young had 13. Brown hit 11 of 36 3-pointers (31%) and was 23 of 60 overall (38%).

The Hoosiers had a 16-2 run in the first quarter and led 18-7 after one and pushed the lead to 39-21 at the half.

Mauricio had 13 points in the third quarter, hitting two 3s and converting a three-point play as the Bears scored 23 points, but the Hoosiers made 6 of 12 from the field and all eight free throws to keep pace.