PARIS (AP) —
Joyce Edwards found her touch in the second quarter and ended up with 23 points to lead five players in double figures on Monday, and top-ranked South Carolina withstood a strong run from No. 20 Maryland to win 101-93 in the season opener for both teams in Paris.
For South Carolina, it was a cushion from an early runaway that helped it survive the Maryland comeback. The Gamecocks had 27 fast-break points in the opening 20 minutes, and 21 points off turnovers.
Maryland staged a rally in the second half, cutting a 61-33 halftime gap and a 31-point edge at one point to 89-80 with 4:30 left, forcing South Carolina coach Dawn Staley to take a timeout. That break apparently snapped the Gamecocks out of their funk — they went on a 7-0 run.
Maryland got it down to 96-90, but two free throws each by Jordan Lee and Jerzy Robinson helped hold off the Terrapins one last time.
Addi Mack fueled the Maryland comeback, hitting 31 of her game-high and career-high 35 points in the second half. She was 14 of 20 from the field, including 6 of 10 from 3-point range.
Agot Mateer added 20 points for South Carolina. Robinson and Tessa Johnson scored 15 apiece and Lee had 13.
NO. 2 UCONN 100, CORNELL 35
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Sarah Strong had 19 points, four rebounds, five assists and eight steals and freshman Jovana Popovic also scored 19 points as UConn opened the season with a win over Cornell.
KK Arnold finished with 11 points and four steals, Marine Dursus had 11 points and Jana El Alfy had nine points and five rebounds, as UConn won its season opener for the 31st season in a row.
Dursus and sophomore Blanca Quinonez, who didn’t play in UConn’s three exhibition games, combined for 15 points.
Rachel Kraus led Cornell with eight points. Simone Richmond and Ally Pape added seven points each.
UConn had runs of 21-0 and 22-0 in the first half. UConn had 16 steals in the first half with Strong having a career-high seven as the Huskies led 46-13 at halftime. Strong and Popovic didn’t play in the fourth quarter.
Cornell missed 12 consecutive shots in the first half. The Huskies were shooting 61% from the field late in the first half, getting baskets from eight different players.
The Big Red only had five baskets in the first half. Cornell matched that mark just 6:46 into the second half.
UConn is 9-0 against Ivy League programs under Hall of Fame head coach Geno Auriemma. Four of those wins came in the NCAA Tournament, including an 89-47 win over Cornell in 2008.
NO. 3 SOUTHERN CAL 100, UNLV 68
LAS VEGAS (AP) — JuJu Watkins scored 21 points in her return after missing last season with an ACL injury, freshman Saniyah Hall added 22 in her collegiate debut and Southern California defeated UNLV.
Jazzy Davidson led all scorers with 23 points on 10-for-11 shooting for the Trojans. Hall added seven rebounds and seven assists.
Kennedy Smith contributed 12 points and Sitaya Fagan had 11 for USC, giving the Trojans five scorers in double figures. Watkins added five rebounds and two assists in 25 minutes.
Maia Rosarion led UNLV with 12 points and Jayla Constant added 10. Meadow Roland grabbed a game-high nine rebounds for the Lady Rebels, who finished with a 40-35 rebounding advantage.
Watkins scored 11 points during a decisive third quarter in which USC outscored UNLV 31-10, stretching a 52-39 halftime lead to 83-49. The Trojans made 14 of 20 shots in the period while holding the Lady Rebels to 3-for-16 shooting.
Hall scored seven points and Davidson added six in the third, with both making all three of their field-goal attempts. UNLV missed all five of its 3-point attempts and went without a field goal over the final 4:14 of the quarter.
NO. 7 LOUISVILLE 119, BELLARMINE 47
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Tajianna Roberts scored 15 points, and Imari Berry added 14 for Louisville in a win over Bellarmine.
It was the most points that Louisville had scored in school history. Former North Carolina State guard Zam Jones set a career high with six steals, tied a career high with nine assists and added 11 points in the win.
Coach Jeff Walz shuffled 11 players on and off the court as Louisville raced out to a 23-0 lead over the crosstown Knights less than midway through the first quarter.
The lead was 44-9 after a quarter, setting a record for the most points scored in a quarter. That broke the mark of 40 that the Cardinals scored against DePaul in the third quarter of a 116-75 victory in 2020. That was the team’s previous record for points in a game.
On Monday, they led 72-21 at halftime, breaking the record for most points in a half, which was 63 in a 111-33 rout of Bellarmine on Nov. 16, 2023.
Berry and Roberts, both of whom earned All-Atlantic Coast Conference preseason honors last month, led seven Cardinals in double figures.
NO. 8 VANDERBILT 112, LIPSCOMB 53
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Mikayla Blakes led five players in double-digit scoring with 27 points and Vanderbilt beat Lipscomb.
Blakes, a preseason All-American, also pulled down nine rebounds and had six assists for the Commodores (1-0, 0-0 Southeastern Conference).
Madison Greene added 19 points, while Aubrey Galvan had 16, Mia Woolfolk had 15 and Aiyana Mitchell had 10 against Lipscomb (0-1, 0-0 Atlantic Sun Conference).
Fresh off a Sweet 16 appearance for the first time since the 2008-09 season, Vanderbilt’s expectations for this season are high. The team’s preseason ranking at No. 8 is the highest since the Commodores opened the season at No. 3 in 2001.
Last season, Blakes won SEC Player of the Year, Galvan won SEC Freshman of the Year, and coach Shea Ralph won SEC Coach of the Year. For this year, the Commodores added some key transfers, including Woolfolk from Georgia, junior guard/forward Vernell Atamah from Northwestern State and graduate guard Saniya Glenn-Bello from Harvard.
The Commodores took over the game with 19-2 run in the second quarter and went into halftime with a 39-point lead.
NO. 9 LSU 129, SE LOUISIANA 35
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Zakiya Johnson scored a career-high 33 points and had 13 rebounds to help LSU to a record rout of Southeastern Louisiana.
The Tigers scored the first 18 points of the game en route to the 94-point win, which was the biggest in school history. It eclipsed the 89-point victory over McNeese State in 2023 and a 115-26 win over the Lady Lions last season.
Johnson scored 18 of her career-best point total in the second half and made 14-of-19 shots in 29 minutes. Senior guard Milaysia Fulwiley, who made her second career start at LSU, added 20 points and six assists. Mikaylah Williams had 19 points.
Sophomore center Grace Knox was one of three players with 14 points. She was joined by freshman Lola Lampley and Anna Minaeva with 14 apiece with Minaeva adding 10 rebounds.
NO. 10 IOWA 73, TOWSON 45
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Dani Carnegie scored 21 points as Iowa pulled away in the second half to beat Towson.
Chazadi “Chit-Chat” Wright had 14 points and freshman McKenna Woliczko added 10 points and eight rebounds as the Hawkeyes won their 27th consecutive season opener.
The Hawkeyes are coming off a 27-7 season in which they finished in a tie for second place in the Big Ten before being eliminated in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Head coach Jan Jensen, heading into her third season, brought in six newcomers, including Carnegie, a first-team All-SEC selection at Georgia last season.
The Hawkeyes and Tigers were tied at 23 with 5:17 left in the second quarter before Iowa closed the half on a 10-0 run. The Hawkeyes extended the lead to 50-33 late in the third quarter before Towson got within 11 points early in the fourth quarter. Iowa, though, answered with a 9-0 run to put the game away.
Eva Wilkerson had 15 points and Thalia Shepard had 13 for Towson.
Iowa struggled from the perimeter, making just 8 of 29 3-pointers. The Hawkeyes shot 44.6% from the field, and held a 52-27 rebounding edge, but they committed 16 turnovers.
NO. 11 UCLA 73, LEHIGH 53
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sienna Betts scored 15 points, Donovyn Hunter added 14 and defending national champion UCLA used a big third quarter to turn back Lehigh.
In the first meeting between the two schools, the Bruins made 10 of 15 shots in the third quarter and held the Mountain Hawks to 3 of 13, stretching a 32-27 halftime lead to 55-36.
KK Bransford added 10 points for UCLA, which returns five players but had six taken in the WNBA draft — five in the first round. The Bruins will raise their championship banner on Sunday, Nov. 15 at the end of their five-game homestand.
Leia Edwards had 13 points and eight rebounds for Lehigh, which lost in the Patriot League title game last year before going to the WNIT. Gracyn Lovette had 10 points.
Ryann Jennings hit a 3-pointer to open the second quarter, ending a 10-0 run that gave the Mountain Hawks a 20-17 lead. Four players scored, three with 3-pointers, as UCLA responded with an 11-0 lead. Elin Aarnisalo had seven points in an 11-0 spurt in the third that put the lead in double figures for good.
UCLA had a 41-25 rebounding advantage and turned 20 turnovers into 23 points.
NO. 21 OKLAHOMA 91, NO. 12 NORTH CAROLINA
PARIS (AP) — Sahara Williams scored 13 of her 22 points in the third quarter to help Oklahoma pull away from North Carolina and take a victory in Paris.
Breaking away from a one-point halftime edge, the Sooners shot 50% while the Tar Heels suffered a second offensive struggle during the third quarter, shooting 30% from the field and essentially losing sight of their opponents.
Williams scored eight points in a three-minute stretch, and her two free throws with 3:37 remaining in the quarter gave Oklahoma a 60-47 lead.
Contributing to the Oklahoma run was freshman LeeLee Bell, a 6-foot-3 freshman from Minot, North Dakota. In her collegiate debut, she scored a game-high 25 points on 9-for-21 shooting. Bell added six rebounds.
Freshman Kate Harpring led North Carolina with 21 points on 9-for-26 shooting to lead five players in double figures.
Both teams went through prolonged scoring droughts that spanned the first two quarters. The Sooners went through an 0-for-8 spell before hitting eight of their next 10 to open up a 38-31 lead. The Tar Heels missed 11 straight shots before hitting three of the final four to make the game close. A fast break layup by Harpring tied the game at 38 with 29 seconds left before halftime. Oklahoma broke the tie nine seconds later on the second of two free throws by Caya Smith, and that’s where the teams left it at the break.
NO. 14 KENTUCKY 85, MOREHEAD STATE 42
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Clara Strack scored 17 points and Kentucky dominated inside to roll to a win over Morehead State.
Strack, Ajsa Sivka, who had 12 points, and Me’Arah O’Neal, who scored 10, gave the Wildcats an imposing front line of three 6-foot-5 starters.
Diana Collins added 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting and reserves Maddy Greenway and Emily McDonald had 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Kentucky, which had three starters taken in the WNBA draft, reloaded by luring Sivka, a 2025 WNBA draft pick, from Slovenia and O’Neal, Shaquille O’Neal’s daughter, from Florida.
Kensley Feltner scored 16 points for the Eagles and Lanae Riley had 11.
Savanna Swords, who grabbed 11 rebounds off the bench, had six points as the Wildcats scored the first 13 points of the game and led 18-4 after one quarter. The Eagles started 2 of 12 with Alonna Poole making both baskets off the bench.
NO. 16 WASHINGTON 79, UC SAN DIEGO 63
SEATTLE (AP) — Sayvia Sellers opened the season with a triple-double of 25 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists and Washington pulled away in the second half for a win over UC San Diego.
Brynn McGaughy had 13 points, a career-high 15 rebounds and three steals for the Huskies. Avery Howell had 22 points and North Carolina transfer Tilda Trygger, a 6-foot-6 transfer from N.C. State, had eight points and 13 rebounds.
With Sellers grabbing a career-high for rebounds, Washington dominating the boards 54-26, including a plus-10 in offensive rebounds, and a 46-16 difference on points in the paint. The assists were also a career high for Sellers as she recorded the first triple-double at Washinton since 2016.
Coryn Watts had 15 points on five 3-pointers for the Tritons, two-time defending Big West Conference champions. Erin Condron added 14 points and Sadie Sin added 12 off the bench.
UC San Diego kept pace in the first half, turning 11 Husky turnovers into seven points and hitting seven 3-pointers. The Tritons were up five but went scoreless over the last four minutes of the first half and a Sellers 3-pointer in the last minute tied the game at 31 at halftime.
McCaughy scored five points in an 8-2 burst early in the second half to give the Huskies the lead for good at 41-36. After a Tritons’ 3, Sellers had a three-point play and seven points in an 8-0 run for a 49-39 lead in the last minute of the third quarter.
NO. 17 MINNESOTA 82, HARVARD 62
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Gracie Merkle scored 22 points on 10-of-11 shooting and Minnesota had a 12-0 run in the fourth quarter of a win over Harvard.
Until the fourth quarter when Minnesota outscored Harvard 28-10 the Golden Gophers couldn’t shake the Crimson. Over the final 10 minutes Harvard was 4 of 16 shooting and had seven turnovers while Minnesota made 9 of 16 shots from the field, 10 of 11 from the foul line and didn’t commit a turnover.
Grace Grocholski added 20 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Golden Gophers and Tayla Thomas had a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double.
Sam Wills had 20 points on 8-of-8 shooting, including four 3-pointers, for Harvard. Olivia Jones added 14 points and Karlee White had 11 points but was 5 of 20 from the field, including 1 of 12 behind the arc.
Merkle had 12 points and Grocholski 10 as the Golden Gophers carved out a 37-30 lead at halftime.
Harvard scored the first seven points of the second half, the last five by White, with her 3-pointer tying the game at 37. Then Minnesota had a 10-2 run but Jones had a 3-pointer and a three-point play in the last minute to give the Crimson a 52-51 lead. Grocholski knocked down a 3-pointer for a 54-52 Golden Gophers’ lead after three quarters.
Starter Natalie Kussow had all nine of her points in the fourth quarter to help the Gophers pull away.
NO. 18 OHIO STATE 81, UIC 34
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Jaloni Cambridge had 22 points and nine rebounds, Elsa Lemmila added 15 points and 11 boards, and Ohio State beat UIC.
The Buckeyes have eight returning players, including five who started at least 16 games apiece last season and 75% of the team’s total scoring. The group is led by Cambridge, who became the second player in program history to score 800 points in a season in 2025-26.
The game was tied at 7-all with 5:33 left in the first quarter before Ohio State closed on a 20-0 run. Then, the Buckeyes had runs of 11-0 and 12-0 in the second for a 50-13 lead at halftime.
Sydney Mobley scored 14 points off the bench and Kennedy Cambridge had 10 points and three steals for Ohio State. Cambridge broke the program record for steals in a single season with 130 in 2025-26.
Julia Coleman led UIC with 10 points. The Flames were selected sixth in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll.
NO. 19 MISSISSIPPI 80, ALCORN ST. 38
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Jaida Civil scored 17 points, Jada Richard and Jade Tillman each added 14, and Mississippi beat Alcorn State to begin the season for both teams.
Ole Miss has won 20 straight in the 21-games series with Alcorn State, which took the first game in 1980. The Rebels also improved to 102-7 against members of the SWAC, including 23-0 under coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin.
Ole Miss scored the opening six points of the game and led throughout. Maya Anderson and Knisha Godfrey made a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions late in the fourth quarter to cap a 16-2 run for a 79-35 lead.
Tillman also grabbed 11 rebounds to help Ole Miss control the glass 48-28. Talaysia Cooper, who led Tennessee in scoring (16.0 points per game), assists (3.6), steals (2.7) and 3-pointers (61 total) last season, finished with nine points in 22 minutes.
NO. 22 OKLAHOMA STATE 81, SOUTHERN 39
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — Audi Crooks scored 22 points in her Oklahoma State debut, Nene Ndiaye added 16 points and the Cowgirls eased to a win over Southern.
Oklahoma State entered as the Big 12 Conference preseason favorite for the first time in program history after coming off a 24-win season that included the program’s first NCAA Tournament victory since 2020-21.
Coach Jacie Hoyt, in her fifth season, rebuilt the roster with 11 newcomers — nine transfers and two freshmen — to go with the lone returner Stailee Heard.
Oklahoma State scored 19 of the opening 23 points of the game as Southern started just 2 of 9 from the field. Ndiaye had eight points in the first quarter and Crooks added seven as the Cowgirls led 25-13.
Oklahoma State led 46-23 at halftime behind double-digit points from Crooks, Heard and Ndiaye. Then, the Cowgirls outscored Southern 20-4 in the third quarter.
NO. 25 NC STATE 80, WOFFORED 50
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Zoe Brooks scored 23 points, Ky’She Lunan added a career-high 21 points and N.C. State coasted to a win over Wofford.
Khamil Pierre contributed a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double for the Wolfpack, who return six players from the team that established a school-record 11 straight 20-win seasons.
Gabby Mundy had 22 points for the Terriers, who shot just 27% (18 of 67).
Colorado transfer Desiree Wooten and Brooks opened the game with 3-pointers and the Wolfpack raced to a 25-7 lead after one quarter, putting together runs of 9-0 and 10-0. Brooks had 10 points in the first while the Terriers shot 2 of 17.
Wofford was 4 of 19 in the second and trailed 44-16 at the half on 17% shooting. Brooks had 17 points and Lunan 14 on 4-of-5 shooting behind the arc.
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