This weekend's NCAA basketball action saw unranked Penn State earn their first ranked win in almost four years against Big Ten foe Ohio State on Sunday, ending the then-No. 9 OSU's unbeaten run.
Though Ohio State forward Cotie McMahon and guard Chance Gray led the back-and-forth battle with 19 and 18 points, respectively, it wasn’t enough to hold off the Nittany Lions, who snapped a seven-game losing streak with the 62-59 victory.
"We had no fight. We had no grit," McMahon told reporters after the game. Subsequently, Ohio State skidded to No. 12 in yesterday's AP Top 25 Women's College Basketball Poll update.
The Buckeye loss also narrows the DI undefeated team list down to two. Only No. 1 UCLA and No. 5 LSU remain unbeaten this season.
Big Ten teams tackle Top 25 clashes
Monday's inaugural Coretta Scott King Classic featured two Big Ten/Big 12 matchups, opening with top-ranked UCLA welcoming No. 25 Baylor back to the AP Poll with a 72-57 defeat.
The Bruins took off to 17-2 lead in the first quarter. The Bears then failed to get past star UCLA center Lauren Betts, who put up a game-high 24 points, nine rebounds, and a program-record nine blocks.
The weekend's top-ranked match closed out the Classic, with No. 7 Texas star Madison Booker posting 28 points to lead the Longhorns to a dominant 89-51 win over No. 8 Maryland.
While the Terrapins’ 26 turnovers and silence from beyond the arc didn’t help the Big Ten team's case, injuries to top scorers accounted for at least some of Maryland's downfall. The Terps lost junior Bri McDaniel to a season-ending ACL tear last week, before senior Shyanne Sellers exited Monday's second quarter with a knee injury of her own.
How to watch top-ranked NCAA basketball games this week
In a battle for redemption after tough weekend losses, Big Ten foes No. 8 Maryland and No. 12 Ohio State will face off at 6 PM ET on Thursday, with live coverage on BTN.
Though the week's marquee matchup belongs to two teams atop the SEC. Undefeated LSU will take on defending NCAA champions No. 2 South Carolina at 8 PM ET on Thursday, live on ESPN.
AP Top 25 NCAA Women's College Basketball Poll: Week 12
1. UCLA
2. South Carolina
3. Notre Dame
4. USC
5. LSU
6. UConn
7. Texas
8. Maryland
9. TCU
10. Kansas State
11. Kentucky
12. Ohio State
13. North Carolina
14. Duke
15. Oklahoma
16. West Virginia
17. Tennessee
18. Georgia Tech
19. Alabama
20. NC State
21. Michigan State
22. California
23. Minnesota
24. Michigan
25. Baylor
With all eyes on the stacked midweek NCAA basketball slate, No. 4 USC eked out a gritty road win over No. 8 Maryland on Wednesday, shattering the Terrapins' undefeated season in the process.
Despite guard Shyanne Sellers's game-leading 26 points and forward Christina Dalce posting the contest’s only double-double, the Terps fell 79-74 in their first meeting with the Trojans since 1995.
USC rallies the troops
New Big Ten team USC had to band together to overcome Maryland's defense, which stifled star JuJu Watkins's firepower by holding her to 7-for-19 from the field and 1-for-5 from beyond the arc with eight turnovers. That said, Watkins still managed to match forward Kiki Iriafen's team-leading 21 points before fouling out in the final minute.
With star guard Talia von Oelhoffen unavailable due to injury, USC’s No. 1-ranked freshman class stepped up. Guards Kennedy Smith, Avery Howell, and Kayleigh Heckel each added double-digit points to push the Trojans over the line.
"We just kind of have this unwavering confidence in ourselves," Watkins said after the game. "It was just a matter of coming together and closing the game out."
Big Ten ruled Wednesday's NCAA court
Unlike Maryland’s unbeaten record, No. 9 Ohio State’s undefeated season narrowly survived arch-rival No. 25 Michigan on Wednesday night. After falling behind 44-31 at the half, the Buckeyes put together a second-half surge to snag the 84-77 win. Freshman guard Jaloni Cambridge led Ohio State's charge with 29 points.
Elsewhere, unranked Nebraska handed No. 20 Michigan State a second conference loss on Wednesday. Buoyed by senior Alexis Markowski’s 28 points, the Huskers channeled a second-quarter lead to down the Spartans 85-80.
LSU to test perfect NCAA season against tough Tennessee side
The top-ranked midweek NCAA basketball action continues on Thursday, headlined by a tightly matched high-octane showdown between two historic SEC heavy-hitters.
No. 6 LSU faces their toughest test so far when they visit No. 16 Tennessee, a team that leads the nation in offensive scoring and rebounding, three-pointers, and forced turnovers.
"[Tennessee's] style of play is like nothing I’ve ever seen," LSU head coach Kim Mulkey said ahead of the game.
"They score a lot of points and they make you play fast with their press. It’s going to be quite a challenge to keep them from scoring in the '90s. We score a lot of points, too, [but] I’ve got to stress defense. At some point we’ve got to try to stop them from scoring as much as they’d like to score."
Despite the numbers, the Vols suffered their first loss of the season on Sunday — a one-point stumble against No. 10 Oklahoma. They'll look to avenge their loss by halting the 17-0 Tigers' unbeaten streak.
More ranked college clashes take center court on Thursday
Shortly after LSU takes on Tennessee, longtime ACC rivals No. 19 UNC and No. 14 Duke will meet for the 109th time. The host Tar Heels hold a narrow edge with a 55-53 all-time record against the Blue Devils, and will enter the clash with a redemption plan after falling 76-66 to No. 3 Notre Dame on Sunday.
With a significantly shorter history on the line, one-loss teams No. 5 Texas and No. 18 Alabama will face-off in Thursday's SEC nightcap, with the Tide rolling into Austin to seek a program-first win over their newest conference foes.
Last season’s Sweet Sixteen showdown was the pair’s first meeting since 1984, and Alabama has never beaten or even scored more than 56 points against the Longhorns throughout their three all-time meetings.
How to watch NCAA women's basketball on Thursday
LSU and Tennessee will tip off Thursday's ranked matchups at 6:30 PM ET, with live coverage on SECN+.
Duke and UNC will follow at 7 PM ET, airing live on ACCN, before Texas hosts Alabama at 8 PM ET on SECN+.
Thursday's 2024 NCAA volleyball semifinals aren’t just an all-No. 1 seed affair, they also pit conference rivals against each other on the sport’s biggest stage.
With one all-ACC and one all-Big Ten semifinal on deck, the sport's top conferences are poised to face off in Sunday's championship game. But while the Big Ten will look to add another piece of hardware to its deep volleyball trophy case, the ACC is aiming to snag their first-ever NCAA title in the sport.
The ACC teams hunting history
Thursday's first match features Pitt against Louisville, as each looks to become the ACC's first national volleyball champion. Both rivals have been knocking on the door of NCAA glory in recent years, with the Panthers falling in the last three national semifinals, while Louisville advanced to the Final Four in 2021 and became the conference's first-ever finalist in 2022.
Notably, this will be the third straight year that the ACC rivals have met in the tournament. The Cardinals took down Pitt 3-2 in their 2022 semifinal, while the Panthers ousted Louisville with a reverse sweep in last year's Regional final.
Both squads have been Top-5 teams all season, led by some of the country's top players. Pitt sophomore Olivia Babcock's service aces and kills rates topped the ACC this year, earning her the conference's Player of the Year award. Babcock shifted into an even higher gear in the postseason, setting an NCAA tournament record with her 31 kills against Oregon in the Panther's Regional semifinal.
Veteran outside hitter Anna DeBeer continues to be Louisville's workhorse, leading the Cardinals on their Regional stat sheet after a season in which the grad student crossed the 1,000 mark in both career kills and digs.
With the Final Four set in Louisville, the Cardinals have already won the home-court advantage lottery entering Thursday's semifinal. That said, for a chance at earning a national championship in front of their fans, Louisville will need to survive this year's overall top team — a Pitt squad who've already taken down the Cards twice this season.
The Big Ten's perennial contenders
Boasting 32 semifinal appearances and 21 championship matches resulting in 12 national titles between them, Big Ten rivals Penn State and Nebraska will put their deep Final Four experience to the test against each other in Thursday's nightcap.
Nebraska has been near-perfect all tournament, dropping just one set, while Penn State has lost four — the most of any of the semifinalists.
The Nittany Lions, however, had the Huskers' number in the regular season, handing Nebraska their only conference loss all year and snapping their 25-match win streak in the process.
To again humble the Huskers, Penn State will need a repeat of their November block party that stifled Nebraska's offense, all while continuing their own attack, led by outside hitter Jess Mruzik. The grad student is on a postseason hot streak, coming in clutch by hammering at least 20 kills per match over Penn State's last three contests.
Nebraska, who didn't have a single senior on last year's roster, returned nearly all of their 2023 superstar team. Outside hitters Merritt Beason and Harper Murray fuel a relentless Cornhusker attack, while Nebraska's defense thrives behind libero Lexi Rodriguez — one of the four 2024 AVCA Player of the Year finalists.
Both Nebraska and Penn State will take Thursday's court with redemption on their minds. The Huskers are hungry to finish the job after being swept by Texas in last year's final. Penn State, on the other hand, are seeking a return to the mountaintop in their first semifinal appearance since 2017, when they fell to eventual champions Nebraska.
How to watch the 2024 NCAA volleyball Final Four
Pitt and Louisville will kick off Thursday's NCAA semifinal action in an all-ACC battle at 6:30 PM ET, with Nebraska and Penn State’s Big Ten dual set to start 30 minutes after the first match ends. Both matches will air live on ESPN.
The guaranteed ACC vs. Big Ten national championship match is set for 3 PM ET on Sunday, with live coverage on ABC.
After another jam-packed weekend of 2024 NCAA Division I volleyball tournament action, all four No. 1 seeds are still standing, sending Pitt, Louisville, Penn State, and Nebraska to Thursday's national semifinals.
Overall No. 1 seed Pitt booked their fourth straight Final Four appearance by first squeaking by No. 4 seed Oregon in a back-and-forth five-set thriller in Thursday's Regional semifinal, before making quick work of No. 3 Kentucky in three straight sets on Saturday.
Also on Saturday, Louisville followed up their Thursday sweep of No. 4 Purdue with a redemptive 3-1 win over No. 2 Stanford, avenging their 3-1 loss to the Cardinal to close out regular season play.
On the other side of the NCAA bracket, reigning back-to-back national champions No. 3 Texas fell 3-1 to No. 2 Creighton on Friday. The Bluejays' hopes for a first-ever Final Four appearance didn't last long, however, as Penn State, who ousted No. 5 Marquette 3-1 on Friday, took down Creighton in five tough sets in Sunday's Regional final.
Finally, after downing underdogs No. 5 Dayton 3-1 in their Regional semifinal, Nebraska completed their 2024 hat trick of sweeps against No. 2 Wisconsin on Sunday, tacking on an NCAA tournament ousting to their two regular-season straight-set defeats of their Big Ten rivals.
An ACC vs. Big Ten championship on deck
This Sunday's national championship match is guaranteed to be an ACC vs. Big Ten affair, as both of Thursday's NCAA semifinals pit conference foes against each other. The fact that 2024's last-standing quartet hail from these Power Four leagues is unsurprising, as each has been the sport's two strongest conferences in recent history.
That said, the ACC is still seeking its first-ever NCAA volleyball championship, though both Pitt and Louisville have come wildly close in recent seasons. The Panthers fell in the national semifinals in each of the last three tournaments, while Louisville made the trip in both 2021, losing in the semis, and 2022, when they stumbled in the championship match to title-winners Texas.
The Big Ten's two semifinalists, on the other hand, boast a slew of national trophies. Penn State's seven titles and Nebraska's five trail only Stanford's nine for most by a program in NCAA volleyball history. That said, the Nittany Lions are entering on a nine-year title drought, and Nebraska hasn't hoisted national hardware since 2017, so both will be hungry to ascend this weekend's podium.
How to watch the 2024 NCAA volleyball tournament Final Four
The semifinal round will take place on Thursday, beginning at 6:30 PM ET with ACC champion Pitt taking on Louisville. Big Ten champion Nebraska will play Penn State shortly after the ACC tilt, with both matches airing live on ESPN.
The national championship match will go down at 3 PM ET on Sunday, with live coverage on ABC.
The 2024 NCAA DI volleyball tournament officially kicks off on Thursday, when 64 teams will gear up to battle for postseason glory in this weekend's first and second rounds.
The college court's best have their sights set on competing in the December 22nd national championship match in Louisville, Kentucky.
Along with the 31 conference champions who automatically received postseason invites, the NCAA committee revealed its 33 selectees in Sunday's selection show. The top 32 teams are seeded one through eight in their respective bracket quadrants, and teams are guaranteed to only face non-conference opponents through the tournament's second round.
Leading the field with nine teams each are the ACC, Big Ten, and SEC, followed by the Big 12 with six squads selected.
The four teams who finished atop the national rankings — Pitt, Louisville, Nebraska, and Penn State — all earned No. 1 seeds.
ACC powerhouses take aim at first national title
Sitting atop the rankings for most of the season, overall No. 1 seed Pitt showcases the ACC's immense depth, despite the conference having yet to produce a champion. The Panthers, who finished with Division I's best record at 29-1, have come achingly close over the last three seasons, falling short in the national semifinals each year.
Pitt's only loss this season came courtesy of ACC newcomer No. 2 SMU, a team they could face in the regional finals after landing in the same bracket quadrant.
Similarly, Louisville has been a consistent contender for the conference, becoming the ACC's first-ever team to make the championship match in 2022. Last year, the Cardinals failed to advance to the Final Four for the first time since 2020, stumbling in a five-set quarterfinal thriller against conference rival Pitt.
Big Ten dynasties seek continued dominance
After battling through arguably the sport's toughest all-around conference, Big Ten behemoths Penn State and Nebraska will take aim at their eighth and sixth program titles, respectively. Only former Pac-12 team Stanford — now a No. 2 seed in their debut ACC season — boast more NCAA championships than the Nittany Lions or Huskers.
Both teams finished their 2024 regular season campaigns neck-and-neck, posting 29-2 overall records and going 19-1 in conference play to share the Big Ten title. Penn State holds the tournament edge, however, maintaining their streak as the only NCAA team to make all 44 championship brackets — one more than Nebraska.
Each faces an uphill battle in the 2024 championship field. The Huskers must contend with longtime rivals and 2021 champs No. 2 Wisconsin in their quadrant. Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions find themselves in the same quadrant as reigning back-to-back champion Texas, who grabbed a No. 3 seed after a rollercoaster season.
How to watch the 2024 NCAA DI Volleyball Tournament
The first and second rounds of the NCAA volleyball tournament will take place at 16 campus sites between Thursday and Saturday.
No. 5 BYU will kick off the action against Loyola Chicago at 3:30 PM ET on Thursday, with all 32 first-round and 16 second-round matches airing across ESPN platforms.
Approaching the final stretch en route to this year's College Cup, six of the eight remaining NCAA soccer teams rep the ACC, including overall No. 1 seed Duke, historic powerhouse No. 2 UNC, and conference debutant No. 3 Stanford.
Two Big Ten squads — No. 1 USC and No. 4 Penn State — round out next weekend's quarterfinals after the Big 12 and SEC failed to advance from rounds two and three, respectively.
Trio of former NCAA champions fall
All three of the Cup's most recent winners were eliminated in the tournament's second round on Friday, including 2020's Santa Clara and 2022's No. 2 UCLA. UNC ousted the Broncos 1-0, while the Bruins suffered a 2-1 upset at the hands of No. 7 Virginia Tech.
Taking down reigning champs No. 1 Florida State was a surprisingly strong No. 8 Vanderbilt squad, who played the Seminoles to an impressive 3-3 extra-time draw before besting FSU 4-3 in penalty kicks. Commodore senior goalkeeper Sara Wojdelko, who only played 143 minutes across four matches all season, put in all 110 minutes of work on Friday, registering 14 saves plus two penalty stops to end FSU's stellar season.
The 'Dores fell 3-1 to No. 4 Penn State in Sunday's third round, which also served upsets. The Hokies continued their trend by taking down No. 3 Iowa 1-0, and Stanford narrowly advanced past No. 2 Arkansas on penalties.
The second No. 1 seed to fall was Mississippi State, whose record-breaking season was halted by No. 4 Notre Dame in a 2-0 Sunday result that further cemented the ACC's dominance over the sport's other Power conferences.
How to watch the 2024 NCAA soccer tournament quarterfinals
The Elite Eight goes to work this weekend, with three quarterfinal matches kicking off on Friday. At 5 PM ET, No. 1 USC will face No. 2 Wake Forest for the first time since their lone meeting (a 2-1 Trojan loss) in 2002, while No. 3 Stanford takes on a No. 4 Notre Dame side that blasted the Cardinal 3-0 just last month.
Then at 6 PM ET, No. 2 UNC will contend with No. 4 Penn State, a program the Heels haven't defeated in over 10 years.
Two ACC teams who have yet to play each other this year will close out the round. No. 1 Duke, who haven't lost to No. 7 Virginia Tech since 2015, will look to book their 2024 College Cup ticket by ousting the Hokies at 6 PM ET on Saturday.
All 2024 NCAA soccer quarterfinal matches will stream live on ESPN+.
One week into the 2024/25 season and the Big Ten is already leading the college basketball charge, with multiple teams tallying upsets to boost their spots in Monday's AP Top 25 update.
The biggest leap belonged to Maryland, who climbed seven spots to No. 11 after defeating now-No. 16 Duke 85-80 on Sunday. With four double-digit scorers, the Terrapins' team effort was led by junior guard Kaylene Smikle's 23 points.
Maryland's Big Ten compatriots, No. 23 Illinois and No. 25 Oregon, broke into Monday's standings after respective wins against then-No. 19 Florida State on Thursday and then-No. 12 Baylor on Sunday.
Led by former UNC standout Deja Kelly's 20 points, the Ducks staved off a late Baylor surge to secure the 76-74 win, snapping a 13-game losing streak to ranked opponents in the process.
Outside the Big Ten, Stanford also made their 2024/25 poll debut, coming in at No. 24. The Cardinal took their omission from the preseason poll — the first in 25 years with Stanford — as a challenge, defeating their first three season opponents last week by an average of 41 points.
South Carolina maintains stranglehold on No. 1
The preseason top eight teams held their ground this week behind defending champs No. 1 South Carolina, who extended their division-record active unbeaten streak to 40 games with Sunday's 71-57 win over now-No. 13 NC State.
With junior forward Chloe Kitts, who led the Gamecocks with a double-double in their season opener, ruled out due to an academic issue, South Carolina guards Te-Hina Paopao and MiLaysia Fulwiley stepped up in a big way, sinking 23 and 18 points, respectively.
SEC is still NCAA's top basketball conference
While still early days, it does appear that conference realignment and a robust transfer portal has once again emboldened the NCAA's biggest players.
New Big Ten members No. 3 USC, No. 5 UCLA, and No. 24 Oregon join veterans No. 11 Maryland, No. 12 Ohio State, No. 21 Nebraska, and No. 23 Illinois in this week's rankings, tying the SEC with the most teams in the poll at seven.
Even so, the SEC remains the conference to beat, with not just No. 1 South Carolina setting the sport's standard, but three other Top-10 teams. Conference veteran No. 7 LSU and last season's Big 12 stalwarts No. 4 Texas and No. 9 Oklahoma round out the SEC's grip on the top of the rankings, with No. 19 Ole Miss, No. 20 Kentucky, and No. 22 Alabama also featuring in the poll.
AP Top 25 Women's College Basketball Poll
1. South Carolina
2. UConn
3. Southern California
4. Texas
5. UCLA
6. Notre Dame
7. LSU
8. Iowa State
9. Oklahoma
10. Kansas State
11. Maryland
12. Ohio State
13. North Carolina State
14. North Carolina
15. West Virginia
16. Duke
17. Baylor
18. Louisville
19. Ole Miss
20. Kentucky
21. Nebraska
22. Alabama
23. Illinois
24. Stanford
25. Oregon
Already one of the most popular women’s spectator sports in the US, the 2024 NCAA volleyball season is off to the races this month as the shifting lines of modern college sports plays out in real time.
Thanks to major conference realignments, regional rivalries turned national storylines will drive the narrative all the way to December's NCAA tournament.
The Big Ten's big changes
At the forefront of these shifts is longtime volleyball powerhouse the Big Ten, which welcomed USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington from the Pac-12 this summer to bring the conference total to 18 teams.
Added travel, raucous home crowds, and even fiercer competition will play into the conference's season storyline as Midwest heavyweights Wisconsin and Nebraska meet West Coast specialists in a quest to bring the Big Ten its first NCAA title since 2021.
"We knew the venues, everything was comfortable," Oregon head coach Matt Ulmer, speaking with JWS at last month's Big Ten Media Day in Chicago, said of his team’s former Pac-12 home. "I think we're going to [see] a lot of uncomfortableness this year, just with new change."
Surprises and upsets already define the 2024 season
Mirroring that uncertainty, several 2023 heavy-hitters have already produced surprising results this season. Two-time defending champion Texas fell to Minnesota in early non-conference play and again to unranked Miami last weekend, while Wisconsin went 0-3 before picking up a pair of weekend wins.
Then last week, 2023 runners-up Nebraska suffered a historic upset loss to unranked SMU, though they also bounced back with weekend victories.
With Power 10 rankings already a rollercoaster, expect even more impressive performances, greater parity, and larger crowds as college volleyball rides its meteoric rise through 2024.
Decorated Iowa basketball coach Lisa Bluder announced her retirement on Monday, with assistant coach Jan Jensen next in line to take over the head coaching position.
Bluder retires as the winningest women’s basketball coach in Big Ten history, amassing 528 wins and five Big Ten tournament titles over her 24 years. During her time at the helm, Iowa made 18 NCAA tournament appearances, including back-to-back trips to the National Championship with star guard Caitlin Clark.
"It has been the honor of my career to be a part of the Iowa Hawkeye family," Bluder wrote in a statement. "And to lead a women's basketball program filled with so many talented and remarkable young women, who have gone on to do great things in their careers and, more importantly, in their lives."
She spent the last few years coaching the remarkable Caitlin Clark. The eventual No. 1 overall pick in April’s WNBA Draft, Clark became the all-time leading scorer in D-I basketball, men’s or women’s, this past season, winning back-to-back Naismith Player of the Year awards under Bluder's leadership.
In a tweet posted Monday, Clark reacted to Bluder’s retirement by thanking her.
"Simply no one better at building a team," Clark wrote. "Thank you for believing in me more than anyone. Enjoy retirement, coach. Very much deserved."
Bluder said Monday that her decision to retire came as she began preparing for the offseason. The longtime coach has previously said she was taking it year-by-year.
"After the season ended, I spent time with our student-athletes and coaches reviewing the season and preparing those moving on for what comes next," Bluder said. "With that also came personal contemplation about what this journey has meant to me, how to best champion this program and what the future looks like for my family and me. After then taking some time away with my husband, David, it became clear to me that I am ready to step aside.
"There is never an ideal time to retire, and I am sure this fall that I will miss the games, the practices, the road trips, the atmosphere, the tremendous fans and, most importantly, the players. But my belief in the foundation of this program, knowing that success is now an unrelenting component of women's basketball at the University of Iowa gives me comfort as I transition to become the program's biggest champion."
Bluder's coaching tenure dates back to 1985, when she coached at St. Ambrose University for six seasons before accepting a head coaching job at Drake in 1991. During her nine years in Des Moines, Bluder led the Bulldogs to four Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championships (1995, 1997, 1998, 2000) alongside three regular season titles (1997, 1998, 2000).
Assistant head coach Jan Jensen has been tapped to take over the role at Iowa, having worked shoulder to shoulder with the outgoing Bluder for a major part of her career. After playing under Bluder at Drake, Jensen moved on to join her former coach off the court as an assistant coach for the Bulldogs.
"I love Jan to death," 2019 Naismith Player of the Year Megan Gustafson told The Gazette. "She deserves this, and she’s ready for it."
Gustafson's former Iowa teammate, post player Monika Czinano, echoed the sentiment.
"It’s the perfect succession line, in my opinion," Czinano said. "She’s one of the main reasons for my development. She’s ready for it."
Caitlin Clark’s record-breaking trajectory – and her legacy – continued to grow on Saturday.
While she moved to fifth on the all-time NCAA career scoring list, she also set the Big Ten record for assists. And she also became the first D-I player (men’s or women’s) to have 3,000+ points, 900+ assists and 800+ rebounds in a career.
At this point, Clark has accumulated so many accolades that they sometimes get lost – literally.
“I have a couple storage units back home my parents put stuff in. But like my 3,000-point ball has just been sitting in our locker room,” Clark said. “Sometimes, it gets lost in my locker. I don’t know. Until I clean it out or make one of my teammates clean my locker. They get so annoyed they offer to clean it for me.”
Clark finished with 35 points and 10 assists, having seven points in three minutes to help Iowa to an 11-2 advantage. When she wasn’t scoring during that stretch, she was assisting.
On top of being within reach of the all-time scoring record, Clark is now top-15 all-time in women’s basketball assists.
“I relish it,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said of watching Clark break records. “It’s just so much fun. I want her to get double-doubles. I want her to break records. It’s just, to me it’s so much fun to watch her do that. I never get tired of her passing. And I get to go to practice every day.”
Elsewhere this weekend:
- UCLA took down USC despite a JuJu Watkins second-career double-double (27 points, 11 rebounds). The Bruins move to 12-0 while USC’s undefeated season is no more.
- Baylor upended Texas’ perfect season with their 14th-straight win against the Longhorns in Austin. Without Rori Harmon, Madison Booker led the Longhorns with 25 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.