NO. 7 Southern California blew an 18-point lead but survived a rocky finish to defeat No. 4 UConn 72-70 on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) in Hartford, Connecticut.
JuJu Watkins poured in 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including six points in the final four-plus minutes as USC (8-4) regained the lead and didn’t let go again.
Watkins, who added six rebounds, five assists and three blocks, began the day third in scoring in Division I at 24.7 points per game. Teammate Kiki Iriafen added 16 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.
Paige Bueckers and Sarah Strong each scored 22 points for UConn (10-2), which trailed 47-29 one minute into the third quarter. However, Bueckers scored nine points in the third as the Huskies closed within six heading to the fourth.
In other games, it was South Florida 65, Duke 56; TCU 92, UCF 52; Colorado 65, No. 14 West Virginia 60; Georgia Tech 72, Nebraska 61; Tennessee 102, Tulsa 61; North Carolina 90, Norfolk State 47; Cal, 69, Fordham 53; and Ole Miss 78, Mississippi Valley State 44.
South Florida 65, Duke 56
The Bulls built a big lead early and held off the Blue Devils in a nonconference matchup at Tampa.
South Florida’s Sammie Puisis scored 14 of her team-high 23 points in the fourth quarter. After TainaMair hit a 3-pointer to pull Duke (10-3) within three in the first minute of the fourth, L’orMputu answered with a layup.
Puisis then scored the Bulls’ next nine points during an 11-4 run and the lead was back to 10. Her 3-pointer with 2:32 to play made it a 12-point game, and the Blue Devils never got closer than seven again.
Mputu finished with 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting and added 11 rebounds. VittoriaBlasigh and Carla Brito netted 10 points apiece for South Florida (7-6). Toby Fournier paced Duke with 11 points, and Mair had nine.
Cheng Chen discovered the benefits of weight training thanks to encouragement from her granddaughter, who motivated her to start after a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis.
TCU 92, UCF 52
Madison Connor scored 20 of her 24 points in the first half as the visiting Horned Frogs blew out the short-handed Knights in the Big 12 Conference opener for each team in Orlando, Fla.
Sedona Prince added 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting and chipped in seven rebounds and four blocks for TCU (12-1, 1-0 Big 12). Hailey Van Lith contributed 14 points and seven assists.
The Knights (7-4, 0-1) were without their top two scorers, Kaitlin Peterson (sixth in the nation at 22.4 points per game) and Hannah Gusters (16.4 ppg). Emely Rodriguez led UCF with 17 points and Nevaeh Brown added 11, though they combined to shoot 11 of 34 from the field.
