No. 11 Michigan women beat No. 15 Ohio State 75-66
Ann Arbor — Naz Hillmon scored 27 points and No. 11 Michigan defeated No. 15 Ohio State 75-66 on Sunday to split the season series.
Hillmon scored 50 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in an 81-77 loss to the Buckeyes on Jan. 21 but only four Wolverines scored in that defeat. This time, seven Wolverines put up points, including Amy Dilk with 13 points and six assists, Akienreh Johnson scoring 12 points and Leigha Brown, who missed the first meeting, putting in 11.
Hillmon, who came in as the third-leading scorer in the nation at 25.9 points per game and averaging 11.7 rebounds, was 11-of-16 shooting with eight boards. The Wolverines (13-2, 8-2 Big Ten) won the boards and outscored the Buckeyes 44-26 in the paint.
Michigan led by 15 with 31/2 minutes remaining when Ohio State (13-4, 9-4) went on a 9-0 run before Hillmon scored on a putback. Free throws carried the Wolverines the rest of the way.
The Wolverines led by three at halftime. Hillmon scored eight points to lead a third-quarter surge, Michigan outscoring the Buckeyes 24-11. Hillmon took a seat late in the period with her fourth foul but the Buckeyes only shaved a point off by the time she returned with 61/2 minutes left in the game.
Jacy Sheldon led the Buckeyes with 16 points. Ohio State has five players averaging in double figures but were missing Madison Greene for the second straight game while two others —Droka Juhasz and Braxtin Miller —combined to shoot 0 of 13 for four points. Juhasz had 12 rebounds but her run of six straight double-doubles ended. Freshman Kateri Poole, filling in at point for Greene, had 14 points with six assists, while Aaliyah Patty added 10 points.
On a day when the third-ranked Michigan men beat fourth-ranked Ohio State 92-87 in Columbus, the Wolverine women ended a three-game losing streak to their rivals.
Next, Ohio State is at Penn State on Wednesday, the first of three games left in its season as the Buckeyes have self-imposed a postseason ban because of potential NCAA infractions, reportedly involving a former assistant coach. Michigan plays at Iowa on Thursday.
More state women
►(At) Michigan State 76, Purdue 73: Tory Ozment’s 3-pointer as time expired lifted the Spartans over the Boilermakers. Alisia Smith scored 18 and grabbed 10 rebounds, Alyza Winston added 16 points and Moira Joiner 11 as Michigan State (12-6,7-6 Big Ten) erased a nine-point deficit with 3:18 left, tying the game 71-71 on three steals with less than a minute. Kayana Traylor had 31 points to lead Purdue (6-13,3-12).
►(At) Eastern Michigan 69, Toledo 59: Corriione Cardwell added 16 points and 11 rebounds while Ce’Nara Skanes finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds for Eastern (10-6,7-4 Mid-American). Jenna Annecchiarico scored 17 and Natalia Pineda added 11 for the Eagles, who played their first game since Jan. 27. Sophia Wiard had 16 points to lead Toledo (9-11, 5-11).
Big Ten men
►(At) No. 11 Iowa 74, Penn State 68: Luka Garza scored 23 points to become Iowa’s all-time leading scorer, and the 11th-ranked Hawkeyes beat Penn State.
Garza has 2,126 points for Iowa, breaking the record of 2,116 points set by Roy Marble from 1985-89. Garza scored 12 points in the first half to get within a point of Marble and passed the mark with a layup off a pass from Jordan Bohannon at the 8:18 mark of the second half.
Garza also had 11 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the season.
It was the fourth consecutive win for Iowa (17-6, 11-5 Big Ten).
Garza, who came into the game as the nation’s leading scorer at 24.7 points per game, scored 10 consecutive points in Iowa’s 13-2 second-half run after the game was tied at 54. Penn State (7-12, 4-11) went six minutes without a point in the second half.
CJ Fredrick added 18 points for the Hawkeyes. Fredrick, who has missed four games since Jan. 21 because of a lower leg injury, had his first double-digit scoring game since he had 13 against Northwestern on Jan. 17.
Izaiah Brockington and Myreon Jones each had 11 points to lead Penn State. Myles Dread had 10.
►No. 21 Wisconsin 68, (at) Northwestern 51: Micah Potter scored 19 points, D’Mitrik Trice had 13 and No. 21 Wisconsin shut down lowly Northwestern.
Jonathan Davis and Brad Davison added 12 points apiece, helping Wisconsin (16-8, 10-7 Big Ten) bounce back from consecutive losses to No. 3 Michigan and No. 11 Iowa. The balanced Badgers improved to 10-1 when they have at least four players score in double figures.
With a matchup against No. 5 Illinois looming on Saturday, Wisconsin used its deep roster and stingy defense to avoid a three-game slide. Led by Potter, the Badgers had a 31-16 advantage in bench points. They also forced 14 turnovers.
Northwestern (6-14, 3-13) lost its 13th straight game. Boo Buie scored 19 points, but he was the only player in double figures for the Wildcats. Chase Audige, who was averaging a team-high 13.3 points per game coming in, finished with five on 2-for-7 shooting.
Ryan Young’s three-point play trimmed Wisconsin’s lead to 46-39 with 12:59 left, but the Badgers responded with a 13-1 run. Tyler Wahl capped the decisive stretch with a driving layup and a 3-pointer.
Wahl finished with 10 points for Wisconsin, which earned its sixth straight victory against Northwestern.
Wisconsin had a scoring drought of almost six minutes in the first half, but Northwestern also struggled on offense and the Badgers started to pull away before the break.
Potter put Wisconsin ahead to stay with two foul shots with 5:36 left, part of a 14-4 run for the Badgers. Davis made two free throws and Potter converted a layup to make it 34-24 with 40 seconds to go.
Potter had 15 points at halftime on 5-for-6 shooting. The rest of the Badgers shot 30% (6 for 20) from the field in the first half.
Top 25
►(At) Houston 90, Cincinnati 52: Quentin Grimes had 20 points and eight rebounds, and No. 6 Houston used a big first half to roll past Cincinnati 90-52 on Sunday.
Tramon Mark scored 12 points, DeJon Jarreau added 11 points and five rebounds, and Fabian White Jr. had 10 points and nine rebounds for Houston (18-3, 12-3 American Athletic Conference). The Cougars shot 47% and hit 19 of 21 from the free throw line.
The Cougars forced Cincinnati into 13 turnovers, which Houston converted into 22 points.
The margin of victory was the largest for either team in the series, besting a 115-78 win by the Bearcats in Dec. 1998. Cincinnati leads the series with Houston 34-6.
Jeremiah Davenport scored 11 points and Tari Eason added 10 points for the Bearcats (7-8, 5-5), who saw their four-game winning streak snapped. Cincinnati shot 30%.
Houston outscored the Bearcats 32-7 over the final 11 minutes of the first half to take a 50-26 lead at the break. Jarreau scored nine points and Mark had eight in the half-ending run.
The Cougars shot 9 of 18 from the field and hit 13 of 13 from the free-throw line during that stretch, while Cincinnati was 2 of 15 from the field and did not have a field goal over the final five minutes of the half.
