Poffenbarger and McDaniel help No. 7 Maryland women beat Purdue

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Saylor Poffenbargar had 17 points and 13 rebounds and Bri McDaniel scored 16 points off the bench to lead No. 7 Maryland to a 78-69 victory over Purdue on Saturday.

Kaylene Smikle scored 13 and Shyanne Sellers added 12 for Maryland (10-0). Christina Dalce had 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Rashunda Jones scored 17 points, Reagan Bass 16 and Destini Lombard 15 for the Boilermakers (5-4).

The Terrapins rallied after a slow start, hitting just 2 of 17 shots in the first quarter to fall behind 18-6. The Boilermakers led by as many as 16 points in the second quarter. Purdue shot 52% while holding Maryland to 29% to take a 38-29 lead at halftime.

McDaniel hit a pull-up jumper with 2:24 left in the third quarter to give the Terrapins their first lead at 48-46. That capped an 8-0 run for Maryland, which led 55-52 after three quarters.

Purdue tied it at 55-all before the Terrapins went on a 6-0 run to take the lead for good.

No, 2 UCONN 85, No. 22 LOUISVILLE 52

NEW YORK (AP) — Sarah Strong scored 21 points and Azzi Fudd added 18 to help No. 2 UConn rout No. 22 Louisville as part of the Women’s Champions Classic.

The Huskies (8-0) took control early and never looked back.

Louisville (5-4) trailed by 18 after one and got within 12 early in the second quarter before Strong, the latest Huskies freshman star, got UConn back on track. She was hitting both from the inside and out.

The Huskies led 49-24 at the half and that was with All-American Paige Bueckers scoring just three points while missing all six of her field goal attempts. She had her first point of the game with 6:38 left in the half on a free throw and hit her first basket early in the third quarter.

Bueckers, who came into the game averaging 20.4 points, finished with eight. She also had 10 rebounds and six assists.

No. 6 SOUTHERN CALIFORINA 66, OREGON 53

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — JuJu Watkins scored 21 points to lead No. 6 Southern California to a win over Oregon in the Big Ten opener for both teams.

Watkins was 6 for 15 from the field, including 3 of 9 on 3-pointers, in 28 minutes before fouling out. Kiki Iriafen added 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Trojans (8-1, 1-0 Big Ten).

Deja Kelly scored 16 points and Peyton Scott added 13 to lead the Ducks (7-3, 0-1).

Oregon led 13-12 after the first quarter, but USC scored the first 18 points of the second quarter and never trailed again. The Trojans built the lead to 40-19 at halftime with 15 points from Watkins.

Scott opened the third quarter with four straight points, but USC scored five straight points right after and kept the lead in double digits the rest of the way

TENNESSEE 78, No. 17 IOWA 68

NEW YORK (AP) — Talaysia Cooper scored 19 of her 23 points in the second half to help Tennessee beat No. 17 Iowa in the inaugural Women’s Champions Classic.

Her jumper with 3:04 left in the fourth gave the Lady Vols (7-0) a 68-67 lead and sparked a 12-1 run to close the game away. Cooper scored four straight in the spurt including one off a steal on the inbounds with 1:23 left to seal the victory.

Lucy Olsen scored 23 points for Iowa (8-1), which committed a season-high 30 turnovers.

It was a matchup of two first-year head coaches at their schools. Jan Jensen took over for Lisa Bluder, who retired in the offseason after leading Iowa to two straight national championship games. Jensen, who was an assistant at Iowa for the previous 24 years, was the first coach in school history to begin her career 8-0.