DURHAM, N.C. (AP) South Carolina”s Kelly Morrone felt good shooting the ball against Duke. She felt even better about the basketball hoops at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
“I love these rims. I just love them,” Morrone said after shooting 8-of-9 from 3-point range to lead South Carolina to an 87-81 overtime victory in the Duke Women”s Basketball Classic on Sunday.
Duke (3-2) made just 34.5 percent of its shots in the first half, its worst half of the year. After shooting 16-of-29 in the second half to tie the game, the Blue Devils were just 4-of-14 in overtime.
Monique Currie led Duke with 22 points. Iciss Tillis added 19 and Alana Beard had 18 in Duke”s first home loss to a nonconference opponent since falling 77-70 to Boston College in the preseason WNIT on Nov. 17, 1999.
Baylor 65, Denver 60 Sheila Lambert”s 19 points and Danielle Crockrom”s 17 points and 11 rebounds led No. 13 Baylor to a 65-60 win over the University of Denver on Sunday.
The Lady Bears (4-0) led 42-22 early in the second half before the Pioneers battled back and narrowed the margin to 57-54 on Misty Staton”s jumper with just over two minutes to play.
“We made a good run with a chance to win, but we didn”t pull it out,” said Denver head coach Pam Tanner. “But we did a tremendous job defending them, and we played a much better game this year than last year.”
With 36 seconds remaining, Denver pulled to within three again on Nikki Weddle”s 3-pointer, but Lambert connected on two free throws with 14 seconds on the clock to clinch the victory.
Staton led Denver (2-1) with 20 points, including 10-of-11 free throws, while Weddle added 16 points.
Crockrom totaled eight of the 12 points in that span with the Lady Bears holding the Pioneers scoreless for more than 8 minutes.
The Lady Bears held Denver”s leading scorer Melissa Garcia, who had averaged 22 points in the first two games, to two.
Purdue 80, Southern Mississippi 40 As Beth Jones put on a practice jersey for the postgame news conference, she realized it belonged to teammate Shereka Wright.
The jersey fit Jones just fine and so did the role of leading scorer.
Jones scored 22 points, and No. 11 Purdue made 11 shots from 3-point range in an 80-40 victory Sunday over Southern Mississippi.
Kelly Komara added 15 for Purdue (3-1), which played the final 13:14 without Wright. Purdue”s leading scorer had to be helped off the court after she sprained her right ankle.
The Boilermakers made eight of 14 3-pointers in the first half. Jones finished 6-for-8, and Komara was 3-for-4.
Komara, who also had seven assists and no turnovers, said the Eagles (0-3) focused too much on stopping the inside game and left Purdue open on the perimeter.
Curry wants Jones to keep shooting.
“She has a green light,” she said. “When she”s open, I want her to shoot. I”m very pleased for her because she worked so hard in the offseason.”
Since losing the season opener to then-No. 4 Oklahoma, Purdue has won its last three games by an average of 38 points.