Sunday’s basketball: Michigan women beat Kent State
Ann Arbor, Mich. — Hailey Brown and Hallie Thome each scored 11 points and No. 24 Michigan overcame a slow start to get past Kent State for a 54-41 win Sunday.
Michigan (8-2) got the first bucket of the game, a quick layup from Brown, but then went scoreless until the end of the first quarter when Kayla Robbins sank a 3-pointer to cut the gap to 12-5.
Kent State’s Alexa Golden responded with a 3 to stretch the margin back to double figures as the opening quarter ended but then the Wolverines dug in, erasing the deficit with a 14-4 second quarter to tie it at 19 at halftime, and broke away at the end of the third with a 7-0 spurt to go up 38-28 with just over 10 minutes left in the game.
Thome and Deja Church each went 2 for 2 from the line during the late third-quarter run, which was capped with Nicole Munger’s 3-pointer to give Michigan a double-digit advantage it protected the rest of the way.
Munger finished with 10 points and Jillian Dunston had seven rebounds to go with five assists for the Wolverines.
Kent State (6-5) got 15 points from Golden and Jordan Korinek had 10.
More state women
(At) Illinois 73, Detroit Mercy 65: Alex Wittinger scored 19 and Brandi Beasley 18 for Illinois (8-4). Brianne Cohen scored 21 and Lexey Tobel 13 for Detroit Mercy (0-9).
(At) Oakland 104, Michigan-Dearborn 44: Cierra Bond scored 20, and Sha-Keya Graves and Taylor Jones scored 14 each for Oakland (4-4). Natalie Spala scored 11 for Michigan-Dearborn (4-11).
(At) Illinois State 65, Eastern Michigan 56: Hannah Green scored 20 for Illinois State (4-4). Sasha Dailey scored 16 and Micah Robinson 15 for Eastern Michigan (2-7).
Big Ten men
(At) No. 21 Purdue 86, IUPUI 61: Carsen Edwards scored a career-high 27 points and Purdue coach Matt Painter got his 300th victory. Isaac Haas added 14 points and six rebounds, and Vincent Edwards had 12 points and 12 rebounds to help the Boilermakers (10-2) win their sixth straight game. Maurice Kirby had 16 points for IUPUI (2-6).
(At) Iowa 91, Southern 60: Freshman Luka Garza had 23 points and 13 rebounds to help Iowa end a four-game skid. Connor McCaffery made the first appearance of his career for the Hawkeyes (5-6) after missing the first 10 games with a sprained ankle followed by illness. The freshman played 17 minutes and had five points, four assists, and three rebounds in his debut. Aaron Ray had 12 points to lead Southern (2-8).
Top 25
No. 16 Arizona State 95, No. 2 Kansas 85: Tra Holder scored 29 points on 8-for-16 shooting as Arizona State handed the Jayhawks their second straight loss. Shannon Evans II had 22 points and Remy Martin added 21 for the Sun Devils (9-0). Arizona State shot 50 percent from 3-point range and 50.8 percent overall. After a slow start that forced coach Bobby Hurley to use a timeout less than two minutes into the game, Arizona State snapped back into it, trimming the deficit to just three points at halftime. The Sun Devils outscored the Jayhawks 58-42 in the second half. Lagerald Vick led Kansas (7-2) with 25 points. The Jayhawks fell to Washington on Wednesday night.
(At) No. 4 Villanova 77, La Salle 68: Phil Booth and Donte DiVincenzo each scored 18 points and Villanova avoid an upset to remain undefeated. The Wildcats (10-0) were sloppy, struggled from 3-point range and could not shake the pesky Explorers until the final minutes of the game to win their 21st straight Big 5 game. Booth put the Wildcats ahead with three free throws and followed with an assist on DiVincenzo’s 3-pointer that made it 67-62 and finally gave them a bit of breathing room. B.J. Johnson led the Explorers (5-6) with 21 points.
No. 12 Gonzaga 97, Washington 70: Johnathan Williams had 23 points and 12 rebounds, Zach Norvell Jr. added 21 points and Gonzaga ran away in the second half. The Bulldogs (8-2) rebounded nicely from a loss to Villanova and never allowed the Huskies (7-3) to entertain the idea of a second Top 25 upset in one week. Gonzaga led by 19 in the first half and never let the Huskies put together a sustained run in the second half.