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Another Sunday slammed full of women’s college basketball action. Another weekend of upsets, near-upsets, big wins and blow outs.
While expected stars did their thing—with Flau’Jae Johnson turning in a 23-point and 10-rebound double-double to guarantee No. 6 LSU a win at No. 13 Oklahoma, Joyce Edwards scoring 26 points in another 40-point win for No. 2 South Carolina and Gabriela Jaquez dropping 22 points in No. 3 UCLA’s thumping of No. 12 Maryland—some of the sport’s underrated stars stepped into the spotlight to lead their teams to critical wins.
Let’s give some shine to Georgia’s Dani Carnegie, No. 9 Louisville’s Imari Berry, Oklahoma State’s Stailee Heard and No. 25 Illinois’ Berry Wallace.
Georgia silenced No. 16 Ole Miss’ talk about their lack of respect in the AP Top 25 poll, with the Dawgs authoring a dominant win over the visiting Rebels, 82-59.
That dominance was driven by a career-high 32 points from Dani Carnegie, who also snagged 11 rebounds for her third double-double of the season. Last season’s ACC Sixth Player of the Year for Georgia Tech, the sophomore has injected the Georgia with needed offensive juice due to her 3-point shooting and driving ability.
Carnegie showcased her full scoring package on Sunday afternoon, and in efficient fashion. She went 5-for-8 from 3, sinking triples off-the-dribble and off-the-catch. She also displayed elite finishing craft around the basket.
At NC State, Louisville was on the verge of an upset that would have seen them loose their top-10 ranking. Yet, the Cardinals overcame a 13-point deficit and eventually escaped in overtime, 88-80, extending their winning streak to 11 games.
Imari Berry ignited the Cardinals’ comeback, and she also was on fire all afternoon. Just as it appeared that the Wolfpack were about to pull away in the third quarter, the sophomore scored eight points in the final 53 seconds of the period, putting Louisville right back into the game.
Later, she made a pair of free throws with just over 10 seconds remaining to send the game into extra time, where the Cardinals would eventually pull away.
Berry, who came off the bench, finished with a career-high 33 points in 37 minutes. She did her damage from all three levels, hitting three 3s, dropping in midrangers and converting at the hoop. Her 12 rebounds also gave her the first double-double of her career.
Stailee Heard (Oklahoma State)
Stailee Heard’s first-career triple-double, and only the third triple-double in program history, exacerbated the hurt that Oklahoma State already was inflicting on spiraling No. 19 Iowa State.
The Cowgirls sent the Cyclones to a fifth-straight loss with the 86-58 victory as Heard racked up 18 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists.
The game extended the junior’s recent run of strong play. Averaging 11.3 points per game on the season, she had scored 20 or more in OSU’s last three games. With more such efforts, Heard and the Cowgirls can climb back into the top 25. Having not received any votes in the latest poll, Oklahoma State peaked at No. 23 back in Week 5.
Illinois’ No. 25 ranking was in danger on Sunday afternoon, as the Illini were in a 40-minute battle with Northwestern, one of the weakest teams in the Big Ten, on their homecourt.
The game was an illustration of the perils of conference play. But thanks to Berry Wallace, Illinois prevailed, 74-71.
The sophomore scored a career-high 29 points and grabbed nine rebounds to help ensure to Illini victory. Off target from behind the arc, Wallace applied pressure by scoring in the paint, which also led to 10 free throw attempts.
