Tuesday recap: Northwestern takes down No. 23 LSU, No. 1 Baylor beats Yale, UNT stuns SMU

While it was business as usual for the No. 1 team in the nation another ranked team suffered defeat on their home floor.

The top-ranked Baylor Lady Bears (5-0) had no trouble defeating Yale (2-2), 109-59, in Waco with three players earning double-doubles: Brittney Griner, Brooklyn Pope and Odyssey Sims. Griner had 31 points and 10 rebounds, Brooklyn Pope finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds while Sims scored 13 points and made 13 assists. Destiny Williams was also in double figures with 13 points.

Yale got off to an early lead prompting Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey to pull her starting lineup.

“I was very proud of the five kids that came in the game,” said Mulkey. “They played with a lot more excitement and energy, and we started pressing more toward the end of the half and into the second half just to get our motor going.”

Zenab Keita and Sarah Halejian scored 13 points apiece for Yale.

Baton Rouge Blues

The honeymoon is long over for new LSU coach Nikki Caldwell. The No. 23 Lady Tigers (3-2) fell to the Northwestern Wildcats, 44-43, at the Maravich Center. Freshman Morgan Jones‘ two free throws with 11 seconds on the clock sealed the game for the Northwestern.

“When I got fouled, I took a deep breath and stepped up to the line,” said Jones about the free throws.“ It’s a mental thing, and LSU had great fans, so it was a matter of focusing.”

LSU is used to success on their home floor and Caldwell expressed disappointment with her team’s lack of steady effort.

“When you come up short, obviously you don’t look at the last possession or the one before that,” said Caldwell. “You look at a combination of possessions over the course of the game. We talk about being a 40-minute team and tonight we didn’t play for 40 minutes. We probably had about 15 minutes of good basketball.”

“I thought it was a hard-fought game, early in the year,” said Wildcats head coach Joe McKeown. “We just made more plays down the stretch, and Morgan stepped up big with two free-throws. She was poised and I’m really proud of her effort. She’s fearless and that’s how we need her to play. Overall, I’m happy with the way we fought back.”

Brittany Orban paced Northwestern (4-0) with 13 points and seven rebounds, while Jones added 11 points and nine boards. LaSondra Barrett led LSU with 11 points

Cross-Metroplex Upset

A week after upsetting TCU in a DFW rivalry, SMU went on the road to Denton and lost to North Texas (3-1). Under the direction of new coach Karen Aston, the Mean Green beat the Mustangs 50-46 in a defensive battle.

SMU is 27-16 all-time against North Texas and before last night won the last five games.

The teams combined to make just 31 of 100 attempts from the field. But North Texas was 73 percent from the free-throw line and had a 43-38 rebounding advantage and an 8-3 edge in second-chance scoring.

Senior guard Tamara Torru led the Mean Green with 13 points. Jasmine Godbolt finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

“I’m proud of them for sticking with it” North Texas coach Karen Aston said. “They could have got down on themselves, but they really grew up tonight. What I saw was growth from our last game.”

It was the first loss of the year for SMU (3-1). Mustangs guard Alisha Filmore had a 3-point attempt to tie the game with a second left, but it bounced off the rim. Filmore finished with a season-high 16 points, leading all scorers. Akil Simpson scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds.

Top 25 Scores

No. 11 Louisville 74, Austin Peay 60

No. 16 North Carolina 61, Presbyterian 38

No. 15 Purdue 76, Chicago State 49

No. 8 Maryland 94, St. Joseph’s 71

No. 18 Ohio State 73, Howard 50

No. 13 Rutgers 68, Lehigh 40

DII trumps DI

DII school Palm Beach Atlantic (2-2) beat DI MEAC member Bethune-Cookman (1-3), 59-56.

Senior Jordan Kong came off the bench to lead PBA with 16 points and helped the Fish (2-2) overcome a 13-point deficit in the first-half. Selethia Jackson added with 13 points and 10 rebounds.