Despite being up by 10 points with four minutes to play, No. 25 North Carolina barely held on for a 61-59 win over North Carolina State on Monday in Raleigh.
Tilda Trygger’s layup with 12 seconds left capped an 11-3 run for the Wolfpack, cutting the deficit to two points. After a Tar Heels turnover, NC State’s Zamareya Jones missed a 3-point attempt and North Carolina’s Indya Nivar got the rebound with 1.6 seconds left. Nivar was off target on both free throws, but she rebounded the second to run off the remaining time.
Lanie Grant scored 18 points while Nivar contributed 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists as North Carolina (18-5, 7-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) logged its fifth win in a row. Nyla Harris produced 10 points and nine rebounds for the Tar Heels, who bounced back after trailing by nine in the second quarter.
Khamil Pierre paced NC State (15-7, 8-3) with 14 points and 15 rebounds. Trygger finished with 11 points and seven rebounds, and Qadence Samuels chipped in with 10 points and eight boards.
No. 3 South Carolina 71, Texas A&M 56
Joyce Edwards scored 28 points, including eight during a 9-0 Gamecocks run in the fourth quarter that allowed South Carolina to put away the Aggies in College Station, Texas.
South Carolina (22-2, 8-1 SEC) was up 58-53 with less than six minutes left before Edwards hit a jumper, sank two free throws and made a layup. After Maddy McDaniel went 1 of 2 at the foul line, Edwards added two more free throws to make it 67-53 with 1:50 to go.
Tessa Johnson had 19 points and Edwards added a season-high 11 rebounds for the Gamecocks, who have won three in a row. Texas A&M (8-10, 1-8) took its sixth straight loss despite getting 14 points from Ny’Ceara Pryor and 12 from Fatmata Janneh. The Aggies’ Anita Franchini amassed seven point, nine rebounds and six steals.
No. 13 Ole Miss 71, Auburn 45
Cotie McMahon scored 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds in 23 minutes, powering the Rebels to a victory over the Tigers in Birmingham, Ala. The game was played on a neutral site due to the winter storm in the South.
Sira Thienou added 14 points and eight rebounds while Christeen Iwuala totaled 12 points and 11 boards for Ole Miss (19-4, 6-2 Southeastern Conference), which has won three consecutive games.
Harissoum Coulibaly hit just 4 of 12 field-goal attempts for 11 points and was the lone double-figure scorer for Auburn (13-10, 2-7). The Tigers were outscored 22-10 in the first quarter and wound up shooting 32.1% en route to their fourth loss in a row.
–Field Level Media
