TOP 25 SEC WOMEN

Diggins plays spoiler for Notre Dame

Notre Dame guard Skylar Diggins (4) is fouled by Tennessee forward Jasmine Jones (2) during the second half of Monday’s game in Knoxville, Tenn. Diggins led the Irish with 33 points as Notre Dame won its 14th consecutive game, topping the Lady Volunteers 77-67.
Notre Dame guard Skylar Diggins (4) is fouled by Tennessee forward Jasmine Jones (2) during the second half of Monday’s game in Knoxville, Tenn. Diggins led the Irish with 33 points as Notre Dame won its 14th consecutive game, topping the Lady Volunteers 77-67.

— Skylar Diggins wouldn’t allow Notre Dame to lose.

On a night when Tennessee was honoring one of the greatest coaches in college basketball history, Diggins delivered one of the best performances of her career. The senior guard scored a career-high 33 points as No. 2 Notre Dame beat the ninth-ranked Lady Vols 77-67 for its 14th consecutive victory.

Diggins’ big performance spoiled Tennessee’s celebration of former Lady Volunteers Coach Pat Summitt, who had a banner raised in her honor at Thompson-Boling Arena before the game. The announced crowd of 13,556 included former Lady Vols greats Tamika Catchings, Chamique Holdsclaw, Michelle Marciniak and Candace Parker.

“This is one of the toughest places to play with all those fans out there,” Diggins said. “It was a great moment for Coach Summitt, with all those players like Candace Parker and Tamika Catchings on the sidelines. It was a very emotional night tonight, and I thought we did a good job of handling it because they had a lot to play for.”

Diggins took over the game early in the first half to put the Irish ahead. She dominated on both ends of the floor again early in the second half as Notre Dame built a 19-point lead. After Tennessee cut the margin to five in the closing minutes, Diggins responded once again.

“She had a phenomenal game. ... She’s shooting the ball extremely well,” Notre Dame Coach Muffet McGraw said. “She shot 50 percent from the field [13 of 26] against a great defense, managed the game, ran the team. Fourth game in nine days, I thought we looked a little tired in stretches at the end, and I really didn’t want to take her out to even give her a quick breath. She really gutted it out for 40 minutes with intense pressure on the ball.”

Diggins helped Notre Dame become the first team ever to beat both Connecticut and Tennessee in three consecutive seasons. The Irish won 73-72 at Connecticut on Jan. 5.

The Lady Vols (16-4) wanted to avenge that loss while also honoring Summitt, whose 1,098-208 career record gives her the most victories of any Division I men’s or women’s basketball coach ever. Summitt stepped down in April after announcing in 2011 that she has early-onset dementia, Alzheimer’s type.

Bashaara Graves had 19 points and 13 rebounds for Tennessee, which had won its previous nine games. Taber Spani added 12 points and Meighan Simmons had 11 points. Jewell Loyd had 10 points for Notre Dame, while Kayla Mc-Bride had nine points and 10 rebounds.

Tennessee used the emotion of the pregame ceremony for Summitt to take an early 7-2 lead, but the Irish answered with a 12-2 run. Diggins scored 11 points in the first 10 minutes of the game to help the Irish build an eight-point lead.

TOP 25 MEN NO. 2 KANSAS 61, WEST VIRGINIA 56

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Travis Releford and Jeff Withey each scored 15 points and No. 2 Kansas extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 18 games by beating West Virginia 61-56.

Kansas (19-1, 7-0 Big 12) shot 54 percent from the field in the first meeting between the schools. The Jayhawks have held their past six opponents under 60 points.

Ben McLemore added 13 points for Kansas. Aaric Murray led West Virginia (9-11, 2-5) with 17 points and Juwan Staten added 14.

West Virginia used several steals to trima 15-point deficit to eight at halftime but never took the lead in the second half.

NO. 12 LOUISVILLE 64, PITTSBURGH 61

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Russ Smith and Gorgui Dieng scored a combined 34 points and sealed the game with four free throws in the final 12 seconds as No. 12 Louisville ended a three-game losing streak.

Louisville, which has slumped since being No. 1 two weeks ago, saw an 11-point second-half lead cut to 60-58 on Tray Woodall’s three-pointer with 13.3 seconds remaining. That was one of seven threes by Pitt over the final 13:18.

Dieng made two free throws with 12.7 seconds left for a four-point lead, and after the Panthers’ Lamar Patterson shot an air ball with six seconds left, Smith followed with two more free throws for a 64-58 lead with 4.2 seconds left.

Woodall had 14 points for Pittsburgh (17-5, 5-4). Smith finished with 20 points and Dieng had 14 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks for the Cardinals (17-4, 5-3 Big East).

Behanan finished with 12 points.

NO. 25 MARQUETTE 63, SOUTH FLORIDA 50

MILWAUKEE - Vander Blue scored a career-high 30 points to lead No. 25 Marquette to a 63-50 victory over South Florida as the Golden Eagles moved into a first place tie with Syracuse in the Big East.

Blue, who came into the game as the Golden Eagles’ leading scorer at 13.9 points per game, made 13 of 20 shots from the field and scored 11 points during a run that spanned both halves. The junior guard repeatedly raced through the South Florida defense, driving to the basket and scoring on layups.

The Golden Eagles (15-4, 6-1 Big East), who have won 8 of 9 games, returned to the Associated Top 25 on Monday after being out of the rankings last week.

South Florida (10-10, 1-7) opened the season 9-3 but has faltered since conference play began.

SWAC MEN JACKSON STATE 82, ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 67

JACKSON, Miss. - Christian Williams turned in a season-high 27 points as Jackson State downed Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

Williams made a career-best 7 of 13 three-pointers as he hit 9 of 18 from the field. Dundrecous Nelson scored 16 points on 9-of-9 free-throw showing and also had seven assists.

The Tigers (4-14, 3-6 Southwestern Athletic Conference) shot 52.8 percent (28 of 53) from the field and made 9 of 22 three-point attempts while winning their third consecutive game.

Terrell Kennedy paced the Golden Lions (8-13, 7-2) with a career-high 31 points, including an 11-of-14 showing at the free throw line. Kennedy hit 10 of 20 from the field, but the rest of Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s starters made just 36.7 percent (11 of 30).

Jackson State had 17 assists to the Golden Lions’ three and recorded 10 steals, including four by Nelson.

SWAC WOMEN JACKSON STATE 70, ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 59

JACKSON, Miss. - Tiffany Kellum scored 14 points and Beatrice Banks had 11 to lead Jackson State past Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

The Lady Lions (7-12, 3-6 Southwestern Athletic Conference) trailed by as many as 20 points five times in the second half. They shot 38.8 percent (19 of 49) from the floor and 2 of 13 (15.4) from three point range.

Chi Chi Okwumbua had a game-high 22 points for UAPB. Lakendra Marsh scored 18 points. Cassidy Wright added eight points.

Jackson State (7-11, 4-5) shot 38.9 percent (21 of 54) from the floor and went 6 of 16 from three-point range.

Sports, Pages 19 on 01/29/2013

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