Taliah Scott’s 24 points, five rebounds and three assists helped the No. 16 Baylor Lady Bears score a 58-52 upset over the No. 7 Duke Blue Devils with a dominant stretch in the fourth quarter in the season opener for both teams in Paris, France on Monday.
Scott connected on a long 3 from the left wing to close Duke’s lead to one late in the third quarter. With the game tied in the fourth, she picked a pass in the open court and sailed in for a right-handed finish to break a 43-all tie. That was the start of a 60-second barrage from Scott, who sprinted in for a running left-handed layup and a stop-and-pop jumper on the left baseline to prop Baylor up 49-43 ahead of the eight-minute mark.
Toby Fournier had 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead Duke, which led 33-29 at half. The Blue Devils missed 17 of 21 field-goal attempts — and scored nine points — in the decisive fourth quarter.
Scott, a redshirt sophomore who transferred from Auburn (three games last season) and previously played at Arkansas (20 games in 2023-24), now has 16 career games with 20-plus points in 24 total games.
No. 11 North Carolina 90, N.C. Central 42
Nyla Brooks scored 15 points and three teammates chipped in 13 apiece for the Tar Heels in a dominant opening victory over the Eagles in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Brooks made 3 of her 6 3-point attempts and Ciera Toomey collected 11 rebounds and four blocks. She scored 13 points as did Indya Nivar and Elina Aarnisalo. Nyla Harris added 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Heels, who limited N.C. Central to 26.3% shooting. Aysia Hinton made three treys for a team-high nine points.
North Carolina opened a 20-point lead less than 13 minutes into the game on Aarnisalo’s bucket for a 35-15 lead with 7:19 on the clock in the second quarter. Ten players scored for the Tar Heels.
No. 12 Ole Miss 87, Norfolk State 46
Christeen Iwuala tallied 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting to lead five players in double figures and Ole Miss capitalized on 22 turnovers in a lopsided win over the Spartans in Oxford, Miss.
Jasha Clinton, who spent three years at Temple and played at Hampton last season, had a game-high 16 points for Norfolk State.
No. 14 Iowa State 85, St. Thomas (Minnesota) 36
Junior center Audi Crooks scored 20 points in 25 minutes and the Cyclones cruised to victory in Ames, Iowa, over the Tommies out of the Summit League.
Crooks made 6 of 7 free throws and Iowa State made 16 of 19 at the line. Addy Brown had 11 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Cyclones.
Alyssa Sand had 17 of St. Thomas’ 36 points. The Tommies were on the wrong end of a 19-0 run in the second quarter and trailed 65-24 through three quarters.
–Field Level Media
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