Former All-American Olivia Miles played for the first time since February 2023 and notched her fourth career triple-double, piling up 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists as No. 6 Notre Dame beat visiting Mercyhurst 105-61 on Monday night in South Bend, Ind., in both teams’ season opener.
Miles, who missed last season while recovering from knee surgery, connected on 8 of 12 shots from the field and had three steals in 32 minutes.
Miles was one of five double-figure scorers for the Fighting Irish, along with Pitt transfer Liatu King (24 points, 11 rebounds), reigning ACC Defensive Player of the Year Hannah Hidalgo (19 points, nine rebounds, six steals), Kate Koval (18 points) and Cassandre Prosper (17 points).
Bailey Kuhns paced Mercyhurst with 20 points in the school’s first game at the Division I level. Notre Dame never trailed and outscored the Lakers 82-28 in the paint.
No. 1 South Carolina 68, Michigan 62
Chloe Kitts had 19 points and 14 rebounds as No. 1 South Carolina survived an upset bid from Michigan to win 68-62 on Monday night in Las Vegas, Nev.
Tessa Johnson added 15 points for the reigning national champs, while freshman forward Joyce Edwards had 10 points, seven rebounds and two steals in her debut for the Gamecocks.
Freshman guard Syla Swords carried the load for the unranked Wolverines (0-1), scoring 27 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in her collegiate debut. Jordan Hobbs added 19 points for Michigan.
Michigan jumped out to a 7-0 lead and led by a point at halftime after Johnson trimmed the deficit for South Carolina with a 3-pointer seconds before the buzzer.
The Gamecocks used a 17-8 third quarter run to grab the lead, a stretch capped by another 3-pointer by Johnson.
South Carolina’s schedule doesn’t get any easier. They’ll face No. 9 NC State in another neutral site game in Charlotte, N.C. on Sunday.
No. 3 Southern California 68, No. 20 Ole Miss 66
JuJu Watkins posted 27 points and 10 rebounds and the Trojans a survived a second-half comeback by the Rebels in Paris, France.
The Trojans made their last 17 free throws, the last two by Stanford transfer Kiki Iriafen with nine seconds left for the final margin. Iriafen finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Watkins added five blocks, four assists, three steals and a whopping nine turnovers.
The Trojans had two critical offensive rebounds in the final minute to survive going the final 8 minutes, 47 seconds without a field goal. KK Deans scored 19 to lead the Rebels before fouling out on the play that sent Iriafen to the line for the decisive points.
No. 5 UCLA 66, No. 17 Louisville 59
Lauren Betts recorded 18 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and four blocks as the Bruins staved off the Cardinals in Paris, France.
UCLA led 32-29 at halftime and 50-46 after three quarters. Isla Juffermans made a jumper to cut the deficit to 50-48 before the Bruins rattled off 11 of the next 14 points. Betts had the final four points of that surge, with her layup giving UCLA its largest lead at 61-51 with 4:02 to play.
Timea Gardiner put up 15 points and Londynn Jones had 13 for the Bruins. Tajianna Roberts finished with 21 points for Louisville to lead all scorers, while Jaleah Williams had 11 points, nine assists and four steals.
No. 7 LSU 95, Eastern Kentucky 44
Flau’Jae Johnson had 25 points and Aneesah Morrow added 20 as the Tigers beat the Colonels in Baton Rouge, La.
Morrow also had 10 rebounds for LSU (1-0) and shot 9-of-11 from the floor. Mikaylah Williams notched 18 points and six rebounds, while Sa’Myah Smith tallied 15 points and 11 boards.
Kaitlyn Costner was one of three players to have nine points for EKU (0-1) and she also had six rebounds and three assists. EKU shot 6-of-31 from 3-point land for a 19.4 percent clip.
LSU trailed briefly in the opening moments of the game, but ended the first frame up 27-11 and coasted to victory from there.
No. 8 Iowa State 96, Chicago State 56
The Cyclones scored the first 29 points of the game and shot 50.8 percent from the field in a runaway victory over the Cougars in Ames, Iowa.
Addy Brown paced Iowa State with 20 points and nine rebounds. Audi Crooks added 16 points and Aili Tanke and Alisa Williams each had 12.
Aiyanna Culver broke up the shutout with a 3-pointer with three seconds left in the first quarter. Asha Walker led the Cougars with 18 points and Culver added 14, with each making four 3-pointers.
No. 10 Oklahoma 76, Southern 44
In her Sooners debut since transferring from Oregon State, Raegen Beers tallied 21 points and 14 rebounds in a season-opening win over the Jaguars in Norman, Okla.
Sahara Williams chipped in 19 points and Skylar Vann added 10. With six points, Aniya Gourdine was the leading scorer for Southern in its season debut.
Oklahoma led wire-to-wire and outrebounded the Jaguars 40-12.
No. 11 Duke 89, Radford 36
Duke dominated with high-intensity, full-court pressure from the opening tip, holding Radford to 10 total field goals and 23.3 percent shooting in the game in Durham, N.C.
Turning 34 turnovers into 41 points, the Blue Devils built a double-digit lead that went to 15 points eight minutes into the game on Toby Fournier’s sweeping right-handed layup.
Six Blue Devils hit double figures in scoring, led by Jordan Wood with a game-high 13 points. Sophomore guard Oluchi Okananwa had 10 points, five steals and six rebounds. Radford top scorer Cate Carlson had 10 points and two of the Highlanders’ three 3-pointers (17 attempts) in the game.
Duke missed 16 of 20 3-point attempts.
No. 13 Kansas State 92, Green Bay 45
Kennedy Taylor delivered 16 points and 11 rebounds off the bench and three other Wildcats scored in double figures in a wire-to-wire win in Manhattan, Kan.
Jaelyn Glenn led Kansas State with 17 points and added nine boards and six assists. Temira Poindexter tallied 15 points and Serena Sundell added 12 for the Wildcats, who led 28-7 after one quarter and 49-12 at halftime.
K-State outrebounded Green Bay by a 56-25 margin and limited the Phoenix to 30.6 percent shooting (19 of 62). Natalie McNeal led Green Bay with 14 points and seven rebounds.
No. 15 North Carolina 83, Charleston Southern 53
Alyssa Ustby tallied 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists and Lexi Donarski contributed 14 points for the Tar Heels, who pulled away in the final minute of the second quarter in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Back-to-back Trayanna Crisp jumpers ended the second quarter and Donarski, a transfer from Iowa State making her debut at UNC, ripped the ball from CSU at midcourt to start the third with a layup and followed with a 3-pointer to crank the lead up to 43-23.
Catherine Alben led the Buccaneers with 18 points.
No. 18 Maryland 74, UMBC 32
Christina Dalce had a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Terrapins to a victory over the Retrievers in College Park, Md.
Allie Kubek added 11 points for Maryland (1-0), while Shyanne Sellers had 12 points. Terps’ coach Brenda Frese went deep into her bench, playing 11 players.
Jordan Lewis powered UMBC (0-1) with 10 points and two blocks.
Maryland never trailed after opening the game on an 18-8 run. The Terps held UMBC to just 10 points in the second half. Maryland won decisively despite shooting 2-of-13 from 3-point land and turning the ball over 22 times.
No. 19 Florida State 119, North Florida 49
Ta’Niya Latson scored 27 points in 20 minutes, Sydney Bowles added 18 and Makayla Timpson put up 17 points, 22 rebounds and four assists as the Seminoles forced 26 turnovers that led to 46 points in a blowout in Tallahassee, Fla.
Sarah Taub was the lone scorer in double digits for the Ospreys with 12 points. North Florida turned it over on one-third of its possessions.
No. 22 Kentucky 98, South Carolina Upstate 43
Clara Strack scored a career-high 22 points to lead the Wildcats to a victory over the Spartans in Kenny Brooks’ debut as head coach at Lexington, Ken.
Strack, who along with Georgia Amoore followed Brooks from Virginia Tech to Kentucky, also had six rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks for the Wildcats. Amoore had 11 points and 10 assists, and Teonni Key had a career-best 14 points and five assists along with nine rebounds.
AC Markham led USC Upstate with eight points, six rebounds and two assists. Kentucky scored 34 points off 18 turnovers by the Spartans, while the Wildcats didn’t allow USC Upstate to score any points off their nine turnovers.
No. 23 Nebraska 88, Omaha 48
Nebraska jumped in front 18-2 in the first quarter and never hit the brakes in a lopsided afternoon opener in Lincoln.
Alexis Markowski had 14 points, 11 rebounds and only missed one shot for the Cornhuskers, who got 14 points and six boards from Natalie Potts.
Omaha forced 20 turnovers but committed 24 and shot 19 of 57 (33.3 percent) from the field. The Mavericks were led by guard Alana Powell with 15 points.
No. 24 Alabama 115, New Orleans 53
Aaliyah Nye poured in 25 points on 7-of-12 shooting from 3-point land to lead the Crimson Tide over the Privateers in Tuscaloosa, Ala., in both teams’ season opener.
Sarah Ashlee Barker was also instrumental for the Tide, notching 23 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals. Eris Lester added 16 points for Alabama while Zaay Green scored 12.
Jayla Kimbrough led New Orleans with 13 points and three boards.
Alabama never trailed and outscored New Orleans 26-2 in fastbreak points.
No. 25 Indiana 82, Brown 60
Sydney Parrish had 20 points and 10 rebounds to power the Hoosiers to a win over the Bears in Bloomington, Ind.
In her debut for Indiana (1-0), Tennessee transfer Karoline Striplin scored 17 points, while Yarden Garzon scored 16 points and drilled 4 of 8 from 3-point range.
Isabella Mauricio led Brown (0-1) with 15 points and four assists.
Each team had 18 turnovers, but Indiana turned the Bears’ mistakes into 23 points. The Hoosiers also won the rebounding battle 40-26 and outscored Brown 46-22 in the paint.
–Field Level Media
