Women’s college basketball: Ohio State falls to Maryland

COLUMBUS — Kaila Charles scored 19 points to lead five Maryland players in double figures and the 17th-ranked Terrapins eased by Ohio State 85-65 on Thursday night.

Maryland closed the first quarter on a 15-2 run to take a 23-8 lead and it was 45-23 at the break after another closing 7-1 run. Ohio State was just 7-of-26 shooting in the first half with 12 turnovers.

Shakira Austin and Taylor Mikesell each added 15 points for Maryland (17-4, 8-2 Big Ten), which has won six straight games since losing at Iowa, now ranked No. 18, on Jan. 9. Blair Watson had nine points, nine rebounds, seven assists and four blocks, Diamond Miller scored 13 points and Stephanie Jones had 10 points and eight rebounds.

Charles scored a season-high 28 points in the first meeting on Jan. 6 as the Terrapins beat Ohio State 72-62 in College Park.

Braxtin Miller scored 15 points, and Dorka Juhasz had 14 points and nine rebounds for Ohio State (11-9, 4-5).

Connecticut 80,

Cincinnati 50

STORRS, Conn. — Crystal Dangerfield scored 24 points, Megan Walker added 21 points and 11 rebounds and No. 4 UConn beat Cincinnati 80-50 to win its 129th straight American Athletic Conference game.

Olivia Nelson Ododa and Christyn Williams each chipped in with 12 points for the Huskies (19-1, 9-0 American), who led just 35-31 at halftime before pulling away in the second half.

Antoinette Miller had 19 points for the Bearcats (13-7, 4-3), who had won four of their last five games. IImar’I Thomas, the conference’s leading scorer, scored 12 points, almost nine below her season average.

The game was tied at 7-7 early, before UConn went on a 15-0 run and appeared to take control.

The Huskies led 26-9 after 10 minutes, but were outscored 22-9 by Cincinnati in the second.

Thomas’s first basket, a turn-around jumper, cut the UConn lead to 26-13 and the Bearcats kept chipping away. They pulled to within four points of the Huskies at halftime after a 3-pointer from Miller.

UConn outscored the Bearcats 19-9 in the third quarter and 26-10 in the fourth.

Walker, who went over the 1,000-point plateau in the game, was hit twice in the face and missed most of the third quarter with what appeared to be an eye injury. She came back into the game in the final quarter.

The Huskies have won each of their 111 regular-season AAC games since the formation of the conference in 2013 and each of the six conference tournaments.

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Cincinnati has never beaten the Huskies, falling to 0-22 in the series, which dates back to the days when both teams were in the Big East.

UConn has now won 202 consecutive games against unranked teams, a streak that dates back to a loss at Gampel Pavilion on Feb. 18, 2012 to St. John’s.

The Associated Press