Top-ranked Baylor women defeat No. 6 Lady Vols | Lexington Herald Leader

Brittney Griner scored 26 points as No. 1 Baylor beat sixth-ranked Tennessee 76-67 on Sunday in Knoxville for its second win of the young season over a top-10 opponent. The pre-season All-American had nine first-half points but came alive in the paint after halftime.

The Lady Volunteers took a 39-31 lead on Glory Johnson's free throw with 17:39 left, but Griner had a pair of layups in an 11-2 run for the Lady Bears. The second gave Baylor a 42-41 lead with 15 minutes left.

Another Griner layup with 8:32 to play gave Baylor its ultimate lead, and the Lady Bears (6-0) relied on smothering defense to limit Tennessee to just 29.3 percent shooting.

Another pre-season All-American, Shekinna Stricklen, led the Lady Vols with 25 points and 12 rebounds.

No. 23 DePaul 88, Northwestern 72: Keisha Hampton scored a career-high 32 points, Anna Martin added 21 points and DePaul won at Northwestern. Martin, a Lexington Christian graduate, also had four rebounds and four assists. She was 4-for-6 from three-point range.

Men

No. 24 Mississippi St. 82, North Texas 59: Arnett Moultrie scored 20 points, Dee Bost added 18 and the Bulldogs cruised in Starkville, Miss. Mississippi State bolted to a 30-10 lead in the first 10 minutes and were never challenged, shooting 63.3 percent in the first half and 51.9 percent for the game.

Frontcourt starters Moultrie and Renardo Sidney returned to the lineup after both missed two games because of injuries. Moultrie continued his hot start to the season, shooting 5-for-9 from the field and 10-for-10 from the free-throw line. Sidney battled foul trouble for much of the game, finishing with nine points and three rebounds.

Norfolk St. 70, Eastern Kentucky 63: The Spartans (4-2) shot 65.7 percent from the field and outscored the visiting Colonels 36-20 in the paint. Joshua Jones led EKU (3-4) with 13 points.

Bucknell 54, Morehead St. 50: Kahlil Owens' layup put the Eagles up 45-43 with just under three minutes to play, but Bucknell's foul shooting sparked a game-winning run in the TicketCity Legends Classic's Lewisburg, Pa., subregional. Ty Proffitt (South Laurel) was the only player in double figures for the Eagles (3-4), scoring 14 points.

Late women's highlights

No. 4 Notre Dame 56, No. 7 Duke 54 (women): Natalie Novosel couldn't have had much worse of a first half for Notre Dame. The senior guard out of Lexington Catholic missed nine of her 10 shots and just wasn't in sync on offense.

Yet she didn't stop shooting, banking in a shot from the foul line with under a second left to lift the Irish to a win over Duke in the Junkanoo Jam finals in the Bahamas on Saturday night.

"This is unbelievable. It's surreal. It's an amazing, amazing feeling," Novosel said. "I almost fell out of bounds. The ball was supposed to go to the middle. I caught the ball and I had my eye on the rim and I knew that's where I was going. I wasn't even trying to get contact for a foul. Just focused on the rim and shot it. I drove right to the foul line and took off with one leg, and used the backboard to my advantage, and I banked it in."

Skylar Diggins scored 19 points and Novosel had 15 for the Irish, who rallied from a 16-point halftime deficit.

"I just kept going," said Novosel, who was averaging 17.6 points coming into the game. "They were bound to fall. Someway I had to find a way to score. I have confidence in myself and know my team has confidence in me. I knew I had to keep shooting for us to win."

Late men's highlights

Murray St. 90, Southern Mississippi 81 (2OT): Isaiah Canaan scored 36 points, including seven in the second overtime, and Murray State staved off a furious second-half comeback to win the Great Alaska Shootout on Saturday night.

The Racers (7-0) never trailed in regulation but saw Southern Miss take its first lead of the game, 72-69, in the first overtime.

Racers Coach Steve Prohm said the key to the game was his team's toughness. "They haven't rattled in pressure situations," he said.

Western Kentucky 72, Southeast Louisiana 67: Teeng Akol scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds for host Western Kentucky. George Fant (Warren Central) scored 15 points, Derrick Gordon added 14 and Kevin Kaspar had 10 for the Hilltoppers (2-5).