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Rice leads No. 2 UCLA past No. 11 Ohio State 72-62 in Big Ten tourney semis

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Kiki Rice scored 17 points to lead five UCLA players in double figures and the Bruins won their school-record 24th consecutive game, 72-62 over No. 11 Ohio State on Saturday in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals.

Conference Player of the Year Lauren Betts and Angela Dugalic each scored 14 points for the Bruins (30-1), who led the entire way. Gianna Kneepkens scored 13 points and Gabriela Jaquez added 10 points.

The Bruins will meet No. 9 Iowa in Sunday’s championship.

Chance Gray led the fifth-seeded Buckeyes (26-7) with 23 points, hitting 6 of 11 shots and seven free throws. Jaloni Cambridge added 12 points and Elsa Lemmila had 10 points for the Buckeyes.

UCLA hit 44% from the field while Ohio State made 37%. Each team had 34 rebounds. Betts led UCLA with nine rebounds.

Trailing 32-21 at halftime, the closest Ohio State got in the third quarter was seven points at 45-38 with 4:15 left. UCLA led 52-40 after three quarters.

The Buckeyes cut the deficit to seven points again at 69-62 with 1:24 left on two free throws by Cambridge.

The Bruins shot 44% in the first half while limiting the Buckeyes to 28% en route to a 32-21 halftime lead. The lone negative for UCLA was making just 1 of 9 from 3-point range in the first half. The Bruins made of 5 of 10 3-pointers in the second half.

The Bruins jumped out to a 14-3 lead before the Buckeyes scored the final seven points of the first quarter to trim the deficit to 14-10.

Up Next

Ohio State: Will await its selection and seeding in the NCAA Tournament.

UCLA: The Bruins will meet No. 9 Iowa in Sunday’s championship.

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Hawkeyes are set to play Vanderbilt in a November women’s basketball game in Sioux City, Iowa

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Vanderbilt and Iowa, both ranked in the top 10 late last season, will meet in a women's basketball game early next season in northwest Iowa, the schools announced Tuesday. The neutral-site game is set for Nov. 15 at the Tyson Events Center, which is 290 miles from Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. Vanderbilt is 4-0 all-time against the Hawkeyes. This will be the teams' first meeting since 1997. The Commodores are expected to return national scoring leader Mikayla Blakes. She averaged 27 points per game and was Southeastern Conference player of the year. Vanderbilt was ranked as high as No. 5 and finished No. 10 with a 29-5 record after reaching the NCAA Sweet 16.
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