ICYMI: Ranked teams roll in first week of women's hoops
It's still a few weeks before Thanksgiving, but teams in the AP Top 25 feasted during college basketball's opening weekend.
Ranked teams went 28-1, with the lone loss coming when No. 19 Kentucky beat 14th-ranked Miami. Throw that game out, and Top 25 squads won by an average of nearly 37 points.
The competition will get a bit stiffer this week with some tasty matchups between top teams, including four on Monday. Fourth-ranked South Carolina visits seventh-ranked Ohio State, No. 2 Baylor hosts ninth-ranked UCLA and No. 12 Florida State hosts third-ranked UConn. The Huskies, who will be playing their first game of the season, have won 75 straight and host Baylor on Thursday. Eighth-ranked Texas also visits No. 11 Stanford on Monday night.
Here's a look at some of the other things that happened around women's basketball during the opening weekend.
SUCCESSFUL DEBUT
Stephanie White won her first game as a college coach as Vanderbilt beat Kennesaw State 86-54 on Friday night. The Commodores then promptly lost to No. 23 Indiana by 33 points on Sunday.
HONORING LAUREN
Xavier hosted the second annual Lauren Hill Tipoff Classic on Saturday. The doubleheader was in honor of the former Mount St. Joseph's player who died of a brain tumor last year. She helped raise over $2.2 million for cancer research. The Musketeers beat Tennessee State 63-54 before Hiram edged Mount St. Joseph's 63-62 in overtime. The teams stopped briefly after the opening tip to honor Hill , forming a circle and pointing a finger up in the air near midcourt.
Xavier also hosted Bounce for the Cure in honor of hill.
HALFCOURT HEAVE
Nebraska sophomore Jessica Shepard hit a shot from beyond halfcourt just before the half of Nebraska's 71-53 win over Texas Rio Grande Valley on Saturday.
HALL OF FAME MATCHUP
When Chattanooga visited Rutgers on Friday, it featured a matchup of coaches C. Vivian Stringer and Jim Foster . The pair has combined to win over 1,800 games, and they are the only two coaches in NCAA history to win 200 or more games at three different schools. Foster's Chattanooga squad won the game 66-53.
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