Eight BIG EAST women’s basketball teams were in action on Tuesday night as four league games were on the schedule. Road teams went 3-1 and all three ranked teams in action were winners.
No. 4/4 Notre Dame (25-2, 12-1 BIG EAST) rebounded from its first league loss to post a 66-47 victory over Providence (13-13, 5-8 BIG EAST) at home. Junior Skylar Diggins scored 19 points and had seven assists, while redshirt-senior Devereaux Peters scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
Peters had 17 rebounds and blocked six shots last time out in a loss to West Virginia, but also went 1 for 8 from the field and finished with four points.
“That’s never going to happen again in my career here,” she said Tuesday. “That is just unacceptable. I don’t care what the circumstances are. (Against West Virginia) I wasn’t squaring up, I wasn’t being aggressive, I wasn’t being physical. I just have to keep pushing and look for the ball more.”
Providence senior Rachel Barnes had a team-high 16 points for the Friars.
No. 20/19 Louisville (19-7, 8-5 BIG EAST) held off Pittsburgh (8-17, 0-12 BIG EAST) to win 71-66 in overtime at the Petersen Events Center in the Steel City. Louisville sophomore Antonita Slaughter hit a jumper to force overtime, then had four points and a steal in the extra session. Slaughter finished with 14 points, as the Cardinals overcame a seven-point deficit with 5:02 left in regulation.
After Louisville tied it twice, Pittsburgh led 60-58 with 26 seconds to go. Slaughter’s jumper tied it 9 seconds later, then freshman Brianna Kiesel missed a shot for the Panthers.
In overtime, Slaughter and freshman Bria Smith made two layups each. The Cardinals were up 69-66 before Slaughter’s steal with 1:22 remaining, then neither team scored until Becky Burke’s two free throws with 15 seconds left.
Sophomore Shoni Schmimmel added 16 points for Louisville, Burke 15 and redshirt-freshman Shawnta’ Dyer 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Redshirt-sophomore Ashlee Anderson and Kiesel had 22 apiece for the Panthers, who have lost 11 in a row.
Outside Philadelphia, No. 15/14 Georgetown (20-6, 9-4 BIG EAST) held off Villanova (15-11, 5-8 BIG EAST) 60-54 at the Pavilion. Junior Sugar Rodgers scored a game-high 19 points as the Hoyas were outshot 41.9 percent (18-of-43) to 34.4 percent (21-of-61) from the field but took advantage of Villanova’s mistakes.
Georgetown scored 20 points off 19 Villanova turnovers, with 13 of those points coming off 11 turnovers in the first half for a 27-19 lead at halftime. The Wildcats pulled within two points, 31-29, with 12:59 to play but Georgetown went on an 11-3 run. The spurt was highlighted by two 3-pointers from Rodgers and two layups by senior Alexa Roche.
Rodgers made 5-of-11 3-pointers, pacing the Hoyas to 50-percent shooting from the outside (7-of-14). Georgetown’s long-distance shooting helped it overcome a 57.9-percent night from the free-throw line (11-of-19).
Junior Laura Sweeney led Villanova with 16 points and sophomore Devon Kane added 10.
In a nationally televised matchup on the CBS Sports Network, USF (14-13, 6-7 BIG EAST) topped Marquette (13-12, 4-8 BIG EAST) 61-48 in Milwaukee. Junior Inga Orekhova led three Bulls in double figures with 14 points. Senior Andrell Smith was in double figures for the fourth-straight game with 11 points.
USF shot 33-percent from the field, but limited Marquette to just 16 field goals (28-percent shooting) in the team's second straight victory.
Marquette freshman Arlesia Morse turned in a solid performance in the loss, scoring 20 points and tallying four steals. Sophomore Katherine Plouffe chipped in eight points and 12 rebounds for MU.
Wednesday night there is just one game on the schedule as No. 17/16 Rutgers (17-7, 6-5 BIG EAST) heads to RV/RV West Virginia (18-6, 8-3 BIG EAST) for a 7 p.m. ET matchup. The Mountaineers are coming off one of their best wins in school history following a 65-63 victory at then-No. 2/2 Notre Dame on Sunday. The Scarlet Knights have lost a season-high four in a row. However Rutgers holds a 12-7 edge in the BIG EAST regular-season series.
Material from interviews, school websites, the Associated Press wire service as well as league and team sources was used in this report.
