The krikya18.com Starting Five honors a starting lineup of players from around the country who enjoyed standout performances for that week. Here’s the starters for the week of Jan. 23-29.
Women's basketball: Scores | Rankings
Lauren Cannatelli, Dayton
Dayton’s Lauren Cannatelli broke multiple school records for made free throws (22), free throw attempts (22), and free throw percentage (1.000, 22-for-22), as well as set the NCAA Division I mark for this season for made free throws in a win over Saint Joseph's on Sunday. The 22 for 22 performance was the second best all-time in a single game, trailing only a 26-26 performance by Kelsey Minato of Army in 2014.
Dayton holds on to defeat Saint Joseph's in overtime, 72-65.
— Dayton Women's Hoops (@DaytonWBB)
In the 72-56 win over Saint Joseph’s, Cannatelli finished with a season-high 26 points for the Flyers as Dayton came out victorious in a tough Atlantic 10 Conference match up. Key for Dayton in addition to Cannatelli’s shooting was a bench that out-scored Saint Joseph’s 20-4.
Dayton started the week losing a triple overtime heart-breaker at Saint Louis, 68-65 on Jan. 23. In the game, Cannatelli played 51 minutes, scoring 13 points while pulling down five rebounds. After outplaying the Billikens in the second half and matching them in the first two overtimes, the Flyers were outscored 10-7 in the final period.
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The Flyers (10-8, 5-2 A-10) currently stand fifth in the conference, and will return to action on Feb. 3 at Rhode Island.
Megan Huff, Utah
Senior forward Megan Huff was integral in wins over California on Friday and No. 6 Stanford on Sunday, averaging 20.5 points between the two games as Utah jumped seven spots in the latest women’s basketball Associated Press poll, landing at No. 14 after the big week.
Upset City. Population: Utah Women’s Basketball || #21 Utah 75 #6 Stanford 68 || 18-1,7-1
— Utah Women's Basketball (@UTAHWBB)
Huff started the weekend off with 24 points against California, adding nine rebounds, an assist, a block and two steals as the Utes prevailed 87-74. It was the 10th time this season she has scored 20-or-more points, which ranks fifth in the Pac-12.
The Federal Way, Wash. native followed it up with her 10th double-double of the season, racking up 17 points and 13 rebounds as Utah stunned No. 6 Stanford, 75-68. It was the Utes first win over Stanford in program history and ties for the highest ranked win in school history after also beating No. 6 Long Beach State in 1984. It is the fourth top-25 win under the direction of head coach Lynne Roberts and the first top-15 win since 2006.
Huff also put up a career-high four assists against Stanford along with a block and a steal. Through 19 games, the senior ranks fifth in the Pac-12 in scoring and second in rebounding (9.6) while also ranking in the top-10 in field goal percentage, free throw percentage and blocks. She is also 20th nationally in double-doubles.Congrats to Huffy on her 2nd Player of the Week honor!!! Huff averaged 20ppg&11rpg in wins over Cal & Stanford this weekend!
— Utah Women's Basketball (@UTAHWBB)
Utah, 18-1 overall and 7-1 in Pac-12 play, will return to action on Friday, Feb. 1 when travel to Eugene, Oregon to play No. 4 Oregon.
Paris Kea, North Carolina
North Carolina senior guard Paris Kea led the Tar Heels to a 78-73 upset win over top-ranked Notre Dame on Sunday following a strong performance in a victory at Virginia Tech earlier in the week. The Greensboro, North Carolina, native averaged 28.0 points, 6.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds over the two games.
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The Tar Heels win over Notre Dame snapped a 198-game losing streak by unranked teams against the No. 1 ranked team in the country. In Sunday’s victory over the visiting Fighting Irish, Kea scored a season-high 30 points on 11-for 17 shooting, including a 5-of-8 showing from 3-point range. She added 10 assists to become just the second player to score 30 points and hand out 10 assists in an Atlantic Coast Conference game this season. In addition, Kea became just the fourth Division I player in the last 20 years to have a 30-point, 10-assist game against a ranked opponent in her historic performance against the Fighting Irish. Kea, who also had three steals, led North Carolina to just its third ever win over a No. 1-ranked team, and its first since defeating Duke in 2006.
4⃣ Player of the Week Awards for Paris Kea
— Carolina Women's Hoops (@uncwbb)
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North Carolina, 12-9 overall and 3-4 in the ACC, next hosts Georgia Tech on Jan. 31.
Kristin Scott, Iowa State
Kristin Scott entered the Iowa State record books on Saturday, becoming the new single-game leader in field-goal percentage, connecting on all 11 of her shots from the floor in the Cyclones 84-71 win at Oklahoma State. Even more impressive for Scott, was that seven of her 11 makes were 3-pointers. She netted a career-high 31 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for her fourth-career double-double.
. had another monster performance for the . She went 8-of-12 from the floor and scored 22 points. She also tallied five rebounds and three steals.
— Cyclone Basketball (@CycloneWBB)
Iowa State, which has moved up to No. 23 in the latest women’s basketball Associated Press poll, improved to 16-5 overall and 6-3 in Big 12 Conference play. Th Cyclones went 2-1 for the week with wins over Oklahoma State and Texas Tech and a loss at Baylor as Scott averaged 21.6 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.
On Jan. 29, Scott followed up her 31-point effort at Oklahoma State on Saturday with 22 against Texas Tech as the Cyclones defeated the No. 22 Lady Raiders, 105-66. Iowa State's 105 points is its second 100-plus outing of the season and 16th century in program history. It is the most since the Cyclones have finished with since notching 113 against IPFW in 2004. It was the Cyclones' second 100-pointer of Big 12 play, the second time in program history that has happened (2000).
Scott started the week on Jan. 23 netting 12 points and grabbing eight rebounds as Iowa State fell 84-69 at No. 2 Baylor.
Thank you to the most loyal fans out there who showed up tonight even though it’s brutally cold outside!!! Y’all really are the best!!
— Kristin Scott (@Kristin__Scott)
Currently the Big 12 leader in field-goal percentage and 3-point percentage in conference play, Scott is connecting on 68.4 percent and 57.6 percent respectively.
Iowa State is back in action on Feb. 2 at Kansas State.
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Nancy Mulkey, Rice
Rice ran its win streak to nine games with impressive conference road wins last week over Middle Tennessee and UAB as redshirt sophomore center Nancy Mulkey continues to shine. The Owls (16-3, 7-0) are now in sole possession of first place in Conference USA.
Mulkey, from Cypress, Texas, averaged 17.5 points 8.5 rebounds and 8.0 blocks per game while shooting 53.6 percent from the floor in 32 minutes over the two wins. The C-USA leader in total blocks (45), Mulkey tied the school record for blocks in a game twice, swatting away eight shots in each victory.
🚨 THIS JUST IN 🚨 has been credited with an additional block in Saturday's win at UAB, giving her a single-game school record 9️⃣ total blocks! 👐 x
— Rice Women’s Basketball (@RiceWBB)
In Rice's 60-47 win at Middle Tennessee, Mulkey scored a career-high 20 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the floor to go along with seven rebounds, eight blocks, and two steals. Two days later at UAB, Mulkey recorded her first career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds to go along with the eight blocks as the Owls prevailed 55-43.
Mulkey is the only player in the NCAA this season to record eight or more blocks at least three times.
The Owls are back home this week for a pair of games, beginning on Thursday when they host Charlotte and then again on Saturday versus Old Dominion.
