Brink helps No. 4 Stanford top Belmont to reach Ball Dawgs Classic final against Florida State

HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Cameron Brink scored 27 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to help lead No. 4 Stanford to a 74-55 victory over Belmont on Wednesday in the opening round of the Ball Dawgs Classic.

The Bruins turned in a formidable performance before national powerhouse Stanford (5-0) pulled away for the win.

After falling behind 33-32 early in the third quarter, a 3-pointer by Hannah Jump ignited a 9-0 run - the other six points coming from Brink - as the Cardinal took a 41-33 lead to seize control.

And when the Bruins (2-3) cut their deficit to six, 59-53 with 4:34 left in the game, the Cardinal closed things out on a 15-2 run for the win.

Kiki Iriafen scored 14 points and nine rebounds for Stanford.

No. 8

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — JuJu Watkins scored 31 points, including the last seven points of the game plus a half-court buzzer beater, and No. 8 Southern California pulled out a win over Penn State at the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Championship.

The Trojans (5-0) led by eight early in the fourth quarter when Penn State (5-1) scored 14-straight points with five different players scoring for a 68-64 lead with 3:11 to play.

Watkins ended a 6 1/2-minute drought that included seven-consecutive misses, with a layup with two minutes to go. She quickly followed with a 3-pointer and then put the Trojans back on top, the 15th lead change, with a split-the-defense layup 30 seconds left.

Penn State was called for traveling 10 seconds later but the Trojans threw away the in-bounds. The Nittany Lions’ Shay Ciezdki’s missed a short jumper to end it.

Ciezki had 18 points for the Nittany Lions and Makenna Marisa and Kylie Lavelle both had 10.

No. 13

HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Sara Bejedi scored 17 points and Florida State used a fast start to cruise to a win over Northwestern in the Ball Dawgs Classic.

Alexis Tucker added 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Seminoles (5-0), who hadn’t played in the Las Vegas area since 2010. O’Mariah Gordon had four 3s and 14 points and Carla Viegas had 11 points.

Hailey Weaver scored 12 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the Wildcats (3-2), whose other loss was 110-52 to No. 17 Notre Dame.

FSU faces Stanford and Northwestern gets the Belmont on Friday.

Florida State never trailed after Tucker made an opening 3-pointer and she had five points in a 9-0 run that made it 12-2 less than four minutes in.

No. 15

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Jacy Sheldon scored 22 points, Taylor Thierry had a double-double and Ohio State defeated Oklahoma State in the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Championship.

The Cowgirls were within eight two minutes into the fourth quarter but went 3 of 12 from there.

Thierry had 16 points and 14 rebounds, nine on the offensive end. Cotie McMahon added 14 points for the Buckeyes (4-1).

Stailee Heard led the Cowgirls (2-3) with 15 points. Quincy Nobel had 12 points and Chandler Prater 10 with 11 rebounds.

McMahon had a 3 and three-point play as the Buckeyes got off to an 8-0 start and her layups started and ended a 10-0 run that made it 18-2 midway through the first quarter.

The Cowgirls shaved it to 24-13 after the first quarter and had it down to 36-30 at the half.