Women's basketball takeaways: 12/1 edition

It was the best day of the women’s basketball season yesterday — and it’s not even close. Here are a few takeaways.

1. Three major upsets within an hour

The mid-day hours yesterday were chaotic, to say the least. Three Top 25 teams went down to unranked opponents within the span of an hour.

The most shocking result was Georgia Tech taking down Notre Dame, though it may have been only a matter of time before the Irish got a reality check. The Yellow Jackets are in year one of the Karen Blair era, and while it hasn’t been the strongest start, this marked just the second time in program history that Georgia Tech has beaten Notre Dame.

Almost simultaneously, Illinois defended its home court against Top-10 Maryland in a down-to-the-wire thriller. Gretchen Dolan and Berry Wallace were instrumental in the win, as the Illini improved to 13–1 on the season. They’ll almost certainly be ranked next Monday.

Lastly, in the “big” upset category: Michigan fell at home to an unranked Washington squad. I put “big” in parentheses because, yes, Washington is unranked – but the Huskies are a Top 25-caliber team that simply hadn’t proven it yet. Now, they have.

It was the most chaotic, entertaining – and probably the best – day of women’s college basketball so far.

2. LSU suffers first loss

LSU had been a bit overranked given its lackluster non-conference schedule, in my opinion, though a Kim Mulkey–coached team is always a dangerous one. The issue was that heading into last night’s clash with Kentucky, the Tigers hadn’t been tested in the slightest.

Going from an almost entirely Quad 3 and 4 slate to facing a Top-15 opponent is no easy task, as evidenced by LSU’s home loss to Kentucky. Now, the sky isn’t falling and LSU will be just fine.

But this did more than illustrate where LSU is right now – it highlighted the value of scheduling challenging non-conference games.

3. Notable results

Kentucky 80, LSU 78

Washington 64, Michigan 52

Illinois 73, Maryland 70

Iowa 86, Nebraska 76

Georgia Tech 95, Notre Dame 90

West Virginia 79, Kansas 72

NC State 74, Stanford 46

Old Dominion 87, Georgia Southern 84 in 2OT

UT Martin 86, Western Illinois 78 in 2OT

Vermont 72, Albany 56

Marshall 87, Coastal Carolina 85 in OT

Miami 75, Virginia Tech 67 in OT

Virginia 73, Clemson 63

Arkansas State 91, Southern Miss 83

4. Key statlines

Syracuse’s Uche Izoje: 21 points, 17 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 4 blocks

Washington’s Avery Howell: 22 points, 16 rebounds, 2 steals

Miami’s Ra Shaya Kyle: 23 points, 13 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block

South Carolina’s Joyce Edwards: 25 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block

Illinois’ Berry Wallace: 22 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block

Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes: 35 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals

Arkansas’ Taleyah Jones: 24 points, 2 assists, 2 steals

Nebraska’s Britt Prince: 27 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals

Texas’ Madison Booker: 28 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals

Texas’ Jordan Lee: 23 points, 5/11 from deep, 3 steals, 1 block

Kentucky’s Tonie Morgan: 24 points, 3/3 from deep, 3 rebounds, 12 assists, 1 steal

LSU’s Mikaylah Williams: 26 points, 3/5 from deep, 8 rebounds, 5 assists

Iowa’s Hannah Stuelke: 21 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block

Georgia’s Dani Carnegie: 24 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal

Ole Miss’ Cotie McMahon: 24 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal

Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo: 26 points, 4 rebounds, 10 assists, 8 steals

Georgia Tech’s Talayah Walker: 33 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, 1 block

Florida’s Liv McGill: 32 points, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks

Oklahoma’s Aaliyah Chavez: 20 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals

Michigan State’s Jalyn Brown: 20 points, 4/5 from deep, 4 rebounds, 3 assists

Creighton’s Neleigh Gessert: 25 points, 7/10 from deep, 1 block

Villanova’s Kennedy Henry: 19 points, 3/3 from deep, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks

West Virginia’s Gia Cooke: 24 points, 6/9 from deep, 2 rebounds, 2 assists

Kansas’ Jaliya Davis: 21 points, 7 rebounds, 1 steal

Marquette’s Halle Vice: 20 points, 19 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals

Duke’s Riley Nelson: 20 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 1 block

Sacred Heart’s Amelia Wood: 26 points, 5/7 from deep, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, 1 block

Albany’s Delanie Hill: 33 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals

James Madison’s Zakiya Stephenson: 22 points, 4/6 from deep, 2 assists, 1 steal

Old Dominion’s En’Dya Buford: 22 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals

Western Illinois’ Mia Nicastro: 25 points, 13 rebounds, 1 steal

UT Martin’s Sidni Middleton: 25 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals

UL Monroe’s Marcavia Shavers: 17 points, 17 rebounds

UC San Diego’s Rosa Smith: 21 points, 4/8 from deep, 5 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals

Denver’s Coryn Watts: 23 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal

Marshall’s Timaya Lewis-Eutsey: 18 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal

Coastal Carolina’s Kristin Williams: 20 points, 5/6 from deep, 2 rebounds, 4 steals

Northwestern’s Grace Sullivan: 23 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block

Cal State Bakersfield’s Crishawn Coleman: 29 points, 11 rebounds, 3 steals

UC Irvine’s Jada Wynn: 25 points, 4/9 from deep, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals

Maine’s Adrianna Smith: 37 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block

NJIT’s Alejandra Zuniga: 39 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block

UMBC’s Jade Tillman: 25 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 1 block

Arkansas Pine-Bluff’s Indiya Bowen: 29 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal

Southern Miss’ Jakayla Johnson: 26 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals

Montana State’s Isobel Bunyan: 21 points, 5/8 from deep, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block

Northern Colorado’s Heather Baymon: 26 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 steals

Montana’s Mack Konig: 27 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals

Northern Arizona’s Naomi White: 27 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists