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Bulls star named all-AAC

 
Courtney Williams, who leads the American Athletic Conference in scoring this season, is a unanimous pick for the all-conference team and the third USF women’s player to be named to the first team multiple times.
Courtney Williams, who leads the American Athletic Conference in scoring this season, is a unanimous pick for the all-conference team and the third USF women’s player to be named to the first team multiple times.
Published March 6, 2015

TAMPA — USF junior guard Courtney Williams, the American Athletic Conference's top scorer, has been selected unanimously to the coaches' All-AAC team.

The teams were released Thursday, with seven total players from top-ranked Connecticut sprinkled among the first, second and third teams and All-Freshman squad. Williams and three Huskies players were the only unanimous picks.

A first-team pick as a sophomore, Williams becomes only the third player in program history to earn multiple first-team all-conference honors. She enters this weekend's league tournament as the Bulls leader in scoring (20.8 points per game), steals (54), assists (3.3 per game) and minutes (32.6).

Classmate Alisia Jenkins, a 6-foot-1 forward, made the All-AAC second team for a second consecutive year. The program's No. 2 all-time rebounder, Jenkins (12.4 ppg, 11.6 rpg) enters the AAC tourney ranked fourth nationally in double doubles (21). Portugal native Laura Ferreira (8.3 ppg, 4.6 rpg), who reached double figures in eight league games for USF, made the All-Freshman team.

Thursday's games

ACC TOURNAMENT: Necole Sterling scored 15 and Adrienne Motley 13 as eighth-seeded Miami (19-11) beat No. 9 seed Virginia 62-52 in the second round in Greensboro, N.C. … Wake Forest (13-19), the 13th seed, upset No. 5 seed and 22nd-ranked Syracuse (21-9) 85-79. … Vanessa Panousis scored 20 and set a school record with 132 career 3-pointers, and she made four free throws in the final 36 seconds as 15th-seeded Virginia Tech pulled off another upset with a 51-45 win over seventh-seeded Pittsburgh. The Hokies (12-19) knocked off 10th-seeded North Carolina State on Wednesday. … Stephanie Mavunga scored 23, matched her career high with 16 rebounds and blocked a career-high eight shots to lead No. 15 North Carolina (24-7), the sixth seed, to an 84-64 win over 11th-seeded Georgia Tech.

SEC TOURNAMENT: Courtney Williams led a balanced attack with 14 points to lead No. 18 Texas A&M (23-8), the fifth seeded, to a 57-47 win over 13th-seeded Auburn in the second round in North Little Rock, Ark. … Tiaria Griffin scored 21, Krista Donald added 13 points and 15 rebounds and 10th-seeded Georgia (19-11) beat No. 7 seed Missouri 75-64. … Jessica Jackson had 25 points and eight rebounds to lead ninth-seeded Arkansas (17-12) over No. 8 seed Mississippi 72-61.

NO. 17 CHATTANOOGA 78, GREENSBORO 44: Jasmine Joyner had a career-high 22 points as the top-seeded Mocs (27-3) beat the eighth-seeded Spartans in the opening game of the Southern Conference tournament in Asheville, N.C.

NO. 23 RUTGERS 63, INDIANA 52: Kahleah Cooper scored 16 and Betnijah Laney had 12 points and 15 rebounds to lead the fifth-seeded Scarlet Knights (22-8) in the Big Ten tournament in Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Men

NO. 6 WIS. 76, MINNESOTA 63: Frank Kaminsky had 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting, Sam Dekker added 20 points and the visiting Badgers (27-3, 15-2 Big Ten) won the conference regular-season title. Nigel Hayes had 12 points and nine rebounds for Wisconsin, which wrapped up at least a tie for first place last weekend. It won its fourth title under coach Bo Ryan and the first in seven years. The Badgers finished with 18 assists against just nine turnovers.

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NO. 18 ARKANSAS 78, S.C. 74: Michael Portis had 24 points and eight rebounds to lead the visiting Razorbacks (24-6, 13-4 SEC), who trailed by 11 points with seven minutes left in a wild game during which they led by 20 in the first half. Arkansas clinched second place in the conference and will be on the opposite side of the league tournament bracket from No. 1 and undefeated Kentucky.

NO. 9 KANSAS: Forward Perry Ellis will skip Saturday's game against No. 15 Oklahoma after spraining his right knee in Tuesday's victory over West Virginia.

AD BACKS CREAN: Coach Tom Crean's job at Indiana is not in jeopardy, athletic director Fred Glass told ESPN. Crean has been under fire in his seventh season with the Hoosiers (19-11, 9-8 Big Ten), who appear to be on the NCAA Tournament bubble. "I'm bullish on Tom," Glass told ESPN. "He's done a really good job with these guys."

Information from Times wires was used in this report.