Houston lifts Stars to win

On a Saturday afternoon, the Centennial Stars girls high school basketball squad continued to build on their successful 2023-24 campaign with a non-conference battle against visiting Hilliard Davidson.

Freshman star Kennedy Houston was the star of the day as the busy and brilliant point guard led her team to a 34-29 halftime lead. She had 18 points and five steals at the intermission.

In the second half both teams battled tooth and nail but Houston always seemed to have an answer every time Hilliard Davidson looked like it would take over the game. When the dust settled, Centennial won 60-56. Houston scored 31 points with seven assists as the Stars improved to 9-1 and Hilliard Davidson dropped to 5-8.

College Basketball Scores

Friday January 5

Iowa 103, Rutgers 69

Number four Iowa improved to 15-1 after a dominant road win at Rutgers in Big Ten conference action. Caitlin Clark got her third triple-double of the season with 29 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. After 16 games the six-foot guard from West Des Moines, Iowa is averaging a career best 31.3 points, 7.6 assists and 7.1 rebounds. Clark is also shooting a career best 48.5 percent from the field. Iowa also got a double-double 0ff of the bench from Sydney Affolter. The 5-11 guard from Chicago had 10 points and 10 rebounds in 17 minutes of action.

Rutgers was led in scoring by three players as Chyna Cornwell, Mya Petticord and Kassondra Brown had 12 points each. Iowa is 4-0 in Big Ten play. Rutgers dropped to 6-11 and is winless at 0-4 in conference play.

Delaware 86, Northeastern 73

After leading 35-33 at the half, Delaware used a strong fourth quarter to pull away and earn a double-digit win on the road at Northeaster. Senior forward Chloe Wilson led the way for the Blue Hens with a season best 21 points to go along with 10 rebounds, while tying a season high of four assists. Wilson has recorded three double-doubles this season. She is averaging 11.1 points per game in the first 13 games of the season. This is the 5-11 guard's first season at Delaware after three seasons at Fairleigh Dickinson. Last season she had her biggest individual year with career highs of 17.2 points and 7.4 points per game.

Delaware point guard Sydney Boone led the way with six assists and just one turnover, while scoring 16 points with another team best of three steals. Northeastern got a game high 32 points as senior Derin Erdogan shot 4-10 from three. The native of Istanbul, Turkey also paced the team with seven rebounds and six assists. Erdogan is averaging 15.5 points per game and has scored at least 21 points in three of her last four games.

Both teams compete in the CAA. Delaware is 5-8 overall and 1-0 in the conference, while Northeastern is 4-7 and 0-1 in the CAA.

California 70, Washington 57

Two strong PAC-12 squads took the court with one having the superior night. California now 11-3 and 1-1 in the conference outscored visiting Washington (11-3, 1-1) 15-6 in the second quarter which gave the Golden Bears the control it needed. Heraklion, Greece native, Ioanna Krimili played in just her fifth game of the season posting a season best 21 points. She continues to build on her reputation as one of the best shooters in the NCAA. Krimili hit four of six threes against the Huskies. So far this season she is shooting 14-29 (48 percent) from long distance. Along with playing her first four seasons at San Francisco, Krimili has competed in 104 games, knocking down 290 of 722 career attempts from three. That is a career percentage of 40.2.