monday night

Brandt Clarke scored a power-play goal with 6:10 to play to lift the Kings to a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Monday night at Crypto.com Arena.

Clarke’s slap shot from just inside the blue line came with just two seconds left on the man advantage and ended the Kings’ losing streak at three games.

Warren Foegele also scored for the Kings and Joel Edmundson assisted on both of the team’s goals. Darcy Kuemper made 27 saves.

Foegele opened the scoring 5:31 into the third period when he tapped in a pass from Joel Armia, who skated the puck down the right wing. Armia has points in three straight games.

Fabian Zetterlund tied it at 1-1 with 9:11 to play in the third with his third goal of the season and second in two games, but the Senators went scoreless on three power-play opportunities.

Leevi Merilainen made 20 saves for Ottawa, which was coming off wins over Anaheim and San José, the first two games of a seven-game road trip.

Up next for the Kings: vs. the Ducks at Honda Center on Friday night.

When sophomore guard Phoenix Smith came off the bench on Monday night in Crespi’s season opener against Cleveland, two things were clear: His big hair and his 5-foot-7 frame, the smallest on the court.

He played junior varsity last season, and let’s just say Celts coach Derek Fisher is going to have fun working with him. Smith was three for three on three-pointers and finished with 16 points in Crespi’s 81-44 win over Cleveland.

He put together a nine-point surge between the end of the first quarter and the start of the second quarter. Leaving him open this season will not be a good strategy. Another JV player from last season, Cayman Martin, led Crespi in scoring with 17 points. Carter Barnes had 14 points and Isaiah Barnes 13 points.

Crespi has a big game coming up Saturday at Pauley Pavilion against Mater Dei.

St. Bernard 81, Claremont 56: Brandon Granger led St. Bernard with a 30-point performance.

South Pasadena 77, Franklin 43: Nick Rios scored 22 points and Rob Khollesi added 21 points for South Pasadena.

Carson 59, South East 37: The Colts are 2-0 under new coach Corey Kitani. Blake McCall had 16 points and nine rebounds.

Mira Costa 85, Torrance 70: Logan Dugdale finished with 18 points and Paxx Bell had 17 points and 12 rebounds in a first-round game at the Ocean View tournament.

Wiseburn Da Vinci 73, Oak Park 56: Aidan Ebrahimi had 15 points for Wiseburn Da Vinci.

Santa Margarita 89, Temecula Valley 38: Drew Anderson had 30 points and 11 rebounds and Kaiden Bailey added 26 points for the Eagles.

Canyon Country Canyon 65, Antelope Valley 28: Alex Lazo made nine threes and finished with 27 points for the Cowboys.

Servite 100, United Christian Academy 18: Tariq Johnson had 22 points for the Friars.

West Torrance 64, Venice 55: Ben Heinemann finished with 15 points for West Torrance.

Valencia 47, Heritage Christian 44: Ali Eldein led Valencia with 18 points.

USC and Baylor jumped into the top 10 of the Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll after big opening week victories.

The Bears began the season with a victory in Paris over then-No. 7 Duke to replace the Blue Devils in that spot Monday, climbing nine places. The Trojans edged then-No. 9 North Carolina State by a point Sunday to move up 10 spots to eighth overall.

While USC will be missing star JuJu Watkins all season as she recovers from an anterior cruciate ligament tear suffered last March, coach Lindsay Gottlieb’s team has a new young star in Jazzy Davidson, who hit the go-ahead shot with 8.2 seconds left.

Connecticut, South, Carolina, UCLA and Texas remained the top four teams in the poll after relatively easy opening week wins. The defending champion Huskies received 30 first-place votes from a national media panel while the Gamecocks got the other two.

Louisiana State and Oklahoma stayed at fifth and six, respectively. The Sooners faced UCLA on Monday night in Sacramento, a site of one of the NCAA regionals next spring.

Maryland moved up one place to ninth. N.C. State, which besides falling to USC beat Tennessee by three points in the opener, dropped to 10th. The Lady Vols fell to 12th and the Blue Devils 15th.

In and out

No. 25 Washington entered the top 25 for the first time in two years. The Huskies were hosting Montana on Monday night before heading to Utah on Saturday. Richmond dropped out of the poll after losing at Texas.

Banner raising

UConn unveiled its 12th championship banner on Sunday when the Huskies beat Florida State. The team took to the court before the game wearing custom white-and-gold tracksuits that read “National Champions XII” on the back.

Happy anniversary

The women’s basketball poll celebrates its 50th anniversary this month with the first rankings coming out in late November 1976. Founded by Mel Greenberg, the poll was a coaches’ poll until 1994-95 when it became one voted on by national media.

Games of the week

No. 2 South Carolina at No. 9 USC, Saturday. The Gamecocks will head west to face the Trojans in a home-and-home series dubbed “The Real SC”. Saturday’s game will be played at Crypto.com Arena and next year’s game will be played in Greenville, S.C.

No. 17 Texas Christian at No. 10 N.C. State, Sunday. The Wolfpack continue their difficult non-conference schedule facing the Horned Frogs, who added transfer Olivia Miles from Notre Dame this offseason.

Feinberg writes for the Associated Press.