OSU women top Central Florida
3/19/2011
Ohio State's Samantha Prahalis, right, dribbles as Central Florida's Ashia Kelly defends during the second half.
The only four-time Big Ten player of the year, Lavender scored in transition, on medium-range jumpers and on her patented drop-step move on the block. The Buckeyes (23-9) improved to 60-15 when she hits double digits in points and rebounds in the same game.
Samantha Prahalis had 19 points and 10 assists and Brittany Johnson had 14 points for Ohio State, which moves on to meet Georgia Tech (24-10) in Monday night's second-round game at St. John Arena, the Buckeyes' second home court.
Ashia Kelly and D'Nay Daniels each scored 16 points, and Chelsie Wiley added 11 for UCF (22-11). Daniels also had 10 rebounds.
PHILADELPHIA REGIONAL
Penn State 75, Dayton 66
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Alex Bentley scored 25 points and sparked Penn State with clutch shooting and pressure defense, lifting the sixth-seeded Lady Lions to a win over Dayton in their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2005.
Mia Nickson added 14 points and 10 rebounds for Penn State (25-9), who turned away several second-half runs by the No. 11 seed Flyers — often with Bentley making the big play.
After trailing by 14, Kristin Daugherty drew Dayton (21-12) within 65-63 with 2:59 left in the game. The teams exchanged turnovers, and Bentley hit a layup on the break before Zhaque Gray's foul-line jumper extended the lead to six.
Playing on its home floor, Penn State got a huge cheer from a crowd filled with mostly blue-and-white supporters.
Daugherty and Patrice Lalor each finished with 18 for the Flyers, who were making their second straight NCAA appearance.
DePaul 56, Navy 43
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Felicia Chester had 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Katherine Harry added 10 points and a couple big second-half buckets to help DePaul defeat Navy.
Anna Martin added 10 points for the third-seeded Blue Demons (28-6), who advanced to the tourney's second round for the first time in five years — though the victory didn't come easy.
The 14th-seeded Midshipmen (20-12) didn't look like a team making its first appearance in the tourney. DePaul held advantages in size and athleticism, but hustling Navy matched them step-for-step anyway until the latter part of the second half.
Patriot League freshman of the year Jade Geif led Navy with 14 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out, while Angela Myers added 13 points.
Navy led briefly, 30-29, early in the second half, but DePaul was too strong down the stretch.
Duke 90, Tennessee-Martin 45
DURHAM, N.C. — Jasmine Thomas scored 18 points to help Duke beat Tennessee-Martin.
Freshmen Chelsea Gray and Haley Peters each added 11 for the Blue Devils (30-3), the No. 2 seed in the Philadelphia Regional. Duke won its seventh straight overall and 24th straight game in Cameron Indoor Stadium, the home court where the Blue Devils are opening the NCAA tournament for the second straight season.
It also marked the 18th straight year Duke has won its tournament opener, sending the Blue Devils to face 10th-seeded Marist in the second round Monday night.
Facing a young and undersized team in its first NCAA tournament, the Blue Devils led 41-31 at the break and ran off nine straight points to open the second half and blow the game open against the 15th-seeded Skyhawks (21-11).
Heather Butler scored 15 to lead UT Martin.
Marist 74, Iowa State 64
DURHAM, N.C. — Kate Oliver scored 16 points and Marist held on after blowing much of a 20-point lead to beat Iowa State.
Brandy Gang added 13 points as the 10th-seeded Red Foxes (31-2) won their 27th straight game and their NCAA opener for the first time in three years.
Marist used a 25-4 run to build its big lead late in the first half, then came up with a couple of timely baskets after the seventh-seeded Cyclones (22-11) pulled within six with 4½ minutes left in the game.
First came a layup from Oliver that pushed the lead to 62-54 at the 4-minute mark. Elise Caron then took a pass from Erica Allenspach and launched a 3-pointer that swished through as the shot clock expired for a 67-56 lead with 2:51 remaining.
Anna Prins had 25 points to lead Iowa State, which shot just 35 percent.
DAYTON REGIONAL
Notre Dame 67, Utah 54
SALT LAKE CITY — Skylar Diggins and Natalie Novosel scored 20 points apiece, and No. 2 seed Notre Dame held off 15th-seeded Utah.
Utah led late in the first half and was within five points with 8 minutes remaining, but the Irish went on a 10-2 run to put the game out of reach.
Iwalani Rodrigues led Utah with 21 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 4 of 6 from beyond the arc.
The Utes (18-17) held a 41-34 advantage on the boards but shot just 32.7 percent overall and committed 18 turnovers.
Four Notre Dame players scored in double figures, with Becca Bruszewski adding 13 and Derereaux Peters 12.
Notre Dame (27-7) led 36-33 at halftime and scored the first seven points of the second half to take a 43-33 lead.
Rodrigues then scored eight straight to pull Utah within 43-41 with 14:30 remaining, only to see Notre Dame go on a 6-0 run.
Tennessee 99, Stetson 34
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Glory Johnson had 14 points and 10 rebounds as Tennessee cruised to a win over Stetson.
The No. 1 seed Lady Volunteers (32-2) have their sights set on a return to the Final Four after two seasons of frustration in the tournament.
Sixteenth-seeded Stetson managed to hit a few early shots to keep up with Tennessee, which held a 10-9 lead with 15:13 left in the first half. The Lady Vols' size and shooting became too much for the Hatters, though, and a 23-0 run put the game away early.
Tennessee shot 57.9 percent and had a 34-13 rebounding margin in the first half, and coach Pat Summitt emptied her bench before halftime.
Tierra Brown, Victoria McGowan and Natasha Graboski each scored seven points for the Hatters (20-13), who shot just 21.2 percent in the first half.
Marquette 68, Texas 65
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tatiyiana McMorris hit a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left to send Marquette to a win over Texas.
Kathleen Nash couldn't get a proper shot off for the Longhorns before the buzzer.
Ashley Robinson finished with 19 points to lead the eighth-seeded Golden Eagles (24-8), who will face No. 1 seed Tennessee in the Dayton region on Monday.
The Longhorns (19-14) led by as many as nine, and still had a 59-54 advantage when McMorris hit a 3-pointer with 6:58 left to close the gap. Texas committed three fouls in two minutes, and Marquette hit six free throws to take a 65-61 lead.
Nash and Ashley Gayle hit a pair of layups to tie the game at 65 with 2:13 left.
The Golden Eagles were 13 of 14 from the foul line, while the Longhorns attempted no free throws.
Nash scored 19 points, and Gayle had 11 rebounds.
Temple 63, Arizona State 45
SALT LAKE CITY — Victoria Macauley scored 12 points and Shey Peddy set a single-season steals record to lead 10th-seeded Temple to a victory over No. 7 seed Arizona State.
The win avenged a 2008 first-round loss to the Sun Devils.
The Owls (24-8) will face the winner of the Notre Dame in a second-round matchup Monday night.
Last year, the Owls advanced to the second round only to lose to eventual champion UConn, 90-36.
Kimberly Brandon led ASU (20-11) with 11 points, while Becca Tobin added 10 and eight rebounds. Tobin made 5 of 9 shots, while her teammates were a combined 12 of 46.
SPOKANE REGIONAL
Kentucky 66, Hampton 62
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Brittany Henderson scored four of her six points in overtime and No. 17 Kentucky survived a scare from Hampton, before beating the Lady Pirates.
Keyla Snowden led the fourth-seeded Wildcats with 19 points but missed a jumper at the buzzer that would have won the game in regulation, and Victoria Dunlap added 13 points and 12 rebounds.
The Wildcats (25-8) will face fifth-seeded North Carolina on Monday night at The Pit. The Tar Heels (27-8) beat Fresno State 82-68 in the opener.
Allowing just 51.3 points a game, the 13th-seeded Lady Pirates (25-7) were determined to put on a better showing than last season's 72-37 loss to Duke in the first round. And did they ever.
Stanford 86, UC Davis 59
STANFORD, Calif. — Nnemkadi Ogwumike scored 22 points and top-seeded Stanford received a welcome early test in its initial step toward a fourth straight trip to the Final Four, beating NCAA first-timer UC Davis in the opening round.
Kayla Pedersen added 11 points and seven assists, Jeanette Pohlen had 11 points and eight assists as the Cardinal (30-2) ran their school-record winning streak at home to 62 games in packed Maples Pavilion, where an impressive contingent of Aggies fans was among the crowd of 6,515 after making the two-hour drive.
Paige Mintun scored 17 points and Heidi Heintz 11 in their final collegiate games to lead the Aggies (24-9), who sent retiring 14th-year coach Sandy Simpson out in style.
UCLA 55, Montana 47
SPOKANE, Wash. — Jasmine Dixon scored 15 points, including a key up-and-under basket with 56 seconds left, and third-seeded UCLA finally shook 14th-seeded Montana in the closing moments for a victory.
The Bruins' trapping pressure defense did its job, forcing the overmatched Lady Griz into 25 turnovers and long stretches without points. But every other part of UCLA's game was out of rhythm and sloppy. The Bruins (28-4) committed 19 turnovers, shot just 42 percent and leading scorer Darxia Morris took only seven shots, finishing with four points and five turnovers.
Montana, which won the Big Sky Conference tournament with three straight wins, was led by Alyssa Smith's 14 points. Montana (18-15) closed within 36-30 midway through the second half and 51-47 in the final 90 seconds but couldn't get any closer.
North Carolina 82, Fresno State 68
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Italee Lucas scored 22 points and countered the nation's top three-point shooting team with four 3-pointers of her own as No. 14 North Carolina outlasted Fresno State.
The Tar Heels (27-8) will play the Kentucky Monday night at The Pit.
The 12th-seeded Bulldogs (25-8) have never won an NCAA tournament game yet gave the fifth-seeded Tar Heels all they could handle for 30 minutes thanks to their long-range game.
Bulldogs senior Jaleesa Ross sank four 3-pointers but missed 16 more, leaving her with 389 3s for her career, three shy of the national record held by Kansas State's Laurie Koehn.
She was 3 of 7 from beyond the arc in the first half but went just 2 for 13 after halftime when the Tar Heels pulled away.
In all, the Bulldogs fired 50 3s and made made 14.
St. John's 55, Texas Tech 50
STANFORD, Calif. — Nadirah McKenith scored 14 points, Eugeneia McPherson had 10 and St. John's beat Texas Tech.
Centhya Hart added six points and nine rebounds for the ninth-seeded Red Storm (22-10), who held the Lady Raiders to only one basket for more than eight minutes in the second half. Texas Tech went 4 for 22 to start the final half.
Casey Morris scored 10 points and Kierra Mallard had nine points and 10 rebounds in a disappointing early exit for Texas Tech (22-11). The Lady Raiders' 20 points in the second half was their lowest scoring half all season. Their previous low was 21 points.
Gonzaga 92, Iowa 86
SPOKANE — Courtney Vandersloot scored a career-high 34 points and Kayla Standish added 30 as 11th-seeded Gonzaga beat No. 6 Iowa in an NCAA tournament first-round game played on Gonzaga's home court.
Gonzaga (29-4), the nation's top scoring team, won its 19th consecutive game, but this was far tougher than the 25-point victories the Bulldogs have been averaging during that stretch.
Iowa (22-9) had to play in front of a large, hostile crowd at Gonzaga's McCarthey Athletic Center, where the Bulldogs have won 30 of their last 31 games. The only loss was to Stanford earlier this season.
Jaime Printy scored 25 points to lead the Hawkeyes.