WOMEN’S NCAA

Howard, Seminoles dropped from tourney by Stanford

3/24/2014

AMES, Iowa — Chiney Ogwumike had 19 points and nine rebounds, and Stanford broke open the game with a 30-2 run spanning both halves in a 63-44 victory over Florida State in the second round of the NCAA women's tournament Monday night.

The second-seeded Cardinal (31-3) won two games in Ames to advance to the regional they'll host at Maples Pavilion starting Saturday. They're in the Sweet 16 for the seventh year in a row.

Stanford's opponent in the regional semifinal Saturday will be No. 11 Florida or No. 3 Penn State. Those teams meet in a second-round game in State College, Pa., today

The 10th-seeded Seminoles (21-12) struggled to score in both of their two tournament games, following a 55-44 win over Iowa State with another dud.

Lili Thompson added 14 points and Bonnie Samuelson had 11 with three 3-pointers. The Cardinal had 17 assists on 22 field goals.

FSU's Natasha Howard had nine points and seven rebounds, all in the second half.

The last time Stanford and Florida State met was in the 2007 NCAA tournament.

The Seminoles, a No. 10 seed then as well, won 68-61 on Stanford's home court to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time.

Howard, the Seminoles' All-America candidate who has a school-record 15 double-doubles this season, couldn't get open. It took the Waite High School graduate 12 minutes to take her first shot, a miss, and she also was off on her next five.

Ogwumike, the Cardinal's national player of the year candidate, also started slowly. She had two touches and one shot on Stanford's first eight possessions before she scored on Amber Orrange's entry pass. Ogwumike scored three straight baskets, Bonnie Samuelson made a 3-pointer and Ogwumike sank a free throw to tie it at 14.

Ogwumike's three-point play and a couple more baskets by Thompson and Samuelson highlighted a 16-0 surge that ended with a jumper by FSU's Cheetah Delgado.

The Cardinal rolled off the next 10 points to make it a 16-point game at half. They made nine straight shots over the halves before Samuelson missed a 3-pointer. By then it was 40-18.

Howard finished her career as FSU's second-leading scorer (1,811 points) and career rebounding leader (1,047).

DePAUL 74, DUKE 65

DURHAM, N.C. — Megan Rogowski scored 22 points and Megan Podkowa added 18 to help DePaul upset Duke 74-65.

Brittany Hrynko added 14 for the seventh-seeded Blue Demons (29-6). They earned their third appearance in the round of 16 by hitting 14 3-pointers and forcing second-seeded Duke into 21 turnovers with their high-pressure defense.

DePaul will play the James Madison-Texas A&M winner on Saturday in the Lincoln Regional semifinals.

Elizabeth Williams scored 12 points, and seniors Haley Peters and Tricia Liston each added 11 in their final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Duke (28-7) led for only 12 seconds and became the first top-four seed to lose in the tournament.

The Blue Devils — who made four straight appearances in the regional finals — became the first No. 2 seed to lose this early since Xavier lost to Louisville in 2011.

KENTUCKY 64, SYRACUSE 59

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Bria Goss scored 17 points and third-seeded Kentucky survived No. 6 seed Syracuse.

Goss went 11 of 12 from the foul line as the Wildcats (26-8) ground out a victory two days after beating Wright State by 46 points.

Syracuse's physical play and its 2-3 zone defense had a lot to do with disrupting Kentucky's rhythm and scoring opportunities in a 36-percent shooting performance.

The Wildcats offset those struggles with scrappy defense that forced the Orange into 23 turnovers and held them to 33 percent shooting, culminating with a victory that earned Kentucky a berth in the round of 16 of the Notre Dame Regional.

Syracuse couldn't follow up its first-ever NCAA tournament win, struggling to score after losing star guard Brittney Sykes to a right knee injury on Saturday. Brianna Butler had 15 points for the Orange.