NCAA Women's Tournament Roundup: Maryland Ends Princeton's Unbeaten Season

Maryland ended Princeton's undefeated season, UConn won in another rout, and Tennessee remained perfect at home Monday night. Both teams advanced to the Sweet 16.

The Lady Vols improved to 56-0 in NCAA Tournament games at home with a win over Pittsburgh.

North Carolina let a 23-point lead slip away against Ohio State before Jamie Cherry hit a jumper with 0.6 seconds left to help the Tar Heels advance. While the Buckeyes' rally fell short, Arizona State was able to come back from a 16-point deficit and beat Arkansas-Little Rock.

SPOKANE REGIONAL

MARYLAND 85, PRINCETON 70

Laurin Mincy scored 27 points, and top-seeded Maryland used a second-half blitz to knock off previously unbeaten Princeton and advance to the Sweet 16 of the women's NCAA Tournament.

After leading by only 42-38 at the break, the Terrapins used a 17-2 run immediately after halftime to turn a surprisingly tight game into a rout.

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The Terrapins (32-2) will bring a 26-game winning streak into a matchup with Duke on Saturday in Spokane, Washington. Maryland and Duke were longtime rivals in the Atlantic Coast Conference before the Terps moved to the Big Ten this season.

Lexie Brown scored 23 for the Terrapins, who will be making their fourth consecutive trip to the Sweet 16. Maryland reached the Final Four last year.

Eighth-seeded Princeton (31-1) was coming off the program's first-ever win in the NCAA Tournament, on Saturday against Wisconsin-Green Bay.

TENNESSEE 77, PITTSBURGH 67

Bashaara Graves scored 21 points and had 14 rebounds as Tennessee withstood a late rally to defeat Pittsburgh.

The second-seeded Lady Vols (29-5) improved to 56-0 in NCAA Tournament home games and advanced to a Spokane Region semifinal Saturday against No. 11 seed Gonzaga (26-7).

Tennessee is the only program to appear in all 34 NCAA Tournaments and has reached the regional semifinals every year but 2009, when it lost to Ball State in the opening round.

After trailing by 14 with 4 ½ minutes left, Pittsburgh (20-12) cut the lead to 69-65 on Brianna Kiesel's three-point play with 37.8 seconds remaining. Ariel Massengale went 6 of 6 on free throws and made a steal in the final 37 seconds to seal Tennessee's victory.

Kiesel had a career-high 32 points for the 10th-seeded Panthers, who never led.

OKLAHOMA CITY REGIONAL

STANFORD 86, OKLAHOMA 76

Amber Orrange scored 24 points and Lili Thompson added 19 as Stanford's backcourt mates took the game over in the second half to lead the fourth-seeded Cardinal to a victory over fifth-seeded Oklahoma.

Bonnie Samuelson scored 19 points and Briana Roberson provided a spark with 13 points and tough defense to help Stanford (26-9) protect its home court and advance to the Sweet 16 for the eighth consecutive season. The Cardinal will play top-seeded Notre Dame (33-2) in the third round on Friday in Oklahoma City.

Kaylon Williams scored 24 points and Gioya Carter added 20 for the Sooners (21-12), who struggled to generate any consistent offense one game after scoring a season-high 111 points in a first-round win over Quinnipiac.

Oklahoma knew this game would be more difficult, especially on Stanford's home court, and that proved correct once Thompson and Orrange took over.

GREENSBORO REGIONAL

FLORIDA STATE 65, FLORIDA GULF COAST 47

Shakayla Thomas scored 12 points and Leticia Romero added 11 to help No. 2 Florida State end seventh-seeded Florida Gulf Coast's 26-game winning streak.

Taylor Gradinjan's 12 points led Florida Gulf Coast, which shot just 31 percent overall and 25 percent from 3-point range. The 47 points was the fewest scored by the 20th-ranked Eagles this season.

Whitney Knight, FGCU's leading scorer and Atlantic Sun Player of the Year, missed nine of her 12 shots. She finished with nine points.

Florida State (31-4) led 36-28 lead at half.

The Seminoles jumped off to a 17-2 lead, hitting their first three 3-point attempts that included a pair by Brittany Brown.

Florida Gulf Coast (31-3) managed to pull within 26-20 midway through the first half, but never got closer.

ARIZONA STATE 57, ARKANSAS-LITTLE ROCK 54

Sophie Brunner had 16 points and scored the go-ahead basket with less than a minute left, helping Arizona State rally from a 16-point deficit to beat Arkansas-Little Rock.

No. 3 seed Arizona State (29-5) labored against UALR's defensive pressure most of the night before getting the ball inside in the second half.

Brunner put the Sun Devils up 53-52 on a putback with 54 seconds left and Elisha Davis blocked Alexius Dawn's last-second 3-pointer, sending Arizona State to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2009.

Promise Amukamara added 17 points for the Sun Devils, who face Florida State in the regional semifinals in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Friday.

No. 11 seed UALR (29-5) went through a scoring drought of 5 1-2 minutes in the second half as Arizona State clawed its way back from the big deficit.

NORTH CAROLINA 86, OHIO STATE 84

Jamie Cherry hit a jumper with 0.6 seconds left and North Carolina beat Ohio State.

Stephanie Mavunga had a career-high 27 points and 14 rebounds, Allisha Gray added 20 points and Brittany Rountree had 15 for the fourth-seeded Tar Heels (26-8).

They blew a 23-point lead before Cherry's latest big shot sent them into a Greensboro Regional semifinal matchup against top-seeded South Carolina (32-2) on Friday night.

Ameryst Alston had 30 points for the fifth-seeded Buckeyes (24-11), who never led but tied it twice in the final minute — the last coming when Kelsey Mitchell's free throws made it 84-all with 5.1 seconds left.

Gray inbounded to Cherry, who raced down the right sideline through the Ohio State pressure and pulled up for an 18-footer that swished through. The Buckeyes didn't get a shot off before the horn.

ALBANY REGIONAL

UCONN 91, RUTGERS 55

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis scored 23 points to lead No. 1 UConn to a rout of Rutgers on Geno Auriemma's 61st birthday, putting the Huskies into the NCAA Tournament's regional semifinals for the 22nd consecutive season.

Moriah Jefferson added 19 points and Morgan Tuck had 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for the Huskies (34-1), who won their 33rd consecutive game and 79th in 80 tries.

The Huskies, who hope to win their 10th national championship and third in row, are now 99-17 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, face Texas next week in Albany.

Tyler Scaife had 16 points for eighth-seeded Rutgers (23-10), which was in its first NCAA Tournament since 2012 and has not made it past the second round since 2009.

LOUISVILLE 60, SOUTH FLORIDA 52

Jude Schimmel scored 13 points, Myisha Hines-Allen added 12 and No. 3 seed Louisville reached its third consecutive NCAA Sweet 16 by beating No. 6 seed South Florida.

Louisville (27-6) will face Dayton in the round of 16.

Courtney Williams had 25 points for South Florida (27-8). It was the 20th time she scored 20 or more this season.

Schimmel had an in-close basket and set up Hines-Allen's layup to put Louisville ahead 50-47 with 2:25 remaining. Bria Smith made it 52-47 with two free throws after a USF turnover.

Williams and Alisia Jenkins made layup during a 6-0 spurt that gave South Florida a 47-46 lead with 5 minutes to play.

Sara Hammond had a basket and Hines-Allen followed with a layup as Louisville took a 34-26 lead 2 1-2 minutes in the second half.
 

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