Lady Vols come back against Gonzaga, clinch Elite Eight spot
SPOKANE, Wash. - Tennessee was having trouble sinking field goals but fortunately the free throws kept dropping and dropping.
The Lady Vols made all 10 of their shots from the line in overtime - and missed all five field goal attempts - to beat Gonzaga 73-69 on Saturday to advance to the Spokane Regional final of the NCAA Tournament.
Tennessee shot only 32 percent from the floor for the game, but made 21 of 22 free throws to come back from a 17-point, second-half deficit for the win.
"No matter how many punches you throw at us, we continue to get up," said Cierra Burdick, who scored 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for Tennessee. Her four late free throws provided the winning points.
"We had to draw fouls late to win this game," Burdick said. "Our free throws are what saved us."
Ariel Massengale scored 15 points for Tennessee (30-5), while Jordan Reynolds and Jaime Nared had 12 points each.
"I'm extremely proud of my teammates for not giving up," Massengale said.
Sunny Greinacher scored 24 points and Keani Albanez 20 for surprising 11th-seeded Gonzaga (26-8), which upset third-seeded Oregon State last weekend to advance to the round of 16.
Second-seeded Tennessee will play top-seeded Maryland (33-2) on Monday for a trip to the Final Four in Tampa, Florida.
Maryland ousts Duke
SPOKANE, Wash. - Brenda Frese sat down at the dais and immediately gave a little jab at Maryland's former foes from its days in the ACC.
"I don't know what it is, but I think we just love being able to beat Duke in the NCAA Tournament," Maryland's head coach said.
Duke may have controlled its rivalry with the Terrapins before Maryland departed for the Big Ten. But the Terps are now 2-0 against Duke in the NCAA Tournament and about to play for another trip to the Final Four.
Shatori Walker-Kimbrough scored 18 of her 24 points in the second half, Laurin Mincy scored all 15 of her points in the first half, and top-seeded Maryland advanced to the Spokane Regional final with a 65-55 victory over the No. 4 seed on Saturday.
Walker-Kimbrough took over the scoring load carried by Mincy in the first half as the Terrapins (33-2) reached the Elite Eight for the sixth time under Frese. The Terrapins had lost eight of their previous 10 games against Duke.
"Very relieving," Mincy said. "Like you said, we haven't been able to beat Duke since our sophomore year, so it's just very fitting that we come in here and beat them in the Sweet 16."
In their inaugural meeting since Maryland's departure for the Big Ten, the Terrapins knocked off the Blue Devils for the first time since Feb. 19, 2012. Even the mascots got in on the fun of the former conference foes getting together with Duke's Blue Devil wearing a taped message on his forehead reading "The ACC Don't Miss Ya," and Maryland's Testudo responding with "April 4th 2006," the date of the Terrapins' national title victory over Duke.
Maryland was the one left celebrating at the end thanks to one of the best performances of Walker-Kimbrough's career.
"That's just the flow of the game," Walker-Kimbrough said. "They were trying to make adjustments, but we just kept playing our game."
Brionna Jones added 10 points and 10 rebounds as the Terrapins held a decided 33-24 rebounding edge despite Duke's size advantage inside. Maryland's goal was to allow fewer than 10 offensive rebounds to the Blue Devils. They gave up six and Duke had only six second-chance points.
Elizabeth Williams led Duke (23-11) with 18 points and nine rebounds.
7th-seeded Dayton knock off Louisville
ALBANY, N.Y. - Dayton and coach Jim Jabir have a new best day.
Andrea Hoover scored 26 points and the seventh-seeded Flyers (28-6) continued their improbable run in the NCAA Tournament with an 82-66 win over third-seeded Louisville in the regional semifinals on Saturday.
Amber Deane added 15 points and Jodie Cornelie-Sigmundova had 12 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots for the Flyers, who won for the 11th time in their last 12 games.
Dayton, which beat No. 2 seed Kentucky in the second round, became just the fourth No. 7 seed to advance to a regional final since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1994, and the first since Mississippi in 2007.
"I thought the Kentucky game was the best day," Jabir said. "And now I think this is the best day and not just because it's a trip to the Elite Eight. I think we rose to an occasion."
Dayton led by a point at halftime. But a 3-pointer from Deane capped an 11-2 run early in the second half that pushed the lead to double digits, and the Flyers never trailed after intermission.
Myisha Hines-Allen scored all 14 of her points in the second half to lead Louisville (27-7).
Dayton will face No. 1 UConn, which routed Texas 105-54, on Monday night.
The Flyers shot 51 percent from the floor and made 26 of their 30 free throws. Hoover was 15 of 15 from the line, becoming the first player with a minimum of 12 attempts to shoot 100 percent from the line.
Coach Jim Jabir ran toward the stands after the final horn sounded, giving praise to the Dayton fans, one of whom shouted "Who else from Kentucky can we beat," as the final seconds wound down.
"As the buzzer went off, I couldn't find enough people to hug," Hoover said. "We've been working so hard for these goals, and now our program is at new levels."
The Flyers made 11 3-pointers against the Wildcats. They were just 2 of 10 from behind the arc in this one, but outscored the Cardinals 42-34 in the paint.
Louisville was just 1 of 15 from 3-point range and shot just 31.5 percent for the game.
UConn win gives Auriemma milestone
ALBANY, N.Y. - Geno Auriemma reached another milestone in record fashion.
The Hall of Famer became the second coach to achieve 100 victories in the NCAA Tournament as his UConn Huskies pulled off a record rout of Texas, 105-54, on Saturday in the Sweet 16. Auriemma joined Pat Summitt, who finished with 112 victories in her career, as the only two coaches in men's or women's basketball to reach that milestone.
"That's lots of wins, 100 wins in the NCAA tournament," Auriemma said. "Some people don't get to play in the NCAA tournament ever or play a couple games. We've been pretty fortunate. We didn't win anything in the NCAA in our first couple years."
The Huskies stand three victories away from a third straight national championship and 10th overall. UConn will face Dayton in the regional finals after the seventh-seeded Flyers upset Louisville 82-66.
Breanna Stewart was a key reason why the Huskies set the NCAA record for margin of victory in the regionals and beyond. The junior star had 31 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists.
"(Today) was a lot of fun," Stewart said. "Right from the start shots were going in and we were being aggressive. ... Texas has a big presence inside, big post players. We knew if we got them moving a little bit, we could get any shot we wanted."
The Huskies shot a blistering 56 percent from the field and became the eighth team to put up more than 100 points in the regionals.
"Like I said to the coaching staff at Texas, when you shoot the ball as well as we did, we're a really hard team to play against," Auriemma said.
UConn (35-1) led 26-19 midway through the first half before blowing the game open with a 44-9 run spanning the half. The burst started with 13 straight points by the Huskies.
UConn led 52-24 at the half and scored 18 points in the first 3:30 of the second half to finish off the run.
Other Elite Eight matchups:
(1) South Carolina vs. (2) Florida St., Sunday, 12:oo p.m. ET
(1) Notre Dame vs. (2) Baylor, Sunday 8:30 p.m. ET