Oregon State, UCLA pull off upsets
Mississippi State, Louisville win big to reach cusp of Final Four
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Marie Gulich had 26 points, Kat Tudor added 16 and sixth-seeded Oregon State shot 58 percent in the second half to upset No. 2 seed Baylor 72-67 on Friday night in the women’s NCAA Tournament Lexington Region semifinal.
Two years after upsetting Baylor in the Elite Eight, Oregon State (26-7) followed up with a steady performance that ended the Lady Bears’ 30-game winning streak. The Beavers had to withstand nine consecutive points by Alexis Morris that got the Lady Bears (33-2) to 69-67 with 42 seconds remaining before Katie McWilliams’ left-corner 3-pointer provided a fivepoint edge.
Morris missed two 3s and Natalie Chou another in the final 10 seconds for Baylor, which shot just 39 percent and was edged 38-37 on the glass.
Gulich made 10 of 17 from the field and had nine rebounds for OSU, which won for the 10th time in 11 contests. Tudor was 5 of 10 shooting and 4 of 8 from long range as the Beavers made 9 of 20 from behind the arc.
Oregon State will face No. 1 Louisville Sunday for a spot in the Final Four. LOUISVILLE 86, STANFORD 59: Also in Lexington, Ky., Asia Durr had 24 points, Myisha Hines-Allen added 17 and top-seeded Louisville rolled past No. 4 seed Stanford in the women’s NCAA Tournament Lexington Region semifinal.
Arica Carter had 13 points and Jazmine Jones 10 for the Cardinals (35-2), who trailed for just 53 seconds to win their 10th consecutive game and advance to their first regional final since 2014. Louisville thrived offensively, shooting 52 percent and building a lead that reached 27 points with 1:24 remaining to finish their third consecutive NCAA Tournament rout.
Hines was 8-for-15 from the field and surpassed 2,000 career points. The senior forward also grabbed five rebounds.
Brittany McPhee had 15 points and Dijonai Carrington 14 for Stanford, which hoped to upset a tournament top seed for the third straight March in Lexington after knocking out Notre Dame the previous two years. MISSISSIPPI STATE 71, NORTH CAROLINA STATE
57: In Kansas City, Mo., Teaira McCowan had 24 points and 15 rebounds, and Victoria Vivians added 14 points as top-seeded Mississippi State routed North Carolina State to reach the Elite Eight.
Morgan William added 13 points and Roshunda Johnson, who lost her grandfather earlier in the week, added 12 as the Bulldogs (35-1) also broke their school record for wins in a season.
They’ll have a chance to add to it Sunday, when they face third-seeded UCLA for a spot in the Bulldogs’ second consecutive Final Four.
UCLA 84, TEXAS 75: Also in Kansas City, Mo., Jordin Canada scored 22 points, putting third-seeded UCLA on her back in the fourth quarter, and the Bruins beat Texas to avenge a Sweet 16 loss to the Longhorns two years ago.
Monique Billings added 17 points and Kennedy Burke had 15 for the Bruins (27-7). They finally made it to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament after falling a game short the past two seasons.
Ariel Atkins had 20 points and Jatarie White had 17 for the No. 2 seed Longhorns (28-7).
Texas made one last charge when it got back-toback 3-pointers from Atkins and Alecia Sutton to close within 76-72 with less than 2 minutes left. But Burke answered with a layup for UCLA, and Canada’s jumper with just under a minute to go helped put the game away.