Milestone win for softball coach
Paige von Sprecken’s fifth-inning home run Thursday helped the Texas softball team defeat Coastal Caro- lina 5-3 in Conway, S.C., and give Connie Clark her 850th career win.
All of Clark’s wins have come in her 22 years as the head coach of the Longhorns.
“Most important about tonight was getting back into the win column,” Clark said. “That’s what we’ve been focused on a lot since last Wednesday coming into this final stretch before heading into conference.”
After Thursday’s win, Texas traveled to Charleston, S.C., to compete in the College of Charleston tournament. The Longhorns opened with a 5-1 loss to Eastern Illinois on Friday. Starting pitcher Jessica Wire- man allowed just one run to lead the Panthers to the win.
On Thursday, with the Longhorns trailing 3-2 in the fifth, von Sprecken hit a three-run homer to put Texas ahead for good against the Chanticleers.
MK Tedder and Kaitlyn Slack each had an RBI, and Janae Jefferson went 1-for-2 with two runs scored.
Erica Wright (3-2) picked up her third win of the year in the circle. She allowed three runs on four hits through four innings. Kristen Clark earned the save, pitching three innings and giving up just one hit.
Tedder’s sacrifice fly in the first inning put Texas up 1-0. Jefferson scored on the play after drawing a walk and moving to third on a wild pitch and a groundout.
Texas doubled the lead on Slack’s RBI single in the second inning to score Randel Leahy.
Natalie David put the pressure on Texas when she hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the second.
After two scoreless innings, von Sprecken delivered the much-needed runs.
Swimming and diving: The Texas women were in third place Thursday after the second day of the NCAA swimming and diving championships in Columbus, Ohio.
The Longhorns scored 109 points through the first two days. They trailed firstplace Stanford by 102 points entering Friday.
Diver Alison Gibson had the best finish of the day for Texas, taking fourth in the 1-meter diving final. She couldn’t repeat as cham- pion in the event but earned All-America status for the second year in a row. Gibson scored 320.65 points, with her best dive earning 55.20.
Evie Pfeifer took sixth place in the 500 freestyle to become the first Longhorn in 10 years to achieve All-Amer- ica status in the event. Her time of 4 minutes, 36.96 sec- onds earned 13 points for the Longhorns. Susana Escobar took All-America honors for Texas in 2008.
“That’s one of the toughest freshman performances I’ve ever seen,” Longhorns coach Carol Capitani said. “That 500 final was the fast- est it has ever been, and for her to negative-split a 500 and move up a place in the final was beyond fantastic.”
Texas opened the day with an eighth-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay. Rebecca Millard, Claire Ad a ms, Brooke Hansen and Remedy Rule teamed up to post a mark of 1:28.41.
In the Longhorns’ other relay, the 400 medley, they finished in sixth with a time of 3:30.61. Adams, Kennedy Lohman, Lauren Case and Millard swam the seventh-fastest time in school history.
Maine enters the NCAA women’s basketball tournament with a roster that would make the United Nations proud.
The starting lineup includes players from Spain, Sweden, Israel and Canada. Coming off the bench is a player from Germany.
“No matter where you are in this world, that round ball can unite a lot of different people from a lot of different places,” said Black Bears coach Amy Vachon. “For us, it really has. I mean, you forget that they’re from all around the world.”
Vachon said Maine’s worldwide recruiting pipeline was created by former head coach Richard Barron. About six years ago, he went on an international tour to scout foreign talent.
“We signed six kids that year,” she recalled. “They were all international.”
The Black Bears’ top player these days is Blanca Millan, a sophomore guard from Santiago de Compostela, a city of about 95,000 people in northwest Spain.
“I always knew I wanted to play” in the United States, Millan said. “Maine was the best place for me.”
Senior guard Tanesha Sutton, who hails from Philadel- phia, said Maine’s blend of foreign players works.
“I mean, we do everything together,” she said. “In the first weeks, it seemed like we were at least one year together . ... I think it’s one of the best things we have.”
A bold prediction: Before the season, Nebraska senior guard Jasmine Cincore predicted that the Cornhuskers would play in the NCAA Tournament.
That pronouncement might have created a few chuckles outside of Lincoln, Neb. After all, Nebraska was 7-22 last season under then first-year coach Amy Williams.
A year later, Williams has been named the Big Ten coach of the year, and Nebraska will enter the NCAA Tournament with a record of 21-10. The Huskers’ 14-win improvement this season is the best in Division I women’s basketball.
“We were transitioning from a new staff last season,” Cincore said. “We had a lot of new players coming in, and we were very young. I just saw something great within this team.”
Not-so-sweet memories: Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne was a senior
Comforts of home: Playing at home has boosted Texas during NCAA Tour- nament games. Boasting an all-time tournament record of 40-29, the Longhorns are 23-9 when playing at the Erwin Center.
That includes two victories apiece over the past two seasons, when the Longhorns were at home for first- and second-round games. Win or lose, this will be the final chance for area fans to see Texas seniors Ariel Atkins and Brooke McCarty.
“You dream about (playing in the tournament) since you’re a little kid,” Atkins said. “Playing in it for the last time, I wouldn’t say it’s nerve-wracking, but there are butterflies.”
Noteworthy: Former Longhorns coach Gail Goestenkors will handle color commentary for the ESPN2 broadcasts of Saturday’s game at the Erwin Center.
Freshman Rennia Davis scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in her women’s NCAA Tournament debut as No. 3 seed Tennessee pulled away in the second half to beat No. 14 Liberty 100-60 in the first round on Friday.
Tennessee plays No. 6 Oregon State in the second round of the Lexington Regional on Sunday with a spot in the Sweet 16 on the line.
The Lady Vols used an offensive outburst in the third quarter to win their NCAA opener for the ninth straight season and remain undefeated at home in NCAA play at 57-0.
Tennessee finished 24 of 30 from the field in the second half (80 percent) and scored 64 points.
Libertyentered the game ranked No. 7 in the country in scoring defense (53.7 points per game) but couldn’t hold Tennessee’s offense down for a full game.
LEXINGTON REGION
No. 1 Louisville 74, No. 16 Boise State 42: Kylee Shook had 14 points and 10 rebounds off the bench for Louisville. Beginning NCAA play as a top seed for the first time in school history, the Cardinals used quick spurts early in both halves, along with defense, to cruise to victory, outscoring Boise State 16-4 in the second half for a 50-26 cushion.
No. 6 Oregon State 82, No. 11 Western Kentucky 58: Marie Gulich scored 21 of her 29 points in the second half and grabbed 15 rebounds for Oregon State in Knoxville, Tenn. The 6-foot-5 Gulich finished 11 of 15 from the field, with a steady stream of layups and short jumpers highlighting her second-half surge.
No. 8 Marquette 84, No. 9 Dayton 65: Natisha Hiedeman scored a career-high 32 points, including 18 in the first quarter, for Marquette (24-9). Hiedeman’s five 3-pointers in the first quarter rallied the Golden Eagles from an 11-3 deficit to a 22-15 lead that they maintained for their first NCAA win since 2011. The Flyers (23-7) got within 69-58 early in the fourth quarter.
KANSAS CITY REGION
No. 4 N.C. State 62, No. 13 Elon 35: Kiara Leslie scored 13 points and Aislinn Konig added 12 points to help the fourth-seeded Wolfpack advance to a second-round matchup with Maryland in the renewal of a past ACC rivalry. Leslie played two seasons at Maryland before coming to N.C. State last summer as a graduate transfer. Shay Burnett had 12 points for the 13th-seeded Phoenix, who had their 13-game winning streak snapped.
No. 5 Maryland 77, No. 12 Princeton 57: Kaila Charles scored 20 points and Eleanna Christinaki added 16 points for Maryland in Raleigh, N.C. Maryland hasn’t gone oneand-done in the tournament since 2001.
SPOKANE REGION
No. 4 Texas A&M 89, No. 13 Drake 76: Freshman Chennedy Carter scored 26 points, 11 assists and six steals for the Aggies in College Station, Texas. Khaalia Hillsman added 22 to help send the Aggies to the second round against DePaul.
No. 5 DePaul 90, No. 12 Oklahoma 79: Amarah Coleman and Kelly Campbell each scored 17 points and DePaul held off a second-half comeback by Oklahoma in College Station, Texas. Ashton Millender and Mart’e Grays both added 16 for the Blue Demons, which used 3-pointers to jump to an early lead that it never lost. DePaul’s first four baskets came on 3-pointers, building a 15-7 led with Coleman hitting fallaway shots to open and close the run. Vionise PierreLouis led Oklahoma with 21 points.