Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Nurse shoots UConn to 109th straight win
STORRS, CONN. >> Kia Nurse scored 29 points and tied an NCAA Tournament record with nine 3-pointers to lead UConn to a 94-64 win over Syracuse on Monday night in a second-round rematch of last year’s national championship game.
Nurse hit 10 of her 13 shots, missing three attempts from behind the arc for the Huskies, who won their 109th straight game and 26th consecutive NCAA Tournament game. That streak includes last April’s 82-51 win over the Orange that gave the Huskies their fourth consecutive title.
Gabby Williams and Katie Lou Samuelson each added 23 points and Napheesa Collier chipped in with 17 for UConn (34-0), which led by as many as 36 points.
The Huskies shot 62 percent from the floor, 52 percent from 3-point range and had 30 assists on their 33 baskets.
Alexis Peterson had 25 points to lead Syracuse, which had boasted this week that it would bring the best guards in America into the rematch with UConn.
Oregon 74, Duke 65
DURHAM, N.C. >> Ruthy Hebard had 20 points and 15 rebounds, and Oregon earned its first Sweet 16 berth by upsetting Duke.
Maite Cazorla added 17 points and Lexi Bando finished with 14 points to help Oregon (22-13) become the first No. 10 seed in a decade to reach the round of 16.
The Ducks, in their first tournament since 2005, had never advanced past the second round in their 12 previous appearances. Now they’re on to Bridgeport, Connecticut, to take on third-seeded Maryland (32-2) in a regional semifinal.
Lexie Brown scored 25 points for the secondseeded Blue Devils (28-6), who have been upset at home in the tournament’s second round twice since 2014. They played without guard Kyra Lambert, who tore her left anterior cruciate ligament in the first round against Hampton.
Oklahoma City Region Louisville 75, Tennessee 64
LOUISVILLE, KY. >> Asia Durr scored 23 points, Mariya Moore made all five 3-pointers for 19 points and Louisville beat Tennessee.
Moore’s perimeter shooting provided a lift on a night that fourth-seeded Louisville had to work hard late to finish 44 percent from the field. She scored the Cardinals’ first eight points of the fourth quarter with back-to-back 3s for a 54-47 lead before Durr followed with seven of their next eight points to make it 62-51 with 4:07 remaining. Durr also became the 28th Louisville player to reach 1,000 career points.
Fifth-seeded Tennessee got within five but no closer as Louisville earned its first Sweet 16 berth in two years and seventh overall under coach Jeff Walz. The Cardinals will face the BaylorCalifornia winner on Friday in the Oklahoma City Region semifinal.
Jaime Nared had 28 points and 11 rebounds for Tennessee (20-12), which shot 33 percent in losing its first second-round tournament game in program history. Diamond DeShields had 15.
Lexington Region Stanford 69, Kansas State 48
MANHATTAN, KAN. >> Brittany McPhee had 21 points, Alanna Smith added 19 and second-seeded Stanford routed No. 7 seed Kansas State to advance to the Cardinal’s 10th straight Sweet 16.
The Cardinal (30-5) had no problem dealing with the Wildcats (23-11) or their home crowd, which spent much of the game sitting in silence. Stanford roared to a 39-21 halftime lead and never looked back in advancing to face No. 3 seed Texas on Friday night in Lexington, Kentucky.
The Cardinal beat the Longhorns 71-59 when they met in early November.
Kindred Wesemann had 11 points and Breanna Lewis was held to nine in their final game for the Wildcats (23-11), who have not advanced past the NCAA Tournament’s opening weekend since 2002.
Neither senior star could get on track after combining for 39 in the opening round.