No. 1 CNU zooms into tourney final
Christopher Newport, the nation’s top Division III women’s basketball team, cruised into the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Tournament championship game with a 96-61 rout Friday of Finlandia in Fredericksburg.
The Captains (25-0), who have won 68 of their last 69 games since December 2019, will play at 7 p.m. on Saturday against the winner of Friday’s late semifinal between No. 3 seed Mary Washington, the tournament host, and No. 2 UC Santa Cruz.
Finlandia, from Hancock, Michigan, finished 12-12.
Ten Captains scored at least five points, led by Hannah Orloff and Anaya Simmons with 12 apiece. Natalie Bartle led the Lions with 31 points.
The game essentially was over after a 32-10 first quarter, and CNU led 78-36 after three.
Coastal Carolina 76, Old Dominion 68: The Monarchs (20-11, 12-6) lost their regular-season finale in Conway, South Carolina, hurting — but not eliminating — their chances of gaining a top-four seed in the Sun Belt Tournament and thus a double-bye to the quarterfinals.
Amari Young scored 17 points and Makayla Dickens 14 for ODU.
Arin Freeman made a contested layup to put the Chanticleers (14-15, 9-9) ahead 71-67 with 36 seconds left, and ODU couldn’t score another field goal.
Late Thursday
Clemson 79, Virginia 69: Down to seven players after an ejection, UVA lost at Clemson.
After Virginia starter London Clarkson was issued a technical foul and banished from the game with 6:53 left in the second quarter for fighting, the Cavaliers (15-13, 4-13 ACC) fell to the Tigers (15-14, 6-11). UVA’s Camryn Taylor scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
No. 1 South Carolina 73, Tennessee 60: Zia Cooke scored 19 points and Kierra Fletcher had 15 as South Carolina (28-0, 15-0) clinched at least a tie for the regular-season Southeastern Conference title. The Lady Vols (20-10, 12-3) got 21 points from Rickea Jackson.
No. 3 Stanford 73, No. 21 Colorado 62 (2 OTs): Haley Jones scored 13 points over the two overtime periods in Boulder, Colorado. Jones also had 11 rebounds and seven assists for the Cardinal (27-3, 15-2 Pac-12).
No. 5 LSU 82, Vanderbilt 63: Angel Reese posted her 26th double-double of the season, scoring 23 points and grabbing 18 rebounds in the visiting Tigers’ third straight win.
No. 8 Utah 101, California 76: Alissa Pili scored 26 points and Jenna Johnson added 21 for the host Utes (24-3, 14-3 Pac-12).
No. 10 Notre Dame 76, Georgia Tech 53: Olivia Miles scored 13 points and Kylee Watson added 12 points and 10 rebounds for the host Irish (23-4, 14-3 ACC), who improved to 17-1 all-time against the Yellow Jackets (13-15, 4-13).
No. 11 Duke 77, N.C. State 62: Celeste Taylor scored 21 points as the host Blue Devils (24-4, 14-3) remained tied for first in the ACC. Elizabeth Balogun had 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Jada Boyd scored 19 points for the Wolfpack (18-10, 8-9).