WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Oregon overcomes Duke with a 74-65 win to advance to the third round.
Results from the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament on Monday:
BRIDGEPORT REGION Oregon 74, Duke 65
DURHAM, N.C. — When it comes to NCAA Tournament experience, all of the Oregon Ducks are like freshmen — because they’d never been here until now.
Fortunately for the Ducks, their actual freshmen are playing far beyond their ages.
FreshmanRuthy 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.
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 second-seeded 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.
Oregon was in control all night — never trailing after the first 3 minutes, methodically stretching its lead to 15 on back-to-back 3s by Bando and Cazorla early in the fourth quarter and holding off Duke’s last-gasp push to get back in the game.
Brown pulled Duke to 68-63 with three free throws with 26.7 seconds left before Sabrina Ionescu iced it by hitting six free throws in the final 24.5 seconds. Ionescu finished with 13 points.
OKLAHOMA CITY REGION Louisville 75, Tennessee 64
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 Baylor-California 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 7159 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 (2311), 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.
Speaking of the first round, the Cardinal needed to rally from nine down to win beat No. 15 seed New Mexico State. It was an ugly, disjointed performance that led Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer to muse afterward that nearly two weeks off may not have been good for them.
Two days off seemed to suit the Cardinal much better.
They quickly shook loose of the Wildcats with hounding defense and pinpoint perimeter shooting, using a 13-0 run late in the first quarter and early in the second to take a 28-12 lead. And when McPhee hit a 3-pointer moments later, she had nearly as many points (13) as the Wildcats (14).
Kansas State went on a brief run to trim its deficit to 34-21 with 2 minutes left before halftime, but Nadia Fingall’s basket in the paint and McPhee’s fourth 3 of the half restored order.
The Wildcats had six turnovers in the first quarter and nine by halftime, while the Cardinal had already built a 20-9 rebounding advantage by that point — despite having no advantage in size.
Stanford’s lead swelled to 47-24 before the Wildcats managed their first basket of the third quarter with 4:11 remaining. Kansas State proceeded to run off nine straight points in its best stretch of the game, but Karlie Samuelson’s 3-pointer got the Cardinal back on track.
They coasted through the fourth quarter and right into the Sweet 16.