UIW women stumble at finish of promising season
For the second straight season, No. 4 seed Incarnate Word was dealt a quarterfinal exit from the Southland Conference tournament, losing to No. 5 Texas A&m-commerce 66-57 on Tuesday at the Legacy Center in Lake Charles, La.
The Cardinals earned an opening-round bye on the strength of a 12-6 mark in league games while setting UIW'S Division I record for wins with 19. Matching the No. 4 seed the program earned last year, UIW again lined up against No. 5 Texas A&m-commerce and was again handed an early exit.
The Cardinals (19-11) shot just 30.4% overall, 8.7% from 3-point range and 61.9% on free throws, posting a 17-of-40 (42.5%) mark on shots categorized as layups.
Nina De Leon Negron led UIW with 14 points on 5-of-18 shooting while matching team highs with nine rebounds and three assists. Destiny Terrell finished with nine points and seven rebounds,. Texas A&m-commerce used a 9-0 run late in the second quarter to build a 29-23 lead — the first time either team led by more than five points during the opening half.
The Lions stretched the margin to 12 points midway through the third quarter and kept the Cardinals at arm's length the rest of the way, holding a lead of at least six points through the final nine minutes.
Aiming to recreate the 2022 run of four wins in four days to claim the Southland championship, UIW appeared to be hitting top form down the stretch of the season, winning seven straight games. But the Cardinals slipped with a 65-43 loss to Texas A&m-corpus Christi in the regular season finale, then dropped Tuesday's game to a Commerce team UIW defeated twice by a combined 19 points during the regular season.
BIG 12
Ibrahima Diallo had 17 points and 11 rebounds,
C.J. Walker added 12 points and No. 12 seed UCF used an 18-1 run to start the second half and roll to a 77-62 victory over No. 13 seed Oklahoma State to open the Big 12 tournament at Kansas City, Mo.
Darius Johnson also had 11 points for the Knights (17-14), who led 35-31 at halftime before cruising into Wednesday's second-round game against 20th-ranked BYU, another Big 12 newcomer and the No. 4 seed in the tournament.
Javon Small hit five 3-pointers and scored 21
points for the Cowboys (12-20), who finished the season on a six-game losing streak. Eric Dailey Jr. added 12 points and Brandon Garrison had 10.
UCF and Oklahoma State both got off to dreadful shooting starts, combining to go 5 for 25 from the field, and things never got a whole lot better even as the Knights built a 35-31 halftime lead in their first ever game in the Big 12 Tournament.
Their game plan was clear: use their size advantage to their benefit.
The 7-foot Diallo had 11 points and seven rebounds by halftime, and the 6-8 Walker and 6-10 Omar Payne were active around the rim whenever the fifth-year senior from Senegal was able to catch a breather on the bench.
In Tuesday's second game, Simas Lukosius hit seven 3-pointers and scored 31 points, Day Day Thomas also had seven 3s and 29 points, and No. 11 seed Cincinnati was helped by three technical fouls by No. 14 seed West Virginia in the second half as it rallied from a 16-point hole for a 90-85 victory.
The Bearcats (19-13) were trailing 84-83 with 1:33 left when Dan Skillings Jr.'s basket gave them the lead. And when the Mountaineers' Raequan Battle turned the ball over, Lukosius added a pair of free throws for some breathing room.
Thomas provided the dagger with the Bearcats leading 87-85 and 15 seconds to go, hitting one last 3-pointer to send the Big 12 newcomer into a second-round game against No. 16 Kansas — the tourney's No. 6 seed — on Wednesday night.
Jesse Edwards had 17 points, Quinn Slazinski scored 15 and Battle had 14 for the Mountaineers (9-23), who set a school record for losses while finishing with their fewest wins since the 2001-02 team went 8-20 in Gale Catlett's final season.
ACC
Freshmen Braeden Shrewsberry and Markus Burton combined for 44 points and 12th-seeded Notre Dame opened the ACC tournament with its third straight nail-biting win over 13th-seeded Georgia Tech 84-80 at Washington.
Shrewsberry had 23 points with five 3-pointers and Burton added 21 with eight assists as the Fighting Irish (13-19) advanced to face fifth-seeded Wake Forest despite blowing a 17-point lead in the final 13 minutes.
Tae Davis added 12 points and Kebba Njie had 11 with nine rebounds for Notre Dame, which beat the Yellow Jackets 58-55 at home and 75-68 in overtime on the road.