Inspired by ‘Glue,’ Irish run away from Villanova

SOUTH BEND, IND. » Around the Notre Dame locker room, Kathryn Westbeld is known as “The Glue” because she does a little bit of everything for Muffet McGraw’s Irish.

By halftime of Sunday’s second-round women’s NCAA Tournament game against pesky Villanova, a visibly angry McGraw and Westbeld, watching with a sprained left ankle, had seen enough.

Enter “Super Glue.” Exit Villanova as the Irish ran away for a 98-72 victory that sent them into regional semifinals for the ninth straight season.

“She changed the course of the game,” McGraw said after 31-3 Notre Dame, which had struggled just to get a 45-45 halftime tie against the outside-shooting Wildcats (23-9), outscored them 53-27 in the second half. “I thought we defended a lot better in the second half and with Kathryn we’re a very different team.”

Jessica Shepard had her fourth straight double-double with 25 points and 10 rebounds to lead Notre Dame. Arike Ogunbowale and Jackie Young had 24 points each and Marina Mabrey added 15 for the Irish (31-3), who won their 25th straight game at Purcell Pavilion.

Lexington Region

NO. 6 OREGON STATE 66, NO. 3 TENNESSEE 59 » Tennessee lost for the first time at home in women’s NCAA Tournament history when Marie Gulich had 14 points and 12 rebounds to lead Oregon State.

The third-seeded Lady Vols had been 57-0 at home with most of those victories coming under late Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt, who led the team to eight national championships. It’s the second straight season that Tennessee lost in the second round of the NCAAs and will miss the Sweet 16 in back-to-back seasons for the first time in the program’s 37-year tournament history.

Oregon State (26-7) advanced to the regional semifinals for the third straight year. NO. 1 LOUISVILLE 90, NO. 8 MARQUETTE 72 » Myisha Hines-Allen had 24 points and 13 rebounds, Asia Durr scored 19 points and Louisville quickly pounced on Marquette on the way to a victory.

The Cardinals (34-2) advanced to their second consecutive Sweet 16 and will play 80 miles east in next weekend’s regional in Lexington, Kentucky.

Hines-Allen and Durr made sure of that right away by combining for 26 points on 12-of-14 shooting in the first half after the duo totaled just 13 points in a firstround rout of Boise State. HinesAllen earned her 16th double-double this season.

Spokane Region

NO. 4 TEXAS A&M 80, NO. 5 DEPAUL 79» Freshman Chennedy Carter hit a 3 with 3.2 seconds left, capping a 37-point performance, to help Texas A&M rally from a 17-point second-half deficit and beat DePaul.

Carter had 32 of her points after halftime and the fourthseeded Aggies pulled off another stunning second half comeback for the second consecutive year. It was the largest comeback ever in the second round of the tournament and the fourth largest ever.

Texas A&M trailed by two when Carter’s long three from the top of the key gave the Aggies (26-9) the lead. Fifth-seed DePaul had a chance to win it after that but Jasmine Lumpkin stole the inbounds pass from Kelly Campbell to secure the victory and send the Aggies to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2014.

Kansas City Region

NO. 4 NORTH CAROLINA STATE 74, NO. 5 MARYLAND 60 » Kiara Leslie had 21 points and 11 rebounds against her former team, and North Carolina State beat Maryland.

Leslie, who spent three seasons at Maryland before graduating and transferring to N.C. State, finished one point shy of a career high.

Kalia Ealey and Chelsea Nelson added 12 points apiece while Akela Maize scored 11 to help the fourth-seeded Wolfpack (26-8) earn their first Sweet 16 appearance since the late Kay Yow led an inspirational run in 2007.

N.C. State, which shot 45 percent and was 7 of 14 from 3-point range, will play the Oklahoma State-Mississippi State winner on Friday night in the Kansas City Regional semifinals.

Brianna Fraser had 17 points for the fifth-seeded Terrapins (268), who were held to 37 percent shooting