Dons, Broncos fall in WCC women’s tourney
With less than two minutes remaining in the first quarter of Monday’s WCC semifinal against BYU in Las Vegas, Lucie Hoskova converted a layup to put USF up 1912.
Sadly for the Dons, there were still more than 31 minutes to play. The Cougars went on a 425 blitz and led 5424 midway through the third quarter.
BYU advanced to Tuesday’s championship game against Gonzaga with an 8555 romp.
USF (1510) had won 10 of 11, including an 8672 victory over BYU on the Hilltop on Feb. 27.
On Monday, though, the Dons were outscored 193 in the second period, when they went 1for19 from the floor. Ioanna Krimili had 21 points but was the only USF player to score in double figures.
“There is value in every experience that we have, especially for such a young team,” head coach Molly Goodenbour said in a story on the Dons’ website. “We are only going to get better. ... I think we have really, really good things coming for us.”
The Cougars (184) got a gamehigh 23 points from Paisley Harding.
#16 Gonzaga 72, Santa Clara 62: Jill Townsend had 14 points and 10 rebounds and the Zags (223) beat the Broncos (1411).
Lindsey VanAllen led Santa Clara with 17 points. Merle Wiehl and Ashlyn Herlihy had 16 apiece.
Other games: In Uncasville, Conn., Paige Bueckers scored 23 points to lead top-ranked Connecticut (24-1) to a 73-39 rout of Marquette (19-6) for the Big East tournament title . ... In Waco, Texas, former Stanford guard DiJonai Carrington had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and No. 6 Baylor (22-2, 17-1) rolled to a 96-73 romp over No. 17 West Virginia (19-5, 13-5) in the Big 12’s final regular-season game . ... In Pensacola, Fla., Felmas Koranga had 12 points and a career-high 22 rebounds, and Troy (22-5) picked up a 73-65 win over Louisiana-Lafayette (16-6) to earn the Sun Belt Conference tournament title and automatic NCAA bid.
Stanford up to No. 2: Tara VanDerveer’s team jumped two spots to No. 2 in the Associated Press poll released
Monday after the Cardinal breezed to the Pac-12 tournament title over the weekend, winning three games by an average of 31 points. Stanford (25-2) received five of 29 first-place votes from a national media panel and trailed only UConn, which got 22 first-place votes. N.C. State, which got the other two first-place votes, stayed at No. 3. Texas A&M and South Carolina rounded out the top five teams.
Men
McDermott reinstated: Creighton lifted head coach Greg McDermott’s suspension for making racially insensitive remarks to his players after a game. McDermott twice used the term “plantation” as part of an analogy urging team unity after a loss at Xavier on Feb. 27. The university suspended McDermott indefinitely Thursday after he had coached in a Wednesday loss at Villanova. Noting McDermott’s public apologies and difficult discussions with his players and others, athletic director Bruce Rasmussen said the coach has shown a willingness to learn from his mistake. Assistant coach Alan Huss was in charge of the Bluejays for their 93-73 home win over Butler on Saturday. McDermott will be with the team for the Big East tournament this week and the NCAA Tournament.
Bids clinched: In Pensacola, Fla., Michael Almonacy scored a careerhigh 32 points and Appalachian State (17-11) pulled off an 80-73 upset of two-time defending Sun Belt Conference champion Georgia State (16-6) to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2000 . ... In Asheville, N.C., Isaiah Miller scored 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as UNC Greensboro (21-8) earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament with a 69-61 win over Mercer (18-11) in the Southern Conference championship game.