STORRS, Conn. - Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis had the third triple-double in UConn history as the Huskies moved into their 21st consecutive NCAA regional semifinal with a 91-52 rout of Saint Joseph’s on Tuesday night.
Mosqueda-Lewis had 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists to lead five players in double figures for the top ranked Huskies (36-0), who won their 42nd consecutive game.
Breanna Stewart added 21 points and 11 rebounds, and Bria Hartley also chipped in 20 points for the defending national champions, who are trying to win a record ninth NCAA Tournament.
Erin Shields and Sarah Fairbanks each had 12 points to lead Saint Joseph’s, which finished the year at 23-10. Natasha Cloud had 10 and six assists for the Hawks.
UConn will face 12th-seeded BYU in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Saturday. The Cougars upset Nebraska in the second round, sparing the Huskies a date with the Cornhuskers on their home court.
Mosqueda-Lewis connected on eight of her 14 shots, and was 3 of 5 from three-point range.
Stefanie Dolson added 17 points and six rebounds. She had UConn’s other triple-double this season, scoring 26 points, grabbing 13 rebounds and dishing out 11 assists in a victory over Oregon in November.
Dolson scored off the opening tip and UConn never trailed. A pair of three-pointers from Jefferson and Mosqueda-Lewis made it 8-0 and forced coach Cindy Griffin to use her first timeout less than two minutes into the game.
Fairbanks ended the opening 10-0 UConn run with a layup to get the Hawks on the board.
The Huskies hit five of their first six shots from behind the arc. Moriah Jefferson gave the Huskies their first 20-point lead at 36-16 with an old-fashioned three-point play on a drive to the basket.
The Huskies shot 56 percent from the floor, and held Saint Joe’s to 35 percent.
TEXAS A&M 85, JAMES MADISON 69
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Courtney Williams scored 23 points and Karla Gilbert added 20 points with 15 rebounds to help Texas A&M to a victory over James Madison in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
The victory sends the third-seeded Aggies (26-8) to the round of 16 for the sixth time and their first since 2012. They missed reaching the third round last season after losing to Nebraska at home in this round.
The Aggies used an 8-2 run to builda 10-point lead early in the second half and answered each time James Madison (29-6) cut the advantage. The Dukes got within seven points with about seven minutes remaining, but A&M used an 8-0 run with four points from Gilbert to make it 81-66.
Kirby Burkholder led 11th-seeded James Madison with 20 points and 10 rebounds, but had to sit out for a chunk of the second half with foul trouble. She fouled out with 1:43 remaining.
LOUISVILLE REGIONAL
Maryland squeezes by
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Alyssa Thomas scored all 16 of her points in the second half, and Maryland squeezed past cold-shooting Texas to reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA women’s tournament for the third consecutive year.
The fourth-seeded Terrapins (26-6) next face Tennessee, the No. 1 seed in the Louisville Regional. Maryland is 23-8 in the tournament under coach Brenda Frese and has reached the round of 16 in six of her 12 seasons at the helm.
Texas trailed by 11 points with 9:24 left, but an 8-0 run cut the deficit to 65-64 with 43 seconds left. After Maryland’s 16th turnover of the game, Chassidy Fussell missed a three-point try and Maryland’s Laurin Mincy made two free throws for a three-point lead.
Nekia Jones then bounced a three-point try off the rim for the Longhorns, and Thomas clinched the victory by sinking two foul shots with 8 seconds to go.
LSU 76, WEST VIRGINIA 67
BATON ROUGE, La. - Danielle Ballard had 22 points and 15 rebounds, and seventh-seeded LSU overcame a late seven-point deficit, as well as foul trouble, to upset No. 2 seed West Virginia.
Playing the last 12 minutes with four fouls, Shanece McKiney had 13 points, seven rebounds and five blocks, while DaShawn Harden added 12 points forLSU (21-12), which advanced to the Sweet 16 for a second consecutive season - both times with a second-round upset on its home court.
Holding a seven-point lead 5:05 left, West Virginia was on the verge of winning the first second-round NCAA game in program history, but LSU went on a 16-2 run. Asya Bussie had 21 points and Bria Holmes 12 for West Virginia (30-5), which fell to 0-8 all time in second-round games.
LSU appeared to be on its heels when Bussie’s free throw made it 63-56 and capped a stretch in which WVU scored 13 of 15 points at the foul line.
LOUISVILLE 83, IOWA 53
IOWA CITY, Iowa - Shoni Schimmel had 26 points, seven assists and five steals to help Louisville thump host Iowa to earn their fifth trip to the Sweet Sixteen under coach Jeff Walz.
Antonita Slaughter added 17 points on five threes for the third-seeded Cardinals (32-4), who advanced to Sunday’s regional semifinal at home against No. 7 seed LSU.
Louisville jumped out to a 17-point halftime lead and stretched its edge to 47-23 just 90 seconds into the second half. The Cardinals shot 53 percent, forced 19 turnovers and led by as many as 38 points.
Freshman Ally Disterhoft had 15 points for Iowa (27-9), which finished just 1 of 16 from three-point range.
STANFORD REGIONAL Lucas, Taylor lead Lions
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Maggie Lucas and Dara Taylor each scored 22 points to send Penn State into the Sweet 16 with a victory over Florida.
The third-seeded Lady Lions (24-7) will play at No. 2 Stanford (30-3) on Sunday.
Lucas, the two-time Big Ten player of the year, surpassed the 2,500 career-point milestone and led the Lady Lions to the NCAA tournament regional semifinal for the second time in three seasons.
Kayla Lewis led the 11th-seeeded Gators (20-13) with 20 points and nine rebounds. Jaterra Bonds scored 14.
NORTH CAROLINA 62, MICHIGAN STATE 53
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Freshman Diamond DeShields had 24 points and a season-high 12 rebounds to help North Carolina beat Michigan State in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Fellow rookie Allisha Gray added 10 points for the fourth-seeded Tar Heels (26-9), who led by nine at halftime then dominated the opening minutes of the second half to turn the game into a rout. North Carolina ran off 14 consecutive points to blow the game open, with DeShields scoring twice during that flurry to build a 57-31 lead with 11½ minutes left that allowed the Tar Heels to coast to the Stanford Regional’s round of 16.
The Tar Heels pressured the fifth-seeded Spartans (23-10) and turned the game into the up-and-down pace they wanted. They finished with a 17-4 edge in fast break points and 15 points off turnovers in a huge improvement from their first round struggles against Tenn.-Martin.
SOUTH CAROLINA 78, OREGON STATE 69
SEATTLE - Aleighsa Welch, Tiffany Mitchell and South Carolina made certain there was no second-round upset this time for the Gamecocks.
Welch had 21 points and 11 rebounds, Mitchell 20 points and 10 boards, and top-seeded South Carolina used its size and athleticism to overwhelm No. 9 seed Oregon State.
A year after getting upset by a 12 seed in the second-round of the tournament, the Gamecocks are headed to the Sweet 16 for the second time in three years under coach Dawn Staley. South Carolina (29-4) will face No. 4 seed North Carolina in the Stanford Region semifinals on Sunday. The Gamecocks lost to the Tar Heels 74-66 in December.
Welch’s quickness around the rim had the Beavers flustered. Whether she was following up misses or getting open for her own shot, Oregon State struggled to slow the junior forward. Welch made 8 of 11 shots and had six offensive rebounds.
Jamie Weisner led Oregon State (24-11) with 21 points, including five three-pointers, before fouling out. Gabriella Hanson added 16 points.
Sports, Pages 23 on 03/26/2014