DAYTON 82, LOUISVILLE 66
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Andrea Hoover scored 26 points and seventh-seeded Dayton continued its improbable run in the NCAA Women's Tournament with an 82-66 victory over third-seeded Louisville in the regional semifinals Saturday.
Amber Deane added 15 points and Jodie Cornelie-Sigmundova had 12 and 11 rebounds for the Flyers, who won for the 11th time in the past 12 games.
The Flyers become just the fourth No. 7 seed to advance to a region final since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1994 and the first since Mississippi in 2007.
Myisha Hines-Allen scored all 14 of her points in the second half to lead Louisville (27-7).
Dayton led by a point at the half. But a three-pointer by Deane capped an 11-2 run early in the second half that pushed the lead to double digits, and the Flyers never trailed after intermission.
Dayton will face No. 1 UConn, which routed Texas 105-54, on Monday night. The Flyers shot 51 percent from the floor and made 26 of 30 free throws. Hoover was 15 of 15 from the line.
Coach Jim Jabir ran towards the stands after the final horn sounded, giving praise to the Dayton fans, one of whom shouted, "Who else from Kentucky can we beat?" as the final seconds wound down.
Dayton upset second-seed Kentucky 99-94 in the second round.
The Flyers made 11 three-pointers against the Wildcats. They were just 2 of 10 from behind the arc Saturday, but outscored the Cardinals 42-34 in the lane.
Louisville was just 1 of 15 from three-point range and shot just 31.5 percent for the game.
Jude Schimmel, the Cardinals' senior floor leader, hit just four of her 23 shots and finished with 11 points.
Hines-Allen picked up two fouls in the game's first two minutes and sat until intermission. She picked up her fourth foul with more than 8 minutes left and the Cardinals trailing just 58-53.
With Hines-Allen out of the game, the Flyers went on a 10-0 run to push the lead to 15 points.
Dayton capitalized on Hines-Allen's early foul trouble by going inside to Cornelie-Sigmundova. The 6-4 center had eight first-half points, and Dayton used a 13-0 run to turn an 18-11 deficit into 24-18 lead.
But the Flyers also committed 14 first-half turnovers. They had just five in the second half.
Louisville, despite shooting just 31 percent from the floor took a 29-28 lead on a layup by Bria Smith and trailed just 30-29 at the half after Cornelie-Sigmundova responded on the other end.
The Flyers improved to 111-10 over their past 121 games when scoring more than 70 points and 24-1 this season.
Sports on 03/29/2015