Duke women survive scare, Miami pulls off upset
DURHAM, N.C. — Rebecca Greenwell hit a 3-pointer with 14.9 seconds left to lift Duke past Albany 54-52 on Friday in the first round of the Spokane Region.
The redshirt freshman finished with 20 points for the fourth-seeded Blue Devils (22-10). They overcame a season-worst 27 turnovers, and have won their NCAA Tournament opener in each of their 22 appearances.
Imani Tate had 17 points and Shereesha Richards added 12 for the Great Danes (24-9), who were trying to become just the second No. 13 seed to win a game in the tournament and the first since Marist in 2012.
SPOKANE REGIONAL
Mississippi State 57, Tulane 47
DURHAM, N.C. — Breanna Richardson scored 15 points and Mississippi State beat Tulane.
Morgan William added 14 points for the fifth-seeded Bulldogs (27-6). They shot 48 percent in the second half and advanced to a second-round matchup with host Duke, the fourth seed, on Sunday.
Oregon State 74, South Dakota State 62
CORVALLIS, Ore. — Sydney Wiese scored 23 points and Ruth Hamblin scored 10 of her 17 points during a key second-half run to lead third-seeded Oregon State past South Dakota State.
Oregon State (27-4) trailed by seven points in the first half, and four early in the second half before taking control of its first home game in the NCAA Tournament.
Miami 86, Washington 80
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Sophomore Adrienne Motley scored 30 points and 11th-seeded Miami beat No. 6 Washington.
Jessica Thomas had 19 points and Michelle Woods added 17 for the Hurricanes (20-12), who pulled off the upset in part by shooting 7 of 12 from 3-point range.
Iowa 75, American 67
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Ally Disterhoft scored 18 points, freshman Whitney Jennings had 16 and third-seeded Iowa held off American.
Melissa Dixon had 15 points with four 3s for the Hawkeyes (25-7), who will host 11th-seeded Miami in the second round on Sunday.
Baylor 77, Northwestern St. 36
WACO, Texas — Nina Davis scored 17 points and Baylor won at home again in the NCAA Tournament, advancing with a first-round victory over Northwestern State.
The Big 12 champion Lady Bears (31-3), the No. 2 seed in the Oklahoma City Regional, took control with an early 14-2 run in which Davis and Khadijah Cave each had six points to break a 7-7 tie and go ahead to stay.
DePaul 79, Minnesota 72
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Megan Podkowa scored 23 points and No. 9 seed DePaul used a 22-4 second half run to come from behind and beat eighth-seeded Minnesota.
The Blue Demons (27-7) missed 20 of their first 22 3-pointers, but DePaul’s dormant perimeter game suddenly came to life five minutes into the second half when Podkowa hit consecutive 3-pointers to spark the long run.
Arkansas 57, Northwestern 55
WACO, Texas — Jessica Jackson scored 14 points, including the tiebreaking free throw with 30 seconds left as Arkansas overcame a 13-point deficit to beat Northwestern.
The free throw by Jackson made it 56-55, giving the Razorbacks (18-13) their first lead in the second half. They overcame three consecutive missed free throws after that, including Jackson’s miss on the second attempt that Melissa Wolff rebounded.
Ashley Deary and Alex Cohen each had 13 points for No. 7 seed Northwestern (23-9), which was in its first NCAA Tournament since 1997.
ALBANY REGIONAL
Dayton 78, Iowa State 66
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Ally Malott had 18 points and 12 rebounds to help seventh-seeded Dayton beat No. 10 Iowa State.
Nicole Kidd Blaskowski’s 3-pointer cut Iowa State’s 17-point deficit to seven with 2:32 remaining. But that was as close as the Cyclones would come before succumbing to Dayton. Iowa State also had nine of its 12 turnovers in the second half.
Kentucky 97, Tennessee State 52
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Linnae Harper scored 16 points to lead No. 2 seed Kentucky to a win over Tennessee State.
The Wildcats (24-9) advance to the second round of the Albany Regional and will host Dayton on Sunday. The Flyers (26-6) defeated Iowa State 78-66 in the first game of the doubleheader.
Texas 66, Western Kentucky 64
BERKELEY, Calif. — Brooke McCarty made two free throws for Texas with 20.8 seconds left and Alexis Govan missed a potential winning 3-pointer for Western Kentucky in the final seconds, sending the fifth-seeded Longhorns to a victory.
Imani McGee-Stafford had 24 points and 14 rebounds as sloppy Texas overcame 19 turnovers.
GREENSBORO REGIONAL
South Carolina 81, Savannah St. 48
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A’ja Wilson scored 15 points and Alaina Coates and Aleighsa Welch had 12 points each as top-seeded South Carolina defeated Savannah State to win its first NCAA Tournament home game in 13 years.
