Tennessee at Home Is Virtually a Sure Thing

As if it was needed, Tennessee had the home-court advantage for its first-round East Regional game in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

Make no mistake. It is an advantage.

The Volunteers got 18 points in 24 minutes from Latina Davis, who led five double-figures performers in a 97-56 victory over Radford on Saturday night at Knoxville, Tenn.

It was top-seeded Tennessee’s 27th consecutive home-court victory in postseason play. The fourth-ranked Volunteers (27-4) will go after No. 28 on Monday night against Ohio State (21-12), a 97-75 winner over Memphis (20-11).

“All in all, I’m very pleased,” Volunteer Coach Pat Summitt said. “We came out in the second half and increased our defensive intensity. Will our keys for Monday night’s game [against the Buckeyes] change? I don’t think so.”

Tennessee led from the start and had a 47-33 lead at halftime. The Highlanders suffered long scoring droughts and Tennessee took advantage of breakaways to reach its highest scoring total of the season.

Elsewhere in the East, at Norfolk, Va., Mimi Olson and Angela Drake combined for 17 points during a 25-10 second-half run that carried Toledo (25-5) to a 65-53 upset of No. 24 Mississippi (18-11), one of the four schools to appear in as many as 14 of the 15 women’s tournaments. The Rockets will meet second-seeded Old Dominion (28-2), which is ranked sixth and got 18 points from Shonda DeBerry in an 83-66 victory over Holy Cross (23-10).

Danielle Viglione hit seven of eight three-point shots, triggering runs of 18-0 in the first half and 16-0 in the second for Texas (20-8) in a 73-55 victory over Southwest Missouri State (25-5) at Lawrence, Kan., where the Jayhawks (21-9) got 17 points from Charisse Sampson in a 72-57 victory over Middle Tennessee State (24-6).

WEST REGIONAL

Teresa James scored 22 points, including five in the last 31 seconds for Colorado State (26-4), which made its first NCAA tournament appearance a winning one, 66-62, over Nebraska (19-10).

MIDEAST REGIONAL

Jamie Wesley scored 17 points and Cheri Euler scored six of her eight points in overtime for Michigan State (18-10) in a 60-57 victory over Massachusetts (20-10) at Storrs, Conn., where defending national champion, second-ranked and top-seeded Connecticut (31-3) got 17 points apiece from Kasa Wolters and Nykesha Sales in a 94-63 victory over Howard (20-10).

Valerie Gillon fought her way through Florida’s physical defense and scored 28 points, leading 12th-seeded San Francisco (23-7) to a 68-61 upset of the fifth-seeded and 16th-ranked Gators (21-9) at Durham, N.C. Duke (26-6) got 18 points apiece from Jennifer Scanlon and Payton Black in an 85-53 victory over the James Madison Dukes (21-9).

MIDWEST REGIONAL

Kristen Armour, who had hit only two three-point baskets in her previous 11 games, hit two in the final three minutes as Stephen F. Austin (26-3) used long-range shooting for a 67-65 upset of No. 22 Oregon State (19-9) at Clemson, S.C., where 14th-ranked Clemson (23-7) got 20 points from Laura Cottrell in a 79-52 victory over Austin Peay (21-8).

At Ruston, La., freshman reserve Monica Maxwell’s 16 points led four players in double figures as top-ranked Louisiana Tech’s (29-1) reserves outscored its starters in a 98-41 victory over Central Florida (15-14). In the other game, Patricia Nash tied an NCAA tournament first-round women’s record with six three-point goals in leading Southern Mississippi (22-7) to a 74-66 victory over Utah (21-7).