Arizona State Catches Up With Wisconsin, 73-70

Cion Carvalho sank four free throws in the final 27.1 seconds as Arizona State rallied to beat Wisconsin, 73-70, Saturday night at Nashville in the first round of the Midwest Regional for the Sun Devils’ first NCAA tournament victory since 1983.

Ninth-seeded Arizona State (25-8) also tied a school record for victories in a season, matching the 1983 team.

The Sun Devils will play No. 1-seeded Vanderbilt on Monday.

Eighth-seeded Wisconsin (19-12) led by as many as 14 points in the first half. The Badgers, who had been ranked as high as No. 5 this season, have not won in the opening round since 1996.

The Sun Devils made only 10 of 33 shots in the first half but sank 19 of 29 (65%) in the second half.

Arizona State had led only after the opening basket until Melody Johnson, playing with three fouls, keyed an 18-8 run that tied the score, 65-65, with four minutes left. Johnson had 10 points in the run and then scored again for a 67-65 lead and put the Sun Devils up, 69-65, with her next field goal.

Carvalho finished with 24 points, Johnson had 18 for Arizona State, and Amanada Levens had 13 of her 14 in the second half. Jessie Stomski led Wisconsin with 19 points.

Arizona State, which had to rally in all three of its Pacific 10 tournament games, received an automatic NCAA bid by virtue of winning the Pac-10 tournament title.

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Vanderbilt 63, Oakland 38-- Chantelle Anderson, a 6-foot-6 All-American, had 28 points and 13 rebounds and top-seeded Vanderbilt (28-6) used its height advantage to overwhelm Oakland (17-14), which was making its first NCAA tournament appearance. Katie Wolfe led Oakland with 16 points.

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Minnesota 71, Nevada Las Vegas 54--Lindsay Whalen scored 18 of her 29 points in the second half to lead fifth-seeded Minnesota (22-7) at Chapel Hill, N.C. Sherry McCracklin led UNLV (23-8) with 11 points.

Minnesota will play North Carolina on Monday.

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North Carolina 85, Harvard 58--Coretta Brown scored 21 of her career-high 28 points in the first half at Chapel Hill, N.C., as fourth-seeded North Carolina (25-8) ended Harvard’s winning streak at 13 games. Raka Cserny led Harvard (22-6) with 16 points.

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Brigham Young 90, Florida 52--Erin Thorn made seven three-point shots and scored 28 points at Ames, Iowa, as 11th-seeded Brigham Young (23-8) won for the first time in five NCAA tournament games. Brandi McCain scored 28 points for sixth-seeded Florida (18-11), which missed 25 of its first 29 shots.

BYU will play Iowa State on Monday.

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Iowa State 72, Temple 57-- Mary Cofield was six for six on three-point shots and scored 20 points to lead third-seeded Iowa State (24-8) at Ames, Iowa.

Temple (20-11), coached by WNBA star Dawn Staley, trailed by four points early in the second half and was down only 46-39 when Stacey Smalls scored on a drive with 12:53 left. Iowa State then began to assert itself with Cofield on the perimeter and the 6-foot-4 Angie Welle inside, going on a run that stretched the lead to 61-44. Welle finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds.

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MIDEAST REGIONAL

Connecticut 86, St. Francis (Pa.) 37--Asjha Jones scored 16 of her 18 points for Connecticut in the first 10 minutes and the top-seeded and top-ranked Huskies (34-0) shot 59% in the first half of the rout at Storrs, Conn.

Connecticut will play Iowa on Monday.

Tonjee Ward had 15 points to lead St. Francis (19-12).

Iowa 69, Virginia 62--Lindsey Meder scored 23 points and Jerica Watson added 18 points and 16 rebounds to lead ninth-seeded Iowa (18-10) at Storrs, Conn. Telisha Quarles scored 17 points for Virginia (17-13).

Old Dominion 68, Georgia 54--Lucienne Berthieu had 24 points to lead seventh-seeded Old Dominion (26-5), which rallied from a nine-point deficit in the first half at West Lafayette, Ind.

Christi Thomas scored 14 points to lead Georgia (19-11). Old Dominion will play Purdue Monday.

Purdue 80, Austin Peay 49-- Kelly Komara had 17 points, six rebounds and six steals as second-seeded Purdue (24-5) charged to a 31-7 lead in the first half at West Lafayette, Ind. Gerlonda Hardin led Austin Peay (19-12) with 19 points and six rebounds.

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EAST REGIONAL

Cincinnati 76, St. Peter’s 63-- Valerie King scored 13 points in overtime and finished with 24 points as sixth-seeded Cincinnati (27-4) won at Columbia, S.C. Felicia Harris had 17 points and seven rebounds for St. Peter’s (25-6), 0-7 in the NCAA tournament.

Cincinnati will play South Carolina on Monday.

South Carolina 69, Liberty 61--Teresa Geter made four late free throws as third-seeded South Carolina (23-6) held off a late rally to win at Columbia, S.C.

South Carolina led, 62-47, with 6:30 left before No. 14 Liberty made one last run, trailing by 65-61 with less than two minutes to go. Liberty (23-8) could get no closer.

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WEST REGIONAL

Oklahoma 84, Hartford 52-- Top-seeded and second-ranked Oklahoma (28-3) made Hartford’s first NCAA tournament appearance a brief one, taking a 29-5 lead en route to victory at Norman, Okla.

Stacey Dales and LaNeishea Caufield scored 13 points each for the Sooners, who forced 22 turnovers by Hartford (16-15), coached by former Connecticut star Jennifer Rizzotti.

Oklahoma plays Villanova on Monday.

Stanford 76, Weber State 51--Nicole Powell had 20 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists as second-seeded Stanford (31-2) took control quickly at Palo Alto.

Stanford will play Tulane on Monday.

Jule Gjertsen had 16 points for Weber State (22-9), which was making its first NCAA tournament appearance.

Tulane 73, Colorado State 69--Gwen Slaughter had 15 points and 14 rebounds as the 10th-seeded Tulane (24-10) held off the Rams (24-7) at Palo Alto.