ASU Advances;
Minnesota & Oral Roberts Lose
www.thesundevils.com
24 Mar 2008
COLLEGE PARK, Maryland (AP) Arizona State sophomore Gabby Fage (6.7 mpg) did not see action in the Sun Devils' opening round game of the NCAA Tournament, but her team scored a 61-54 win over Temple University. Sixth-seeded ASU (22-10) will face No. 3 seed Duke, a 78-57 winner over Murray State.
Lauren Lacey scored 14 points and Jill Noe had 12 for the Sun Devils, who have won six of seven and are 16-5 after a lackluster 6-5 start.
"I'm very proud of my team and the effort, coming all the way over here and playing a team of that caliber," Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne said.
Senior guard Ashley Morris led Temple (21-13) with 21 points and Lady Comfort had 11. But no one else on the team reached double figures, and the Owls went 1-for-6 from 3-point range.
"We just have to have better production from other people," Temple coach Dawn Staley said. "Ashley usually does her part, but we need other people to step up. I think everyone just sat around watching her."
Coming into the tournament, the Sun Devils had outscored their opponents by an average of 12 points in the first half over the last six games. Against No. 11 Temple, however, Arizona State sputtered into halftime locked in a tie at 26.
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Oral Roberts Bows Out To Tennessee
LAFAYETTE, Indiana (AP) - Down by only 12 with 18 minutes left in the second half, the Golden Eagles (19-14) couldn't fight off the tough Tennessee defense and five Volunteers in double-digits to fall 94-55 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Junior Jenny Hardin came off the bench to score a team-high 16 points, shooting 2-of-4 from behind the three-point line. The Claremore native tacked on two rebounds, two assists and two steals also.
Junior Rachel Watman was the only other Golden Eagle in double-digits with 15 points, while dishing out six assists. Watman took over the point guard position after junior Mariana Camargo left the game in the early seconds of the game due to an injury. Sophomore Janae Voelker finished the game with nine points, with three three-pointers, and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Tennessee (31-2) was led by Angie Borklund with a team-high 16 points and seven boards and Candace Parker with 14 points after only playing 18 minutes.
In the first half, ORU shot 56.5 percent from field-goal range in the first half, while Tennessee shot 44.4 percent. Turnovers hurt the Golden Eagles with 17 in the first half. But the Golden Eagles were outscored 46-21 in the second half and found themselves with only 22 rebounds to the Lady Volunteers 45.
The game started out a little rough for the Golden Eagles when Camargo chased down the opening tip and slipped on a cheer sign underneath the basket, sending her to the locker room less than five seconds into the game. Full Story
Texas Topples Minnesota
BRIDGEPORT, Connecticut (AP) - Minnesota saw its season end with a 72-55 loss to Texas in the First Round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championships at the Arena at the Harbor Yard in Bridgeport, Conn. on Sunday. The Golden Gophers were led by Emily Fox with 23 points and finish the season with a 20-12 record.
Fox grabbed a steal in Texas’ first possession and swished a pull-up jumper from 15 feet to give Minnesota its only lead of the game at 2-0. The Longhorns (22-12) made eight of their next 11 shots to build a 17-5 lead four minutes later.
The Gophers, making their seventh NCAA Tournament appearance, chipped away at the Texas lead scoring points at the free throw line. Minnesota scored seven straight points, sandwiching a Leslie Knight basket between free throws by Fox and Ashley Ellis-Milan to bring the deficit to three points at 21-18 with 5:03 left in the first half.
Unfortunately, Minnesota misfired on offense the rest of the half. A Brittaney Raven three pointer ignited an 11-0 Texas run to close the half. The Gophers missed five shots and committed three turnovers to limp into halftime on the short end of a 32-18 score. The stat sheet read a miserable 17.5 field goal percentage for Minnesota making just 5-of-28 from the floor. Zoe Harper finished with 4 points and 2 rebounds for Minnesota. Full Story
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