Sports / Womensbasketball

WOMEN’S NCAA TOURNAMENT: Regional recaps

Travis Cordes —
March 27, 2009

RALEIGH REGIONAL (EAST)- North Carolina State University

Elite 8 match up:

No. 1 Maryland Terrapins vs. No. 3 Louisville Cardinals

6 p.m. Monday on ESPN

Louisville first to reach the Elite Eight

No. 3 Louisville Cardinals 56, No. 2 Baylor Bears

While the majority of Cyclone fans in Berkeley were still sleeping, the first Sweet 16 match of the NCAA Tournament kicked off in Raleigh, N.C. After sneaking by their first two opponents by a total of just seven points and nearly becoming the first No. 2 seed in the women’s tournament to lose a first round game, the Lady Bears saw their season come to an end with a 56-39 Louisville victory. The Baylor offensive output was its lowest of the season by 12 points, surpassing their 56-51 loss to Oklahoma earlier this season.

The offensive struggles were mutual for both teams for the majority of the game, as the Bears cut the Louisville lead to 38-37 with just under nine minutes left. Then the Cardinal defense took over, holding the Bears to just two points for the rest of the game.

“We had to come down the floor and make stops,” said Louisville head coach Jeff Walz in the postgame press conference. “That’s where it was 38-37 and we hit a three. Then we had six stops in a row. Our goal all season has been three stops in a row. For us to come up with six stops in a row, that gave us a chance to come down and convert at the offensive end.”

The Cardinals were led by preseason play of the year candidate Angel McCoughtry, who had game-highs with 22 points and 12 rebounds. The senior from Baltimore lead the Big East Conference is scoring this season with 23.3 points per game, and is the all-time leading scorer in Louisville women’s basketball history.

Louisville (32-4), which finished the season second in the Big East behind undefeated UConn, will make their first appearance in the regional finals in school history on Saturday.

First-seeded Maryland survives scare against Vanderbilt, 78-74

No. 1 Maryland Terrapins vs. No. 4 Vanderbilt Commodores

Thanks to a brilliant performance from senior Marissa Coleman, the top seed in the East region rallied from down by as much as 15 to reach the regional final for the second straight year. Maryland (32-4) also beat Vanderbilt in the 1-4 semifinal round game last season in Spokane, Wash.

Vanderbilt jumped out to an early 16-2 lead, but Coleman led a gradual Terrapin comeback by scoring a school record and career-high 42 points and pulling down a game-high 15 rebounds in a game where Maryland didn’t lead until just over two minutes left in the second half. Her accomplishment was also the highest-scoring performance even in a regional semifinal of the Women’s NCAA Tournament.

The ACC champion Terrapins are the only team from their conference still alive in the tournament.

Christina Wirth had 28 for the SEC tournament champion Commodores, who end the season at 26-8. Vanderbilt has now won at one game in the NCAA every year for the past decade, but have never made it past the Elite Eight, where they have been twice.

BERKELEY REGIONAL (WEST) – University of California-Berkeley

Game 1: No. 4 Iowa State Cyclones vs. No. 9 Michigan State Spartans

8 p.m. Saturday on ESPN

Game 2: No. 2 Stanford Cardinal vs. No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes

10:30 p.m. Saturday on ESPN

TRENTON REGIONAL (EAST)

Game 1: No. 1 UConn Huskies (35-0) vs. No. 4 California Golden Bears (27-6)

11:00 a.m. Sunday on ESPN

Game 2: No. 2 Texas A&M Aggies (27-7) vs. No. 6 Arizona State Sun Devils (25-8)

1:30 p.m. Sunday on ESPN

OKLAHOMA CITY REGIONAL (SOUTH)

Game 1: No. 6 Purdue Boilermakers vs. Rutgers Scarlet Knights