KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Bashaara Graves scored 21 points and had 14 rebounds as Tennessee withstood a late rally to defeat Pittsburgh 77-67 in an NCAA Tournament second-round game Monday night.
The second-seeded Lady Volunteers (29-5) improved to 56-0 in NCAA Tournament home games and advanced to a Spokane Region semifinal Saturday against No. 11 seed Gonzaga (26-7).
Tennessee is the only program to appear in all 34 NCAA Tournaments and has reached the regional semifinals every year but 2009, when it lost to Ball State in the opening round.
After trailing by 14 with 4 ½ minutes left, Pittsburgh (20-12) cut the lead to 69-65 on Brianna Kiesel's three-point play with 37.8 seconds remaining. Ariel Massengale went 6 of 6 on free throws and made a steal in the final 37 seconds to seal Tennessee's victory.
Kiesel had a career-high 32 points for the 10th-seeded Panthers, who never led. The senior guard scored 24 points in the second half of her final college game.
The Lady Vols won in part because one player from each team didn't come close to repeating her first-round performance.
Burdick had gone scoreless Saturday in a 72-61 victory over Boise State, though she did have 11 rebounds and five assists. She made the game's first basket Monday and finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Pittsburgh's Stasha Carey, who had 16 points and 13 rebounds in a 51-40 opening-round triumph over Chattanooga, had no points and three rebounds against Tennessee.
Massengale had 16 points and Andraya Carter added 10 for Tennessee, which outrebounded Pittsburgh 46-29. Yacine Diop had 18 points and nine rebounds for Pittsburgh.
Tennessee went on an 11-0 run to take an early 15-4 lead and owned a 35-23 advantage at halftime.
Pittsburgh wouldn't go away. Kiesel made sure of it.
Kiesel scored seven points during a 9-0 run to open the second half, including a driving layup that cut Tennessee's lead to 35-32 with 17:32 left. After Tennessee regained control and built a 14-point lead, Kiesel led one more rally.
But the Panthers couldn't come all the way back.
MARYLAND 85, PRINCETON 70
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Laurin Mincy scored 27 points, and top-seeded Maryland used a second-half blitz to knock off previously unbeaten Princeton and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the women's NCAA Tournament.
After leading by only 42-38 at the break, the Terrapins used a 17-2 run immediately after halftime to turn a surprisingly tight game into a rout.
The Terrapins (32-2) will bring a 26-game winning streak into a matchup with Duke on Saturday in Spokane, Wash. Maryland and Duke were longtime rivals in the Atlantic Coast Conference before the Terps moved to the Big Ten this season.
Lexie Brown scored 23 for the Terrapins, who will be making their fourth consecutive trip to the Sweet 16. Maryland reached the Final Four last year.
Eighth-seeded Princeton (31-1) was coming off the program's first victory in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday against Wisconsin-Green Bay. The Ivy League champions hoped to make a statement against one of the nation's elite teams, and for a half, the Tigers hung right in there with the Big Ten titlists.
Blake Dietrick led Princeton with 26 points and Vanessa Smith added 15.
Princeton made 10 of its first 13 field-goal tries and led 28-24.
Outscoring Maryland 28-6 in the paint while holding center Brionna Jones without a point in the first half, Princeton had several leads before falling behind at the break. Jones had 22 points and 12 rebounds in the tournament opener against New Mexico State, but she was not a factor in this one until the second half.
With Jones struggling against the suffocating coverage of Alex Wheatley, the Terps opted to fire from the outside before halftime. Despite connecting on five three-pointers, Maryland was outrebounded 15-12 and allowed the Tigers to shoot at a 59 percent clip.
In the second half, however, Maryland proved to be too fast, too big and, most importantly, too talented.
After the teams exchanged baskets, Mincy scored in the lane and Jones sank two free throws. Jones and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough then made successive baskets before Mincy drilled a three-pointer. Field goals by Brown and Malina Howard completed the run, making it 59-40 with just under 14 minutes to play.
Jones finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Mincy, in her final home game, went 9 for 11 from field, including 6 for 7 from three-point range.
Sports on 03/24/2015