DeShields leads Tennessee's charge

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- It's been an up-and-down season for Tennessee, so it figured the Lady Vols would start their NCAA Tournament run in a similar fashion.

Diamond DeShields scored 24 points to lead fifth-seeded Tennessee to a 66-57 first round victory over Dayton on Saturday.

The Lady Vols (20-11) used a strong second half to pull away from the 12th-seeded Flyers (22-10), shooting 52 percent after halftime to earn the victory. DeShields and Mercedes Russell wouldn't let the Flyers mount a comeback. They scored 23 of Tennessee's 37 points in the second half to lead the way.

For DeShields, the daughter of former professional baseball player Delino DeShields, she said the second half play came from what she learned from watching her father and brother play ball.

"When you're on the big stage, you can't shy away from that," said DeShields, who made 8-of-14 shots.

Tennessee shot 70 percent in the third, with DeShields making two jumpers 26 seconds apart that gave the Lady Vols a 46-41 lead with 4:09 left. Dayton never got any closer the rest of the way.

"You got to credit her," Dayton Coach Shauna Green said. "I thought our defense was good, and we contested [those shots] the way we wanted to contest it. She rises up high, and she made plays."

Tennessee Coach Holly Warlick said her team has had moments this season where the team has checked out mentally in games. However, that wasn't the case Saturday.

"I was just pleased with how they played and how they finished the game," she said. "It's a product of how we've been practicing."

Dayton took the lead in the opening seconds of the third quarter, on an Alex Harris layup. However, the Flyers scored three points over the last six minutes of the quarter as Tennessee led 51-42 after three.

Russell and Nunn finished with 14 each.

Harris and JaVonna Layfield led the Flyers with 10 points each. Harris also grabbed 14 rebounds.

LOUISVILLE 82,

TENN.-CHATTANOOGA 62

Asia Durr scored 27 points to lead fourth-seeded Louisville over Tennessee-Chattanooga.

The Cardinals (28-7) didn't have anyone score in double figures in their 63-47 victory on Nov. 21. On Saturday, they had four who did and were led by their sophomore guard.

Myisha Hines-Allen added 16 points and 12 rebounds while Jazmine Jones came off the bench to get 14. Those three fueled an offense that saw the Cardinals shoot a season-best 61 percent. Louisville also had a season-best 28 assists, with Mariya Moore dishing out 10. Hines-Allen and Briahanna Jackson added five each.

Lakelyn Bouldin led the Mocs (21-11) with 16 points.

BAYLOR 119,

TEXAS SOUTHERN 30

WACO, Texas -- Kalani Brown scored 21 points and top-seeded Baylor overwhelmed much smaller Texas Southern in the most lopsided women's NCAA Tournament game ever.

The Lady Bears (31-3) were ahead 22-0 after Alexis Jones, on her first shot in her first game since Feb. 20, hit a three-pointer just more than six minutes into the game.

The 79-point margin broke the previous record 74-point victory by Tennessee over North Carolina A&T (111-37) in 1994.

Baylor's 119 points were the most ever scored in regulation of a women's NCAA Tournament game, surpassing the previous record 116. Ohio State scored 116 in a 1998 game, and UConn matched twice, including earlier Saturday.

Texas Southern (23-10) made the NCAA Tournament for the first time after win the SWAC Tournament.

California 55, LSU 52

Asha Thomas scored 18 points and made a tiebreaking three-pointer with 1:19 left to end a long California scoring drought, and the Bears held on for a victory over LSU.

California (20-13) had gone 41/2 minutes without scoring until Thomas made her sixth three of the game, from the right corner just in front of the Bears bench for a 53-50 lead.

Chloe Jackson made a jumper for LSU with 59 seconds left, and the Tigers (20-12) had another chance after Cal was unable to get the ball inbounded or a timeout called before a 5-second violation with 32 seconds left.

LSU's Alexis Hyder was tripped when fouled with 17 seconds left, but the Tigers weren't in the bonus and had to inbound the ball again. Hyder was then blocked by Kristine Anigwe, and a scramble for the ball led to a tie-up with California having possession.

Anigwe had 15 points for the Bears. She made all seven of her free-throw attempts, including two with 6 seconds left.

Raigyne Moncrief's three-pointer at the buzzer for LSU ricocheted off the side of the rim.

OKLAHOMA 75,

GONZAGA 62

SEATTLE -- Vionise Pierre-Louis had 17 points, 9 rebounds and 9 blocked shots and No. 6 seed Oklahoma used its early hot shooting to hold off 11th-seeded Gonzaga.

Pierre-Louis controlled the interior throughout, making sure the Sooners' torrid shooting from behind the three-point line in the first quarter withstood all of Gonzaga's charges. The Sooners (23-9) led by as many as 15 and watched Gonzaga (26-7) trim the deficit to five in the fourth quarter before holding on in the final minutes.

Laura Stockton led Gonzaga with 14 points and Jill Barta added 13.

Washington 91,

Montana State 63

SEATTLE -- Kelsey Plum scored 17 of her 29 points in the second half, Chantel Osahor had her 28th double-double of the season with 16 points and 19 rebounds, and No. 3 seed Washington pulled away in the second half for a victory over 14th-seeded Montana State.

Plum, the all-time leading scorer in NCAA history, didn't quite match the output of her last game on the Huskies home court when she scored a school-record 57 points to become the premier scorer in NCAA history. Against the Bobcats, Plum settled for going to the rim, hitting 10 of 20 shots, but just one three-pointer. Plum is now 21 points shy of breaking Jackie Stiles' record of 1,062 points in a single season.

Perhaps more impressive than Plum was the performance of Montana State's Peyton Ferris, who tied her career-high with 33 points in her final college game and kept the Bobcats hanging around into the third quarter before Washington pulled away.

Sports on 03/19/2017

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