March 24, 2009

Florida State Falls to Arizona State in NCAA Second Round

Arizona State senior Briann January returned from an ankle injury to give her team a spark, and the Sun Devils beat Florida State 63-58 on Monday night to advance to the NCAA regional semifinals.

Danielle Orsillo's 3-pointer with 32 seconds remaining gave the Sun Devils a 57-54 lead. Following Orsillo's 3, Mara Freshour missed a 3-point attempt for third-seeded Florida State with 22 seconds remaining. January, Kate Engelbrecht and Orsillo each added two free throws for the Sun Devils in the final 20 seconds to protect the lead.

Freshour led Florida State (26-8) with 15 points. Courtney Ward added 12 points.

North Carolina Falls to Purdue

Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton and Brittany Rayburn led five Boilermakers in double digits with 18 points apiece, and sixth-seeded Purdue beat third-seeded North Carolina 85-70 Monday night in the second round of the Oklahoma City Regional after losing to the Tar Heels in two of the past three NCAA tournaments.

North Carolina (28-7) had dominated the series between these teams coming in and had won the past three overall. The Tar Heels failed to reach the regional semifinals for the first time in five years.

Virginia Falls to Cal in NCAA Second Round, 99-73

The fifth-seeded Virginia women's basketball team fell to fourth-seeded California, 99-73, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Monday night. Monica Wright led the Cavaliers with 26 points. Virginia finished its season with a record of 24-10.

Ashley Walker scored 20 of her career-high-tying 32 points in the first half, sending the Golden Bears to the NCAA tournament's final 16 for the first time in school history.

Devanei Hampton had 22 points and 11 rebounds and junior Alexis Gray-Lawson added 22 points for the fourth-seeded Bears (27-6), who advanced to the Trenton Regional semifinals Sunday in New Jersey. They'll play the winner of Tuesday's game between Connecticut and Florida.

The loss denied Hall of Fame coach Debbie Ryan her 700th career victory. Wright fouled out with 2:23 remaining.