Oregon State’s Ot Work Pays Off

Oregon State finally woke up while Tennessee State wore down in overtime at Bowling Green, Ky.

Tanja Kospic scored seven of her 25 points in overtime to lead No. 21 Oregon State to an 88-75 victory Friday night in the first round of the women’s NCAA tournament Mideast Regional.

“It’s hard to play 40 minutes of intense basketball and then maintain that for another 5 minutes. We just had a slight wear down in overtime,” said Tennessee State coach Teresa Phillips, whose team is 22-7.

“It’s always tough to play the first game in the NCAA, so we are very happy to win,” said Oregon State coach Aki Hill. “I think it took us the extra time to finally settle down and play our game.”

Oregon State (21-7) shot 85 percent in the extra period, to just 23 percent for Tennessee State.

Mideast Regional

With the score tied at 71 in the extra period, Kospic had her seven points in a 13-2 run that gave Oregon State an 84-73 lead with 42 seconds left at Bowling Green.

The Beavers (21-7) led for most of the contest and took their largest lead at 58-49 on a layup by Kristina Lelas with 12:50 to play.

Also at Bowling Green, Gwen Doyle scored 17 points to lead five players in double figures as No. 9 Western Kentucky beat Toledo 77-63.

Fourth-seeded Western (27-3) led by 11 at halftime, but the 13th-seeded Rockets (24-7) trimmed the lead to 47-41 on a 3-pointer by Denise Pickenpaugh with 14:21 remaining.

Midwest Regional

At Athens, Ga., La’Keshia Frett scored 22 points and Tracy Henderson added 16 points and 13 rebounds, leading No. 12 Georgia to an 81-64 victory over Indiana.

Lisa Furlin led Indiana (19-10) with 20 points and Shirley Bryant added 18.

Georgia (25-4) took the lead for good 44-42 on Rachel Powell’s 3-point basket with 30 seconds left in the first half. The basket started a 21-3 run in which Frett, Henderson and Saudia Roundtree each scored four points as Georgia built a 62-45 lead with 14:17 to play.

In the first game at Athens, Leatrice Scott’s two free throws with 3.2 seconds left gave 11th-seeded Louisville a 67-65 victory over sixth-seeded Oregon.

The Cardinals (25-7) overcame a 10-point first-half deficit and then squandered a 10-point lead midway through the second half. Oregon (18-10) failed to get off a shot in the final 3 seconds.

Scott led Louisville with 21 points, Kristin Mattox had 19 and Marla Inman 17, with Inman hitting her first five 3-point shots and Mattox adding four from long range.

Arianne Boyer led Oreogn’s Ducks with 19 points and 12 rebounds.

At State College, Pa., Angie Potthoff scored 16 points and No. 7 Penn State was never challenged in a 75-62 victory over Jackson State (22-7).

The Lady Lions (26-4) scored the first 12 points of the game as Shelby Thayer hit two wide-open 3-pointers.

Point guard Tina Nicholson sliced up the Jackson State defense with her passing, as the Lady Lions built a 35-12 lead. Nicholson had eight assists in the first half and Thayer and Potthoff were the main beneficiaries.

Also at State College, Jennifer Howard scored 17 points and led a 3-point barrage as North Carolina State defeated Marquette 77-62.

In the first half, the seventh-seeded Wolfpack (20-9) made 9 of 11 3-pointers against Marquette’s tight 2-3 zone. Howard hit her fourth 3-pointer without a miss with 35 seconds left in the half, putting N.C. State up 43-29 at the break. Marquette finished at 19-12.

At Washington, Darlene Saar scored 20 of her team-high 34 points in the first half as George Washington defeated DePaul 87-79.

After falling behind by as many as seven points early in the contest, George Washington (25-5) rallied late in the first half, going on a 17-6 run to take a 46-42 lead into the intermission.

The lead grew to 60-44 with 15:45 remaining before the Blue Demons (20-9) crept back into contention, outscoring GW 12-3 to pull within 80-77 on a 3-pointer by Becky Blacharczyk with 2:10 left to play.

In the other game, Julie Rittgers scored nine of her 17 points in overtime as Drake (25-5) rallied for an 87-81 triumph over Mississippi (21-8).

West Regional

At Nashville, Tenn., Keeta Matthews hit two free throws with 7.3 seconds left as Memphis held off Southern Cal’s spirited rally for a 74-72 win.

The Lady Tigers (22-7) blew a fivepoint lead with less than 40 seconds left.

Kitty Allen scored 28 points to lead Memphis. Southern Cal (18-10) tied the game 65-65 on a basket by Tina Thompson, who had 22 points and 15 rebounds, with 2:26 to play.

Allen hit a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer to put Memphis up 70-65 with 1:26 left.

In the late game, Sheri Sam led four Vanderbilt players in double figures with 19 points and the top-seeded Commodores routed Northern Illinois 90-44.

Vanderbilt (27-6) spotted 16th-seeded Northern Illinois (17-14) the first basket and then scored the next 19 points.

It was 43-16 at the half as Northern Illinois shot just 21 percent.