Lobos fall short

West Virginia couldn’t take the partisan Pit crowd out of the game. The Mountaineers still managed to knock the hometown New Mexico Lobos out of the NCAA tournament.

Chakhia Cole scored 22 points, including the game-winning jumper with 17.5 seconds left, as the No. 5 seeded Mountaineers (25-7) eked out a 61-60 win over the Lobos in the first round of the NCAA tournament Saturday in Albuquerque, N.M.

New Mexico (20-13), seeded 12th, had a last-second chance to spring the upset, but a bank shot by Brandi Kimble was too hard and Dionne Marsh’s offensive rebound putback came up short.

Playing in front of a boisterous crowd of more than 12,000 fans at The Pit, the Mountaineers overcame a late scoring drought and a technical foul on point guard Ashley Powell.

Powell was whistled after going down with Kimble in a battle for a loose ball. New Mexico’s Amy Beggin hit two free throws off the technical to give New Mexico a 55-52 lead with 2:35 left.

Cole tied it with a 3-pointer with 2:02 left. It was the Mountaineers’ first points since the 7:14 mark.

Marsh put the Lobos back in front with two free throws with 1:40 remaining. Cole forced another tie 17 seconds later with two free throws.

Olayinka Sanni, the Mountaineers leading scorer who sat out most of the first half in foul trouble, made it 59-57 on a layup, but New Mexico’s Angela Hartill, a Riverside High School graduate, hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 31.6 seconds left for the Lobos’ final lead.

Baylor 88, Fresno State 67: Baylor’s imposing frontline was the perfect complement for the Bears’ biggest weapon: point guard Angela Tisdale.

The 5-foot-7 Tisdale scored 26 points and her taller teammates dominated on the boards in Baylor’s victory over the Bulldogs in Albuquerque.

Baylor (25-6), the 2005 national champion, never trailed against the Bulldogs (22-11), who were first- and short-time visitors to the tournament.

Senior guard Tierre Wilson scored 23 points to lead Fresno State.

Pittsburgh 63, Wyoming 53: Pitt survived in The Pit.

Shavonte Zellous scored 21 points, Sophronia Sallard had 15 and Mallorie Winn hit a huge 3-pointer with 2:27 remaining to help the Panthers beat the Cowgirls in Albuquerque.

The No. 6 seeded Panthers (23-10) will meet No. 3 Baylor in the second round.

Justyna Podziemska led the No. 11 seeded Cowgirls (24-7) with 23 points on 8-of-17 shooting.

Vanderbilt 75, Montana 47: Freshman Hannah Tuomi scored 14 points, Christina Wirth added 13 and Liz Sherwood had 12 to help the Commodores (24-8) crush the overmatched Grizzlies (25-7).

Vanderbilt advanced to play No. 5 West Virginia in the second round.

The Grizzlies scored a season low and had more turnovers (21) than field goals (15).

Stanford 85, Cleveland State 47: Jayne Appel dominated tournament first-timer Cleveland State, scoring 29 of her career-high 33 points in the first half to help the second-seeded Cardinal roll to a victory over the Vikings.

Appel shot 14 for 19 and pulled down 12 rebounds in 25 minutes. The Cardinal (31-3) won their 19th straight game.

Kailey Klein had 16 points, five rebounds and four assists to pace the Vikings (19-14).

UTEP 92, Western Kentucky 60: Natasha Lacy had 19 points and seven steals, Jareica Hughes added 17 points and the Miners (28-3) won in their NCAA tournament debut, beating the Hilltoppers (26-8) in Stanford, Calif.

UTEP advances to play Stanford.

Crystal Kelly ended her brilliant career for Western Kentucky with 17 points, moving into 12th place in NCAA history with 2,803 total points.