Spokane Regional roundup: Bashaara Graves, Vols outlast Boise State in first round

Tennessee’s close call in its NCAA tournament opener left Volunteers coach Holly Warlick wanting to double-check Boise State’s record.

“I just told their coach, ‘I don’t know how you lost 10 games,’ ” Warlick said Saturday after the host Vols outlasted Boise State 71-60 in Knoxville, Tennessee. “That was a great team, a great effort.”

Bashaara Graves scored a career-high 24 points as Tennessee (28-5) pulled away after creating some nervous moments for the partisan Thompson-Boling Arena crowd. Tennessee, the No. 2 seed in the region, advances to a second-round game Monday with Pittsburgh, which beat Chattanooga.

The Vols were clinging to a 63-58 lead after Boise State’s Camille Redmon made the front end of a one-and-one with 2:51 remaining. But Redmon missed her second free throw and Tennessee’s Ariel Massengale sank a 3-pointer 13 seconds later to spark a game-clinching 8-0 run.

“I’m satisfied we got the ‘W,’ but we could do much better,” Graves said. “Our 1-on-1 defense has got to be tight right now. This is crunch time.”

Tennessee withstood an exceptional performance from Brooke Pahukoa, who scored 22 points for the 15th-seeded Broncos (22-11).

(10) Pittsburgh 51, (7) Chattanooga 40: Stasha Carey scored 16 points and pulled down 13 rebounds as the Panthers defeated the Mocs in Knoxville, snapping Chattanooga’s 25-game winning streak.

The Mocs (29-4) shot a season-low 26.2 percent (17 of 65) to fall for the first time since Dec. 1. The victory continued a surprising season for Pittsburgh (20-11), which was picked to finish last in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Jasmine Joyner had 10 points and nine rebounds for Chattanooga before fouling out. Brianna Kiesel had 13 points for Pittsburgh.

(8) Princeton 80, (9) Green Bay 70: After trailing at halftime, the Tigers came back to improve to 31-0 this season and win a women’s NCAA tournament game for the first time in school history, beating the Phoenix in College Park, Maryland, behind Michelle Miller’s 20 points and Annie Tarakchian’s 19.

Mehryn Kraker led Green Bay (28-5) with 21 points. The Phoenix led 35-34 at halftime, but Princeton took control with a 15-3 run that gave it a 60-48 edge with about 9 minutes left.

(1) Maryland 75, (16) New Mexico State 57: Brionna Jones dominated the inside on both ends of the court, getting 22 points and 12 rebounds to carry the host Terrapins past the Aggies in College Park.

Maryland (31-2) won its school-record 25th straight game. Brianna Freeman scored 15 for NMSU (22-8).