Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

SportsLink

Louisville upsets to fill Spokane Regional

There will be no rubber match between Gonzaga and Xavier in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament as the second-seeded Muskateers just got smoked down the stretch by seventh-seeded Louisville. Read one.

  By the way, word is more than 8,000 tickets have been sold for the Sweet 16 in Spokane, which means only a couple of thousand left.

The Cardinals (22-12) are headed to the Spokane Regional to face the Bulldogs in the Sweet 16 on Saturday. The other game is top-seeded Stanford and fifth-seeded North Carolina.

Something tells me this might be the first time any region has only had one of the top four seeds. That's something I'll try to find out tomorrow.

Gonzaga earned its first NCAA Tournament win over Xavier two years ago in a first-round game in Seattle. The Muskateers (29-3) returned the favor last year in the Sweet 16 in Sacramento.

It's a sigh of relief to not see 6-6 Ta'Shia Phillips and 6-4 Amber Harris, but  Louisville poing guard, Shoni Schimmel was impressive with 33 points.

A lot of attention was showed on the Bulldogs and especially Courtney Vandersloot for her historic achievement. If anyone caught it, please comment. I spent the day working on hockey - yes, the playoffs start Friday so it's juggling time. She is on the cover of the ESPN.com women's  basketball page with highlights from last night.



SportsLink is your portal into sports news around the Inland Northwest and beyond. You'll find updates, notes and opinions, and plenty of reader feedback.






Looking for a Grip on Sports?

Vince Grippi's daily take on all things regional sports has been moved to our main sports section online. You can find a collection of these columns here.