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Last-Minute Collapse Sends Drake Packing

Associated Press

Women

Leading by 17 points with 5 minutes left, a home-court game was awaiting Drake in the NCAA Midwest Regional if they could just hang on against George Washington.

They couldn’t.

George Washington rallied to win 96-93 in overtime Sunday to advance to the regional semifinals at Drake’s Knapp Center in Des Moines, Iowa. The Drake players will be able to do nothing but watch as four other teams compete for a berth in the Final Four in Minneapolis.

“We are very disappointed,” Drake coach Lisa Bluder said. “This is a game we should have won. At the end of the game, we were playing not to lose, which is unfortunate.”

Fourth-seeded George Washington (26-5) prevailed in one of five second-round games that completed the pairings for the regional semifinals. The other 11 spots in the round of 16 were determined Saturday.

All of the top four seeds in each region advanced with one exception - No. 2 Penn State in the Midwest. Penn State, ranked seventh, became the first Top Ten team eliminated when it lost at home to seventh-seeded North Carolina State 76-74.

Vanderbilt was the only No. 1 seed in action Sunday. The Commodores had an easy time at home against eighth-seeded Memphis, winning 95-68, but they had a scare when leading scorer Sheri Sam injured her right wrist.

Fourth-seeded Western Kentucky beat fifth-seeded Oregon State 85-78 in the Mideast and third-seeded Georgia beat 11th-seeded Louisville 81-68 in the Midwest.

All eight games in the regional semifinals are Thursday night. The finals are Saturday.

George Washington’s comeback against Drake (25-6) sent the 18thranked Colonials against No. 2 Colorado, the top seed in the Midwest.

Georgia (26-4) plays North Carolina State (21-9) in the other semifinal game at Des Moines.

Western Kentucky (28-3) has one of the two toughest draws in the regional semifinals, meeting top seed Tennessee (31-2) at Tennessee’s Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, where the Lady Vols have won 62 straight games. Second-seeded Texas Tech (32-3) plays third-seeded Washington (25-8) in the other game.

The other especially tough draw is in the East, where fourth-seeded Alabama (22-8) plays at top-ranked and No. 1 seed Connecticut (31-0). Connecticut has won 35 in a row at home. Also at Connecticut, second-seeded Louisiana Tech (28-4) meets No. 3 seed Virginia (26-4).

Vanderbilt (28-6) plays fourth-seeded Purdue (23-7) in the West Regional at Los Angeles. The other game has Stanford (28-2) meeting defending national champion third-seeded North Carolina (30-4).