Georgia Thwarts Arizona Rally
West
Kedra Holland-Corn made one free throw and Signe Antvorskov added two more in the closing seconds to preserve sixth-ranked Georgia’s 80-74 victory Sunday over Arizona in the NCAA West Region second round at Athens, Ga.
The Dogs nearly blew a late 18-point lead.
Arizona’s 3-point basket by Adia Barnes with 35 seconds left got the Wildcats within 77-74, keying a 25-10 run in the last 5 minutes after Georgia had taken a 67-49 lead with 5:32 left.
Georgia (24-5), the No. 2 seed, advanced to the region final in Missoula, next weekend. Arizona (23-8), seeded seventh, ended its most successful season with its first NCAA appearance.
Holland-Corn, who led Georgia with 20 points, made one of two free throws with 45 seconds left for a 78-74 lead. Antvorskov then rebounded an Arizona miss, was fouled, and made both ends of a 1-and-1 with 5 seconds left to clinch the victory. The sophomore made 6-of-6 free throws in the final 1:31 for all six of her points.
Pam Irwin came off the bench to add 17 points for the Dogs, who have made the NCAA Final Four the last two seasons. Tracy Henderson added 11 points and La’Keshia Frett had 10. Barnes led Arizona with 24 points, 16 in the first half.
Holland-Corn scored 10 of her 13 first-half points in a two-minute spurt just before intermission, helping the Dogs to a 40-35 lead at halftime.
Barnes had the Wildcats’ first 12 points and gave Arizona its only lead of the game at 24-23 on a layup 6:06 before intermission.
Virginia 65, Utah 46
Lisa Hosac scored 13 points, all in the second half, and No. 12 Virginia advanced to the Sweet 16 of the women’s NCAA tournament for the 11th straight year with a 65-46 victory over Utah in Charlottesville, Va.
The Cavaliers (23-7), who have opened the tournament at home for 12 straight seasons, will play the winner of Monday’s game between No. 3 Stanford and Texas Tech next Saturday in Missoula. They advanced to the Sweet 16 for the 11th consecutive year.
Utah (25-6) fell to 1-8 in its NCAA tournament history. The Utes had never won a tournament game until they beat Iowa State 66-57 Friday.
DeMya Walker added 12 points and Monick Foote 10 for the Cavaliers, who brought the nation’s No. 1 field goal defense into the game and put it on display. They held Utah to 17-for-57 shooting, or 29.8 percent.
Julie Krommenhoek led the Utes with 14 points and Laura Ross had 10.
Virginia led 49-34 with 9 minutes left and seemed primed to put the Utes away. But Lisa Thueson scored on a putback and added a free throw, Laura Ross scored inside and Krommenhoek hit two free throws to make it 49-41.