Monarchs, Huskies Rule In Openers

NCAA women

Old Dominion and Connecticut both got the same results in the first round of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, one with its star at the top of her game, the other with its star watching.

Ticha Penicheiro, Old Dominion’s flashy All-American point guard, put together a triple-double as the No. 1 seed in the East routed St. Francis 92-39 Friday night in Norfolk, Va.

Penicheiro set a tournament record with 14 steals, scored 22 points and handed out 15 assists to send the second-ranked Monarchs into a second-round game with No. 12 Florida International.

Connecticut, with injured All-American Nykesha Sales watching from the sidelines, also had an easy time. The Huskies, the No. 2 seed in the East, got 18 points from freshman Svetlana Abrosimova and strong play inside from Paige Sauer and Stacy Hansmeyer in a 93-52 victory over Fairfield in Storrs, Conn.

Old Dominion led 32-9 after 14-1/2 minutes and coasted as Penicheiro dazzled a sellout crowd of 4,855 - and her opponents - with an array of no-look passes, defensive stops and acrobatic drives.

“I don’t think I’ve really ever played against a player with her capability,” said Mary Markey of St. Francis. “I’ve never seen anybody that could pass quite like she did tonight.”

But it was just more of the same for Penicheiro’s teammates.

“I don’t think it surprises anybody anymore,” said Aubrey Eblin, who had four 3-pointers and 14 points. “It gives me chills sometimes when I see a her make a great pass. I have to remember to keep my hands ready so I don’t get hit in the face.”

Penicheiro broke the steals record of 10 set by Auburn’s Ruthie Bolton against Long Beach State in the 1988 national semifinals. Her assist total was two shy of the record, held by Penn State’s Suzie McConnell.

Nyree Roberts added 22 points and 14 rebounds for Old Dominion (28-2).

Sales is lost for the season with a ruptured Achilles’ tendon suffered in the next-to-last regular-season game. But she wasn’t missed against overmatched Fairfield, which couldn’t stay with Connecticut under the basket.

Connecticut (32-2) finished with 46 points from its inside players to Fairfield’s eight and outrebounded the Stags 56-30.

“We realized when we lost Nykesha we had to step up in the rebounding area,” Sauer said. “Stacy and I worked real hard on that. The inside game was pretty good. We missed a lot of easy shots, but got the ball inside and attacked them.”

Fairfield (20-10), seeded 15th, committed 24 turnovers and gave up 32 second-chance points.

East

At Raleigh, N.C., Chasity Melvin scored 20 points to lead North Carolina State (22-6) to an 89-64 victory over Maine (21-9).

Maine’s Cindy Blodgett scored 19 points to finish her career with 3,005 - fourth on the NCAA’s career list.

Also, 12th-seeded Youngstown State pulled off the first major upset of the tournament, overcoming a 40-point performance by Tamika Whitmore of fifth-seeded Memphis for a 91-80 victory.

At Norfolk, Va., Nicole Kubik scored 17 points and Brooke Schwartz had 16 as Nebraska (23-9) spoiled the tournament debut of New Mexico (26-7), 76-59.

At Storrs, Conn., 10th-seeded George Washington (17-11) beat No. 7 seed Georgia 74-72 as Elisa Aguilar scored 14 of the Colonials’ final 18 points and finished with 31.

At Tucson, Ariz.,Virginia (19-9) rallied from 19 points down to defeat Southern Methodist (21-8) 77-68. DeMya Walker led the way with 29 points, 11 rebounds and four steals.

Also, Marte Alexander scored 23 points to lead Arizona past Santa Clara. The Wildcats erased a five-point halftime deficit with a 12-0 start to the second half. Adia Barnes added 16 points for Arizona (22-6). Jessica Banford had 18 for Santa Clara (23-8).

Midwest

At Tuscaloosa, Ala., second-seeded Alabama (23-9) hammered tournament rookie North Carolina-Greensboro 94-46.

Also, Maylana Martin scored 16 points and Melanie Peterson 15 to lead UCLA (20-8) past Michigan (19-10) 65-58. The Bruins built a 13-point first-half lead, then went on an 11-0 run after Michigan got within two.

At Lubbock, Texas, Alicia Thompson had 39 points and 11 rebounds to lead Texas Tech (26-4) past Grambling (23-7) 87-75.

Also, Notre Dame (21-9), seeking a return to the Final Four, got 21 points and four blocks from Ruth Riley and defeated Southwest Missouri State (24-6) 78-64.

Mideast

At Chapel Hill, N.C., All-American Tracy Reid scored 33 points to help North Carolina (25-6) put away pesky Howard (23-7) 91-71.

Also, Florida International (29-1) won its 18th straight, beating Marquette (22-7) 59-45.

The Golden Panthers rallied from a 10-point deficit to give coach Cindy Russo her 400th victory at the school.

West

At Iowa City, Lynn Pride scored a career-high 27 points and sank three free throws in the final 10 seconds to lift Kansas (22-8) past Tulane (21-7) 72-68. Tulane twice led by 13 points and Kansas was never ahead until Pride hit a jump shot to make it 54-53 midway through the second half.

Also, Tangela Smith scored 32 points, including 11 straight midway through the second half, to lead fourth-seeded Iowa (18-10) past Massachusetts (19-11) 77-59.