ASU marches into finals

Kirsten Thompson scored eight straight points in crunch time and finished with all 14 of her points in the second half, leading No. 9 Arizona State past 25th-ranked California 60-53 Sunday in San Jose, Calif., and into the Pac-10 tournament title game against No. 7 Stanford.

Emily Westerberg (CV) added 12 points before fouling out late in the Sun Devils’ ninth straight win, a physical game filled with fouls.

(3) Connecticut 74, South Florida 54: At Hartford, Conn., Charde Houston scored 19 points, Tina Charles added 18 and the Huskies (28-2) opened their Big East conference tournament with a quarterfinal win over the Bulls (20-11).

(4) North Carolina 60, (24) North Carolina State 54: At Greensboro, N.C., Ivory Latta scored 20 points, becoming North Carolina’s career scoring leader, and the Tar Heels (30-3) ended North Carolina State’s emotional run through the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament with a win over the Wolfpack (23-9) in the championship game.

(5) Ohio State 73, Penn St. 71 (OT): At Indianapolis, Jessica Davenport scored a season-high 32 points, including all seven of Ohio State’s points in overtime, to rally the Buckeyes (28-2) to a victory over the fifth-seeded Nittany Lions (27-5) in the Big Ten tournament semifinals.

(7) Stanford 67, Southern California 52: At San Jose, Calif., Candice Wiggins hit a career-high and tournament-record eight 3-pointers on the way to 29 points, and the Cardinal (27-4) beat the Trojans (17-13) to reach the Pac-10 tournament title game against No. 9 Arizona State.

Wiggins hit her first five 3-point attempts and initial six field-goal tries, and finished 10 for 13 from the field and 8 of 9 from long range.

Saint Joseph’s 57, (8) George Washington 55: At Cincinnati, Whitney Ffrench scored all of her 14 points during a second-half comeback, and the Hawks (19-12) pulled off its biggest upset in 15 years, beating the Colonials (26-3) in the Atlantic 10 tournament semifinals.

(13) Vanderbilt 51, (11) LSU 45: At Duluth, Ga., Dee Davis scored 19 points, including a crucial basket with 23 seconds left, to lead the Commodores (28-5) over the Lady Tigers (26-7) in the Southeastern Conference tournament championship game.

(15) Purdue 64, (22) Michigan St. 61: At Indianapolis, Katie Gearlds scored 14 of her 17 points in the second half and the Boilermakers (27-5) rallied to beat the Spartans (23-8) in the Big Ten tournament semifinals.

(18) Rutgers 63, DePaul 55: At Hartford, Conn., Matee Ajavon scored 21 points and the Scarlet Knights (20-8) came back to beat the Blue Demons (19-12) in a Big East tournament quarterfinal.

(20) Louisville 68, West Virginia 56: At Hartford, Conn., Angel McCoughtry scored 26 points and the Cardinals (26-6) held West Virginia (20-10) without a field goal for over 12 minutes in the first half, beating the Mountaineers in a Big East tournament quarterfinal game.

(23) Marquette 61, Pittsburgh 51: At Hartford, Conn., Christina Quaye had 18 points to lead the Golden Eagles (25-5) over the Panthers (23-8) in the Big East tournament quarterfinals.

East Carolina 79, Rice 70: At Tulsa, Okla., Jasmine Young scored 23 points and the Lady Pirates (19-13) beat the Owls (19-13) in the Conference USA tournament final to earn an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

Marist 64, Iona 57 (OT): At Bridgeport, Conn., Meg Dahlman scored a season-high 21 points to help the Red Foxes (27-5) beat the Gaels (20-12) in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship game and secure an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.