BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) - Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis scored 21 points to help top-seeded Connecticut beat Prairie View A&M 83-47 on Saturday in the opening round of the NCAA women's basketball tournament.
Mosqueda-Lewis matched the school record set by Jamelle Elliott in 1993 for points by a Huskies player in her first tournament game.
Bria Hartley added 18 points and Stefanie Dolson had all 15 of her points in the first half for the Huskies (30-4), who will face eighth-seeded Kansas State in the second round of the Kingston Regional on Monday night.
The Huskies hadn't played in 11 days since winning the Big East championship game on March 6. They showed little rust on offense, but took a half to get back to playing their superior defensive. Connecticut leads the nation in scoring defense, giving up just under 46 points per game.
Latia Williams scored 20 points to lead Prairie View (17-16).
No. 8 KANSAS STATE 67, No. 9 PRINCETON 64
Branshea Brown scored a career-high 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead Kansas State past Princeton.
Janala Childs added 15 points for the Wildcats (20-13).
Niveen Rasheed had 20 points, and Lauren Edwards and Devona Allgood each scored 15 for Princeton (24-5). The Tigers lost for the first time in 18 games and for the third consecutive year in the first round of the tournament.
The win was the first in the tournament for Kansas State since 2009. The Wildcats have not advanced past the second round since 2004.
No. 2 KENTUCKY 68, No. 15 MCNEESE STATE 62
AMES, Iowa (AP) - Keyla Snowden scored 11 points, Azia Bishop added 10 and Kentucky squeaked by McNeese State in its NCAA tournament opener.
SEC Player of the Year A'dia Mathies had just six points for the Wildcats (26-6), who struggled to put away the Cowgirls until late in the second half. McNeese State got within 63-57 on two free throws by Martika Hull with 40 seconds left, but the Cowgirls couldn't get any closer.
Caitlyn Baggett had 22 points and Hull scored 20 with 13 rebounds for McNeese State (26-8), which forced the nation's leader in turnover margin to give the ball away 20 times. But the smaller Cowgirls were outrebounded 58-40 and couldn't pull off the upset.
No. 7 GREEN BAY 71, No. 10 IOWA STATE 57
AMES, Iowa (AP) - Lydia Bauer and Sarah Eichler each scored 16 points.
Adrian Ritchie added 15 for the Phoenix (31-1), who'll take on second-seeded Kentucky in the second round Monday night.
Green Bay blitzed through the Cyclones in their own gym, running out to a 42-23 halftime lead and barely looking back.
Iowa State got within 10 with 3:01 left, but the Phoenix held on to reach the round of 32 for the third year in a row.
Hallie Christofferson led five in double figures with 12 points for Iowa State (18-13), which committed 30 turnovers and lost its NCAA tournament opener for the second straight year.
No. 11 GONZAGA 86, No. 6 RUTGERS 73
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - Kayla Standish scored 23 points to lift Gonzaga over Rutgers.
Playing before a big crowd on its home floor, Gonzaga (27-5) mostly handled Rutgers' press and used a 3-point barrage in the second half to hold off the Scarlet Knights. Haiden Palmer added 21 points for the Bulldogs.
Gonzaga, in the tournament field with an at-large bid for the first time, took control early and held off every Rutgers charge.
Erica Wheeler had 28 points for Rutgers (22-10), and Khadijah Rushdan added 14.
No. 3 MIAMI 70, No. 14 IDAHO STATE 41
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - Shenise Johnson scored 20 points and added four assists.
Third-seeded Miami (26-5) will play Gonzaga on Monday night, with the winner advancing to the round of 16.
Ashleigh Vella led Idaho State (24-8) with 12 points. The 14th-seeded Bengals were winners of the Big Sky Conference tournament.
Miami played without All-WCC guard Riquna Williams, who did not make the trip to Spokane for an unspecified team violation. But it didn't make much difference as the Hurricanes were significantly taller and faster than Idaho State and dominated the game from the start.
DES MOINES REGIONAL
No. 2 TENNESSEE 72, No. 15 TENNESSEE-MARTIN 49
ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) - Meighan Simmons scored 20 points and Tennessee gave coach Pat Summitt a victory over the school where she played.
Glory Johnson added 14 points and 12 rebounds as Tennessee (25-8) pulled away in the second half. The Lady Vols set up a meeting with DePaul on Monday, hoping for their first Final Four run since winning the championship in 2008.
Tennessee vowed to get back there and win a ninth NCAA title for Summitt, who shook the sport with her announcement in August that she has early onset dementia, Alzheimer's type. Earlier this week, the icon with the most wins in NCAA history said she wasn't sure she would coach beyond the season.
The Lady Vols seem to be hitting their stride just in time, breezing to their third straight SEC tournament title and following up with their 14th victory in 16 games against Tennessee-Martin (23-9).
No. 7 DePAUL, No. 10 BYU
ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) - Anna Martin led a balanced attack with 17 points.
BYU (26-7) fought back from a late eight-point deficit and had a chance to tie with 2.8 seconds to play. But Haley Steed's 3 point try missed, DePaul (23-10) rebounded and Steed fouled Brittany Hrynko.
Hyrnko added a free throw and closed with 15 points while Katherine Harry and Jasmine Penny had 12 each.
Jennifer Hamson had 21 points for BYU and Kristen Riley had 10 and 12 rebounds.
RALEIGH REGIONAL
No. 2 MARYLAND 59, No. 15 NAVY 44
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) - Alyssa Thomas had 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead No. 2 seed Maryland past in-state foe Navy.
Laurin Mincy scored 14 for Maryland (29-4), which pulled away after leading 31-23 at halftime. The Terrapins will play No. 7 seed Louisville on Monday night.
Although the men's tournament featured a pair of 15 seeds knocking off No. 2s, there would be no major upset here. When the women's tournament began, No. 15 seeds were 0-68, and Navy was unable to break the trend.
The Midshipmen had never defeated a ranked team or an Atlantic Coast Conference foe, and that pattern continued, too.
Jade Geif led Navy (18-14) with 14 points.
No. 7 LOUISVILLE 67, No. 10 MICHIGAN STATE 55
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) - Becky Burke scored 14 points and Shawnta' Dyer had 13 to help Louisville beat Michigan State.
The Cardinals (23-9) rattled the Spartans (20-12) with speed and defense, forcing 14 turnovers and pulling away with a 16-2 run late in the first half.
The game marked the return of Louisville coach Jeff Walz to College Park. Walz was an assistant on the Terrapins' national title team in 2006 before taking the top job with the Cardinals in 2007.
Walz will face his old team in the second round Monday night.
No. 6 ARKANSAS 72, No. 11 DAYTON 55
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) - Quistelle Williams scored 15 points, Keira Peak and Lyndsay Harris added 14 apiece and Arkansas rallied from an early double-digit deficit to defeat Dayton.
C'eira Ricketts had 13 points and five assists for the Razorbacks (24-8), who finished the game with a 20-2 run after trailing by as many as 14 in the first half.
Andrea Hoover scored 16 and Justine Raterman added 14 for the Flyers (23-7), who went the final 12 minutes without a field goal, missing 18 consecutive shots. Dayton shot 24 percent (7 for 29) from the field in the second half against the Razorbacks' 10th-ranked scoring defense.
No. 3 TEXAS A&M 69, No. 14 ALBANY 47
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) - Tyra White scored 18 points in her return from injury and defending national champion Texas A&M used a big second half run to pull away from Albany.
White had missed the last three games with a left foot injury. She got going early, scoring 12 points in the first half, and added four points and a steal in a decisive second-half run.
The Great Danes (23-10) had scored six straight points to tie it early in the second half before A&M used a 17-4 run to take a 49-36 lead with about 13 minutes remaining.
The Aggies (23-10) were making their school-record seventh straight tournament appearance and Albany was in the tournament for the first time.
FRESNO REGIONAL
No. 1 STANFORD 73, No. 16 HAMPTON 51
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - Nnemkadi Ogwumike scored 22 of her 28 points in the first half and Stanford pulled away before halftime to beat Hampton.
Joslyn Tinkle added 16 points as the Cardinal (32-1) extended their school-record winning streak to 29. Stanford will face eighth-seeded West Virginia in the second round Monday night.
Alyssa Bennett scored 19 points to lead Hampton (26-5), which set a school record for victories in a season and was playing about 11 miles from its campus. But the Pirates hadn't seen anything like the athleticism of Ogwumike, or the efficiency of the Cardinal.
No. 8 WEST VIRGINIA 68, No. 9 TEXAS 55
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - Taylor Palmer scored 13 of her 18 points in the second half and West Virginia held on against Texas after squandering most of a 15-point lead.
The Mountaineers (24-9) led 48-33 with 10 minutes to play before the Longhorns closed to 51-48 with 5½ minutes to go. But after West Virginia went almost 5 minutes without a basket, Palmer swished a 3-pointer from the right wing.
Ashley Gayle scored 11 points and Ashleigh Fontenette 10 to lead Texas (18-14), which lost its fifth consecutive tournament game.
Asya Bussie added 12 points for West Virginia.
No. 4 PURDUE 83, No. 13 SOUTH DAKOTA ST. 68
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - Courtney Moses scored 29 points and set a first-round NCAA women's tournament record by making nine 3-pointers, helping Purdue pull away from pesky South Dakota State.
It sure wasn't easy.
The Boilermakers (25-8) thought they had taken control midway through the second half with a 16-point lead, but it took a late 12-3 run to put it away.
Jill Young had 19 points and Jennie Sunnarborg finished with 17 as Summit League champion South Dakota State (24-9) lost again in the first round.
No. 5 SOUTH CAROLINA 80, No. 12 EASTERN MICHIGAN 48
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - Markeshia Grant scored 12 points and Charenee Stephens added 11 to lead South Carolina past Eastern Michigan.
The Gamecocks (24-9) will face fourth-seeded Purdue, the site host, on Monday night in the second round.
Tavelyn James, the nation's No. 2 scorer, had 11 points to finish her career with 2,461. But she was held 13 points below her average and didn't have enough help as the Mid-American Conference champion Eagles (24-9) fell to 0-2 in NCAA tournament play.