Sunday's Women's NCAA Tournament Capsules

Games played on March 22, 2015

Once again Gonzaga showed that 11 is its favorite number.

The Bulldogs advanced to the Sweet 16 for the third time in five years as an 11 after knocking off No. 3 Oregon State on the Beavers' home court. Gonzaga will return home to play in Spokane next weekend.

Dayton heads to its first Sweet 16 ever after knocking off second-seed Kentucky. The Flyers handed the first loss to a home team in the NCAA Tournament. Iowa also is heading to the regional semifinals for the first time in 19 years after knocking off Miami. Texas is back in the regional semifinals for the first time in 11 years.

The two newcomers will be joined by Sweet 16 stalwarts South Carolina, North Carolina, Duke and Baylor.


SPOKANE REGIONAL

GONZAGA 76, OREGON STATE 64

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) - Emma Wolfram scored a career-high 17 points and 11th-seeded Gonzaga held off a furious late rally by Oregon State.

Gonzaga (26-7) advances to the Sweet Sixteen, heading home to Spokane to face the winner of Monday's game in Knoxville between Tennessee (28-5) and Pittsburgh (20-11).

The Bulldogs were also the No. 11 seed in 2011, and also playing in the Spokane Regional, when they made a stunning run to the regional finals before losing to top seed Stanford. Gonzaga also did the same thing as an 11 seed in 2012.

The Beavers (27-5) have never made it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament's current format. In 1983, the Beavers beat UCLA to advance to the second round when the field was 32 teams.

DUKE 64, MISSISSIPPI STATE 56

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Freshman Azura Stevens had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Duke beat Mississippi State.

Elizabeth Williams scored 12 points in her final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium and Rebecca Greenwell added 17 with three 3-pointers for fourth-seeded Duke (23-10).

The Blue Devils shot 52 percent, used a timely 26-5 run to build a 15-point lead and held on to earn a spot in the round of 16. They will play the Princeton-Maryland winner on Saturday in the Spokane Region semifinals.

Victoria Vivians scored 15 points and Kendra Grant added 12 for the fifth-seeded Bulldogs (27-7). They clawed within 58-52 on Morgan William's free throw with 1:21 left.

But Dominique Dillingham was called for a blocking foul with 1:02 left, and coach Vic Schaefer received a technical foul for arguing the call. Greenwell then hit 3 of 4 free throws.


ALBANY REGIONAL

DAYTON 99, KENTUCKY 94

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - Ally Malott scored 28 points and Amber Deane added 23 to lead No. 7 seed Dayton to a 99-94 upset of second-seeded Kentucky on Sunday.

Deane hit a 3-pointer with 24 seconds remaining to send the Flyers (27-6) to their first Sweet 16.

Kelley Austria made four free throws in the final 21 seconds and added 17 points for Dayton, which hit 11 3-pointers to help overcome 24 turnovers.

Makayla Epps scored 22 of her 29 points in the second half to lead Kentucky (24-10). Jennifer O'Neill added 16 and Bria Goss scored 12.

The Wildcats were without senior Azia Bishop, who was suspended by coach Matthew Mitchell for "failure to uphold team standards."

Bishop was averaging 6.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Bishop had started the seven previous games and scored six points in Kentucky's 97-52 win over Tennessee State in the opening round of the tourney.

TEXAS 73, CALIFORNIA 70

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) - Imani McGee-Stafford had 20 points and 11 rebounds while creating a daunting mismatch inside, and fifth-seeded Texas advanced to the program's first Sweet 16 in 11 years with a win against No. 4 seed California.

Brooke McCarty scored twice on driving layups down the stretch on the way to 16 points, and Texas pushed the pace to force Cal into bad decisions.

A year after losing a tough second-round game on Maryland's home floor, the Longhorns insisted they would have no problem taking on the Golden Bears (24-10) with another feisty home crowd against them.

Now, they're headed to the Albany Regional and a potential date with two-time defending champion Connecticut.

Cal's Mercedes Jefflo scored with 1:30 remaining to cut the Texas lead to 64-60 before Kelsey Lang answered on the other end.

Lang added 14 points as Texas (24-10) took another impressive step under third-year coach Karen Aston.

OKLAHOMA CITY REGIONAL

NOTRE DAME 79, DEPAUL 67

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - Michaela Mabrey scored 19 points, hitting five 3-pointers, Taya Reimer and Brianna Turner added 14 points each as top-seeded Notre Dame beat No. 9 seed DePaul.

The Fighting Irish had a 51-32 rebounding edge, with Turner pulling down 11 rebounds and Reimer had 10, and Notre Dame (33-2) held DePaul to 36 percent shooting to win their 19th straight to advance to the Sweet 16 for the sixth straight season. DePaul (27-8), which had won eight straight, fell a win shy of advancing to the round of 16 for a second straight season.

Megan Podkowa led the Blue Demons with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

BAYLOR 73, ARKANSAS 44

WACO, Texas (AP) - Nina Davis scored 21 points, Niya Johnson had 12 assists to tie Baylor's career record and the Lady Bears are headed to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the seventh year in a row after a win over Arkansas.

The Lady Bears (32-3), the No. 2 seed in the Oklahoma City regional, took control with a 30-7 run to finish the first half - which ended with first-year Arkansas coach Jimmy Dykes getting a technical foul.

Kristy Wallace added 13 points, while Alexis Prince had 11 and Johnson 10. Sune Agbuke, the lone Baylor senior, had 12 rebounds and a career-high eight blocks.

The Lady Bears play Iowa (26-7) on Friday in Oklahoma City.

Jessica Jackson had 15 points and Melissa Wolff 13 for Arkansas (18-14), the No. 10 seed from the SEC.

IOWA 88, MIAMI 70

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - Bethany Doolittle scored 22 points, Ally Disterhoft had 15 and Iowa beat 11th-seeded Miami in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, earning its first trip to the Sweet 16 since 1996.

Doolittle also had 11 rebounds for the third-seeded Hawkeyes (26-7), who'll meet either Arkansas or Baylor in Oklahoma City on Friday.

Iowa shot 75 percent in the second half, using a late 15-3 run to seal its 18th straight home win of the season.

Jessica Thomas had 20 points for Miami (20-13). The Hurricanes lost six of their last eight games to close the season.

The Hawkeyes had endured seven consecutive second-round exits since last reaching a regional semifinal 19 years ago. That included losses in each of the last two years in Iowa City.

This was by far their best shot at the Sweet 16 under 15th-year coach Lisa Bluder.

Iowa made the most of it.


GREENSBORO REGIONAL

SOUTH CAROLINA 97, SYRACUSE 68

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Tiffany Mitchell and Alaina Coates each scored 14 points and No. 1 seed South Carolina built a big first-half lead and cruised to its third Sweet 16 in four years with a victory over Syracuse.

Aleighsa Welch added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Gamecocks (32-2), who turned an anticipated tight rematch into a runaway by halftime.

Welch had 11 points and Asia Dozier hit three of her four 3-pointers in the opening period for the Gamecocks, who used a 21-5 run to take control.

Syracuse trailed by 28 at halftime and never got within 20 points.

Alexis Peterson had 23 points to lead the Orange (22-10), who gave the Gamecocks one of their toughest games last November before losing 67-63 at the Junkanoo Jam.

But in front of 10,485 fans at home, South Carolina had no problem moving on.