Texas and Big 12 Basketball Capsules: Baylor beats Fresno St 69-55 in first-round game

SEATTLE — Gary Blair insisted there was no underestimation by second-seeded Texas A&M. Still, seeing themselves trailing a No. 15 seed, even if it was still in the first half, was a jolt the Aggies needed to finally emerge from their first-half slumber.

Danielle Adams dominated the middle with 23 points, Tanisha Smith finished an assist short of a triple-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, and the Aggies shook off pesky Portland State for a 84-53 win in the first-round of the Sacramento region Saturday night.

The bigger, faster and more talented Aggies (26-7) allowed the upstart Vikings to hang around for most of the first half, even watching Portland State (18-15) run off six straight points to take a 28-27 lead with 4:25 left in the half.

That basket by Portland State’s Eryn Jones became the ignition Blair was searching for to overcome the uncharacteristic mistakes his team made in the opening minutes and finally got the more talented Aggies rolling.

"We did not underestimate them. I think they just played very well to start the ball game," Blair said after becoming the Aggies’ career leader in wins with 155. "I said, you’ve got 64 teams in here and treat them all like top 25 teams because they’ve earned that right."

Being in the lead also caught the Vikings off-guard. Coach Sherri Murrell called a timeout because she suddenly saw pressure in the eyes of her players. Her reminder: There are no expectations as No. 15 seed.

"When we went up 28-27, the kids had this look in their eyes like ‘the pressure is on us now,"’ Murrell said. "When we had that type of pressure, we didn’t respond well."

After Portland State’s brief lead, the Aggies closed the first half on a 12-3 spurt and then outscored Portland State 18-6 to start the second half and ended any thought of the Vikings becoming the first No. 15 seed to pull a first-round NCAA tournament upset.

Believing they are flying undetected among tournament contenders, the Aggies set up a second-round date with either No. 7 seed Gonzaga or 10th-seeded North Carolina, who played Saturday’s late game. The Aggies were reminded all week of the 2009 tournament when they were expected to cruise into the regional finals as a No. 2 seed and a date with Connecticut, only to stumble in the regional semis and fall to sixth-seeded Arizona State.

"Their size, those are some girls that we’re not use to playing against and I think they wore us down," Vikings guard Claire Faucher said.

Jones and Faucher each finished with 15 points for the Vikings. But Faucher, the Vikings’ leading scorer was harassed all night by the Sydney-combo of Texas A&M guards Sydney Carter and Sydney Colson. The result: Faucher was 6 of 19 shooting, including just 3 of 14 on 3-pointers after scoring 26 points and hitting eight 3-pointers in the Big Sky tournament title game. She was also left with one sore body after a scary crash into the basket standard late in the first half that had her limping off the floor at halftime. Faucher played most of the second half, but made just 3 of 13 shots.

"All I remember is trying to make a play on the ball and the next thing I remember is my head was just pounding," Faucher said. "I don’t know what I hit. That will be fun to watch on replays."

Portland State harassed the Aggies into nine turnovers in the first half, and even laughed at its own mistakes. When Katy Wade flung a crosscourt pass into the first row behind the Aggies’ bench, Murrell could only chuckle.

But it wasn’t all laughs for the Vikings. They hit five 3s in the first half and even took a 28-27 lead on Jones’ jumper with 4:25 left, bringing not only the green-glad Vikings fans to their feet.

The lead didn’t last long. Texas A&M regained control before halftime and quickly turned the contested into the rout everyone expected. The only lingering question was if Smith would get a triple-double, but Cierra Windham’s jumper in the final minutes rimmed out, Smith’s last chance at a 10th assist.

The last triple-double was by Michigan State’s Kristin Haynie in 2005.

-- Tim Booth

Wilson scores as Dayton rallies, beats TCU 67-66

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Dayton Flyers aren't ready for their first NCAA tournament appearance to end just yet.

AUSTIN — Long before Jenna Plumley hit rock bottom, she had one of her best moments on a basketball court.

Baylor beats Old Dominion 76-68 in 2nd round

NEW ORLEANS — As Josh Lomers ambled over to the bench after fouling out, Baylor coach Scott Drew began waving his arms, asking the crowd to show his 7-footer some love.

There was no need. The fans were already roaring their approval after the senior helped save the Bears' season.

"We needed him to come through for us," Drew said. "I think you saw a senior that didn't want to play his last game."

Lomers tied a career high with 14 points, 12 in the second half, and third-seeded Baylor withstood a firm challenge from No. 11 Old Dominion for a 76-68 victory Saturday in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

LaceDarius Dunn scored 26 points for the Bears, who squandered a 14-point first-half lead but went on a late 8-1 run to pull away. Baylor (27-7) now heads back to its home state to play 10th-seeded Saint Mary's in Houston in the South Regional semifinals.

Overlooked for most of the season — and even for most of this game — Lomers kept the Bears in it after a second-half rally by Old Dominion. He had six rebounds in the half, five at the offensive end, and his three-point play that put Baylor ahead 65-61 started the final big run.

Dunn's 3-pointer made it 68-62, and a reverse layup by Tweety Carter put Baylor ahead by eight. By the time Lomers fouled out, his teammates were safe from an upset.

"It's a testament to our team," Lomers said. "We have a lot of weapons that can do a lot of things. You have to worry about everybody on the court."

Old Dominion (27-9), which edged No. 6 seed Notre Dame 51-50 in the first round, was trying to become the first team from the Colonial Athletic Association to reach the round of 16 since George Mason's Final Four run in 2006. The Bears would have none of it, scoring the most points of any Monarchs opponent all season.

Pretty much every win is a milestone these days for Baylor, which only a few years ago was banned from playing non-conference games as part of NCAA penalties for numerous violations under former coach Dave Bliss.

Baylor struggled to beat Sam Houston State in the first round for its first NCAA tournament win since 1950, but the Bears arrived loose and confident against Old Dominion, taking a double-digit lead amid a barrage of early 3-pointers and alley-oops.

Down 38-28, Old Dominion scored nine straight points to start the second half. Frank Hassell dunked to make it a one-point game, then shot the Old Dominion cheering section a quick glance before heading back on defense.

A little while later, Kent Bazemore's two free throws put Old Dominion ahead 49-47 — its first lead since 1-0. At that point — with another double-digit seed awaiting in the next round — the Monarchs could start dreaming of their own George Mason-like run.

"I really felt this team could have won this game and moved on and still been a threat to cause problems," Old Dominion coach Blaine Taylor said.

The Monarchs could never shake the Bears, though, and they couldn't contain Lomers.

"He's 7-foot. You can't teach that. He was pretty heavy," Hassell said. "I was trying to box him out and push him out. But I guess I didn't get low enough and all that."

Hassell had 15 points and eight rebounds.

Against Sam Houston State, Baylor struggled against a triangle-and-two defense. The Bears looked relieved to see a more conventional defense against Old Dominion. They made their first four shots — including 3-pointers by Dunn and Carter and an alley-oop from Carter to Dunn — to take a 10-1 lead.

Bazemore answered with an alley-oop dunk of his own at the other end, but that did little to stem the tide. Dunn made a 3-pointer and sneaked behind the defense for another alley-oop from Carter for a 15-5 lead. Baylor led by as many as 14, and yet another alley-oop — again Carter to Dunn — made it 31-18.

"Sam Houston did a great job of containing me and keeping me from doing the things that I do well," Dunn said. "Today, you know, when it got tight, we just learned to just stay solid and stay within our game."Carter finished with 12 points, eight assists and no turnovers.

"He played a tremendous defensive game that first game for us," Drew said. "Now today, I think everyone got to see what he does on both ends of the court."

-- Noah Trister

Defense on display with Aggies, Boilermakers

SPOKANE, Wash. — Chris Kramer is a former high-school football player. He has a square jaw, atop a block-like neck and shoulders. The banged-up, one-time safety defends as if opposing forwards are running backs.

Kramer looks and acts so much like a football player — a very good one — that former Purdue football coach Joe Tiller used to greet him enthusiastically at the Boilermakers’ athletic training table.

"Four million. Three million," Tiller would tell the puzzled Kramer, every time. "That’s the kind of money you’d make playing (football) on Sundays."

Kramer’s playing this Sunday. His smash-mouth, fourth-seeded Boilermakers (28-5) collide with rugged Texas A&M (24-9) in a second-round grudge match in the South Regional. Helmets and shoulder pads may be more appropriate than the extra-long shorts in a matchup Dick Butkus would love.

"I’m looking forward this. It’s going to be a 40-minute game of defense," Aggies forward Bryan Davis said.

He will be banging with JaJuan Johnson — the 6-foot-10 force that led Purdue past Siena in Friday’s first round with 23 points and 15 rebounds. A&M point guard Dash Harris and Purdue’s Lewis Jackson will pick each other up deep in the other’s backcourt and go at it for 94 feet.

Kramer, the two-time Big Ten defensive player of the year, will be giving up five inches to Aggies 6-foot-8 forward David Loubeau. How will Purdue’s all-time steals leader compensate for that disadvantage?

"Not let him get the ball," Kramer said flatly. He wasn’t smiling.

Texas A&M has spent 60 minutes of their 90-minute practices on defense since a loss to Kansas in the Big 12 tournament that infuriated coach Mark Turgeon.

"One practice was all defense," forward Khris Middleton said.

It worked. Stew Morrill is 57 years old and in 24 years has been a head man at Montana, Colorado State and Utah State. Yet after he watched A&M throttle his team to 39-percent shooting and leave All-WAC guard Jared Quayle with the worst shooting day of his Utah State career on Friday, Morrill was awed.

"I had heard they were good defensively, but to see it firsthand is pretty impressive," he said. "That’s by far the best defensive team we have played all year."

A&M senior guard Donald Sloan says, "It’s our whole identity."

And Purdue, as Kramer says "lives defense."

Boilermakers shooting guard Keaton Grant said there are times when 95 percent of practices are on defense. Coach Matt Painter has his Boilermakers begin each day with the "close-out" drill. A player takes a tennis ball into each hand, then jumps out to defend shooters. The idea is to get defenders to rely on moving their feet and gain prime position instead of grabbing with their hands.

In the "36-second" drill, a player must successfully defend three different players for 12 seconds each.

Then it’s on to the "Timberwolf" drill.

"Oh, hell," Grant says. "That’s the one I hate."

A player must defend a zigzagging dribbler down the floor, frantically shuffling his feet to stay in front. Then a second, fresh dribbler tries to beat the defender to the other end. That’s where a third, fresh player is waiting to attack the basket against the now-drained defensive guy.

If the player gets scored on by the last, spry guy, the defender has to do it all again.

"I’m like, ‘God, help!"’ Jackson said.

As for team drills, if the defense gets scored on, all five guys on that unit have extra running. There is no switching for screens with fellow defenders. At Purdue, screens are made to be run through.

No wonder its locker room looked like a triage center after practice Saturday. Jackson had ice on his ankle and the midfoot fracture in his foot. D.J. Byrd had a wrap and sleeve on his arm plus an ice pack on his knee. Kramer had a sleeve over his right arm and pad on his right elbow, and about a six-inch gash from his left elbow down his forearm.

"I’m fine," he said.

He sounded offended to be asked.

-- Gregg Bell

Texas Tech rallies to beat Jacksonville 69-64 in NIT

LUBBOCK — Brad Reese had 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead Texas Tech past Jacksonville 69-64 Saturday in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament.

The Red Raiders (19-15) overcame an 11-point first-half deficit and didn’t take the lead until 14:51 remained, when a dunk and free throw by D’wayln Roberts made it 45-42.

Jacksonville tied it 62 on a basket by Ben Smith with 2:11 remaining, but the Red Raiders got stops and made free throws to close out the Dolphins. Red Raiders coach Pat Knight let his players have it during a first-half timeout.

"I actually was calm at halftime," he said. "They probably thought I was going to go off on them. I have trust in these guys. That wasn’t us in the first half. They’re better than this plus these guys get on each other.

Reese was 5 of 11 from the field, and 3 of 4 on 3-pointers. It was the first double-double of his career. Tech will play Mississippi in Oxford on Tuesday.

"They’ve put themselves in position to win five games more than last year," he said. "There are so many positives already. Whatever happens in Oxford is just going to be something added to it."

Smith scored 17 points to lead the Dolphins (20-13). He missed six of his seven 3-point attempts, but Jacksonville coach Cliff Warren said those misses frequently led to second-chance points.

"He’s been great," Warren said. "He’s led us on the court and off the court the entire year."

Texas Tech shot poorly to open the game, missing its first nine shots to fall behind 10-0. The Dolphins went up by double digits twice in the first half and the Red Raiders’ top three scorers — John Roberson, Mike Singletary and Nick Okorie — combined to hit on only 3 of 10 from the field for eight points.

Jacksonville led 35-28 at halftime

Big 12 Men

Panthers knock off No. 1 Kansas 69-67

OKLAHOMA CITY — Leading by one against the colossus of the bracket, Ali Farokhmanesh stood at the 3-point line, no one around. The prudent play? Pull it out, burn some clock. Not a chance.

Taking his shot at history, Farokhmanesh let fly from the wing. Swish!

The biggest upset in a tournament full of them was done. Northern Iowa had taken down mighty Kansas.

Playing with poise down the stretch and getting another big 3-pointer from Farokhmanesh, Northern Iowa pulled off one of the biggest NCAA upsets in years by knocking No. 1 overall seed Kansas from the bracket with a program-defining 69-67 win on Saturday.

"If anybody’s going to shoot that shot, I want it to be Ali," Northern Iowa’s Jake Koch said.

This year’s NCAA tournament has been defined by its upsets. Eight double-digit seeds moved through the bracket in the first round. No. 10 Saint Mary’s beat Villanova on Saturday and No. 11 Washington shoved aside New Mexico.

This was the biggest shocker of all.

Winning the tempo tug-of-war, ninth-seeded Northern Iowa (30-4) grounded the high-flying Jayhawks with in-their-jersey defense, then withstood a furious rally to become the first team to beat a No. 1 seed in the second round since UAB and Alabama did it to Kentucky and Stanford in 2004.

Farokhmanesh, Northern Iowa’s first-round hero, had the biggest play of all.

With Kansas charging and its fans roaring, the fearless son of an Iranian Olympic volleyball player caught the ball on the wing after the Panthers had broken Kansas’ press. The shot clock still in the 30s, he hesitated for just an instant, then cast his bracket-busting shot with 34 seconds left on the game clock.

Trailing 66-62, Kansas had one last chance, but Tyrel Reed was called for an offensive foul and Farokhmanesh sealed it with two free throws with 5 seconds left, sending the Panthers to the round of 16 for the first time.

Next up is the Michigan State-Maryland winner in St. Louis — and another chance at history.

"This team has done such a great job of turning the page to what’s next, and this would be the biggest challenge of the year," Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson said. "A lot of positive things have happened because of the way these guys played.

Kansas (33-3) fell behind early and came up just short on one of its anticipated runs, ending a season that started with national-title aspirations on another disappointing NCAA loss to a mid-major.

The Jayhawks trailed by as many as 12 points and used defense to pull within one with 44 seconds left. But they let Farokhmanesh sneak behind them for the deciding 3 to go down for the mid-major count like they did to Bradley in 2006 and Bucknell the year before, also in Oklahoma City.

Cole Aldrich had 13 points and 10 rebounds, Marcus Morris added 16 points and Sherron Collins ended his stellar KU career with 10 points on 4-of-15 shooting.

"Obviously, everybody is disappointed on our team," Aldrich said. "To work so hard and to go through so much adversity ... it’s disappointing that we couldn’t have let Sherron go out in a better way."

The post-game celebration told the story. Farokhmanesh, who finished with 16 points, jumped into a huddle of teammates, and Koch embraced older brother Adam to a chant of "U-N-I!" At the other end, Jayhawks Morris and redshirt senior Mario Little crumbled to the floor, tears streaming down their faces when they finally rose. Yes, this was monumental.

"We never doubted we could play with them at all," senior Adam Koch said.

Kansas sneaked by Lehigh in the first round, using a spirit-crushing run to turn a scare into a 16-point win. Northern Iowa had a fight all the way through its three-point win over UNLV in the opener, breaking a 20-year NCAA winless drought on Farokhmanesh’s 25-footer with 4.9 seconds left.

This game was like opposite poles of two magnets; One of the nation’s highest-scoring teams against Northern Iowa’s stuck-in-the-mud mentality.

The Panthers faced the tougher task. They had never played a No. 1-ranked team and no one from their conference had beaten one since 1962. UNI also seemed to be overmatched against KU’s lineup of pros-in-waiting. When asked if any of their players could start for Kansas, Farokhmanesh and Adam Koch gave an uncomfortable laugh.

The thing about the Panthers is they know defensive positioning as well as any team in the country, moving in a symphonic dance of denial. Northern Iowa has become the most consistent team in its state, too, reaching the NCAA tournament five of the past seven years, good enough that Kansas coach Bill Self said there’s no way Cinderella’s shoe fits anymore.

He was right. UNI went right at the Jayhawks, opening with a 10-2 run that had Self burning an early timeout against a mid-major for the second straight game.

The Panthers kept attacking, leading all but 56 seconds of the first half, by as much as eight. Farokhmanesh was at his quick-shooting best, hitting all four of his shots — three 3s — for 11 points to put UNI in the upset position, up 36-28 at halftime.

"There were some things that happened during the game that I felt like wasn’t poor play by us, more so Northern Iowa making plays," Kansas coach Bill Self said.

The Panthers kept it up. Northern Iowa kept forcing Kansas into mistakes, didn’t stop making shots and built the lead to 47-35 with 12½ minutes left. That’s when Kansas starting inching back.

Turning up their defensive pressure, the Jayhawks clipped the lead down to 56-53 with just 4½ minutes left as their fans made the Ford Center feel like Allen Fieldhouse.

The Panthers didn’t blink, answering every challenge for the monster upset.

"We knew they were going to turn up the pressure," Adam Koch said. "In this kind of environment, where this could be your last game, you’re going to come at it with everything."

-- John Marshall

Pullen rallies K-State past BYU, Fredette

OKLAHOMA CITY — Jacob Pullen got knocked to the floor, his hip aching and his Kansas State team stuck in an early hole on the same floor where the NCAA tournament’s biggest upset had just taken place.

When he refused to stay down, so did his Wildcats. Pullen scored 20 of his career-high 34 points in the first half to help rally No. 2 seed Kansas State back from an early 10-point deficit, and the Wildcats turned away Jimmer Fredette and BYU 84-72 on Saturday night in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

"I just couldn’t sit there and watch us play," Pullen said. "Unless something was broken (or) I couldn’t walk, man, I would have gotten back up and tried to play."

Behind Pullen’s standout effort on both ends of the floor, the Wildcats (28-7) are doing something they didn’t do even when No. 2 NBA draft pick Michael Beasley was on the team two years ago — moving into the third round of the NCAAs.

K-State coach Frank Martin and his athletic team will face the winner of Sunday’s game between No. 3 seed Pittsburgh and sixth-seeded Xavier next weekend in Salt Lake City. The last time the school made it that far came in 1988, when Mitch Richmond was completing his college career before moving on to the NBA.

"It’s an amazing feeling," Pullen said. "It’s a childhood dream. I’ve watched basketball my whole life. I watched all of the NCAA tournaments since I was a kid, so for me to be able to be in this position, I thank Frank all the time. It’s an amazing thing that he was able to give me the opportunity.

"My recruitment wasn’t crazy. I didn’t have a million schools knocking on my door. I had some mid-major schools and then I had Frank walking through my door and telling me I could play."

Martin, the Wildcats’ fire-breathing coach, recalled how Pullen had been largely responsible for the Wildcats’ early exit from the tournament in Beasley’s only year at K-State. He was charged with stopping Wisconsin’s Trevon Hughes, who matched his career high with 25 points in a 72-55 rout.

But Pullen came back and accepted Martin’s discipline and structure, and committed to working hard to make the Wildcats better. Pullen called it his way of paying Martin back for believing in him.

"You live for the moment where you get around guys like him," Martin said.

Pullen came alive with a scoring flurry shortly after he and Fredette got tangled up in transition in the first half, scoring Kansas State’s final 11 points of the first half to build 41-31 lead after the Wildcats had fallen behind 10-0 to start the game. BYU never got closer than five in the second half.

Pullen ended up surpassing 30 points for the third time in his career while matching a career best with seven 3-pointers. Equally as important was his physical defense against Fredette, who had scored 37 points to get the seventh-seeded Cougars (30-6) past Florida in double overtime in the first round. Fredette finished with 21 points on 4-of-13 shooting, breaking his string of three straight games with at least 30 points.

Pullen said he had studied Fredette’s crossover move and his favorite tendencies, and he executed Martin’s plan to keep Fredette out of the middle of the floor.

"I just tried to remember all of the those little things to make sure that I kept him at arm’s distance," Pullen said. "He’s a good player, though. He still found ways to score the ball. I give him a lot of credit because he’s an amazing scorer. He finds a way to score the ball, regardless of the defensive presence."

When he wasn’t being hounded by Pullen, Fredette faced the kind of physical play he’d prepared for by playing a handful of games against inmates at upstate New York prisons.

Fredette took shots to his face and head at least three times in the game, including a midcourt run-in with Denis Clemente that left him grabbing at his nose to check for blood. Fredette also got smacked in the face in transition after a K-State steal in the first half and had his head dinged under the basket just after halftime.

"They did a good job, were aggressive and sometimes that happens," said Fredette, who added that he hadn’t made up his mind about whether to enter the NBA draft. "They had a good game plan, executed it pretty well and played good defense."

Fredette put his stamp on March Madness with a combination of tricky scoop shots and clutch 3-pointers as he matched BYU’s NCAA tournament scoring record in the opening game. But then he ran into Pullen — literally.

The two got tangled up after Pullen knocked the ball away from Fredette with just under 7 minutes left in the first half and Pullen remained on the court for a few moments grasping his left hip. He stayed in the game and hit a 3-pointer from the right wing that gave K-State its first lead with 4:21 left before halftime.

"They turned it up a notch and put a lot of pressure on us," said Jackson Emery, who hit two 3-pointers in BYU’s opening 10-0 spurt. "It wasn’t a pressure that we haven’t seen before ... but it took us a little while to respond to their pressure and to just counter that. By the time we did that, we were already in a hole."

-- Jeff Latzke

Big 12 Women

Cowgirls rally from 18 down, beat Chattanooga

TEMPE, Ariz. — Oklahoma State looked lost for a half without the nation’s No. 3 scorer Andrea Riley. Then Toni Young and Tegan Cunningham took over as the Cowgirls used a fierce fullcourt press to get back in the game.

Young scored 16 of her career-high 22 points in the second half and fourth-seeded Oklahoma State rallied from an 18-point halftime deficit to beat No. 13-seed Chattanooga 70-63 in the first round of the NCAA women’s tournament on Saturday night.

"Wow, I’ve been in this a long time now, and I think it’s the greatest win I’ve ever been associated with," Oklahoma State coach Kurt Budke said. "It’s one thing to come back and get a win, but it’s another thing to get your butt beat for 20 minutes and figure out a way to come back without your star."

Riley was suspended by the NCAA for the game because she hit an opponent in the back of the head in the first round two years ago. Cunningham, who made 1 of 13 shots in the first half, scored 19 of her 25 points in the second for Oklahoma State (24-10), which outscored the Lady Mocs 51-26 after the break after scoring a season-low 19 in the first 20 minutes. Senior Ally Clardy, Riley’s roommate and her replacement most of the game, had 10 assists.

"We went from a story that people were questioning to I think the greatest story in America right now in women’s college basketball after this game," Budke said. "... I thought it showed unbelievable heart from this team."

Kayla Christopher scored 15 and Shanara Hollinquest 14 for Chattanooga (24-9).

"It hurts a lot," Hollinquest said. "It was right there in our fingertips and we let it go."

Riley, a senior who averaged 26.6 points per game, cheered on the Cowgirls from two rows behind the team bench as frustrated Chattanooga committed 17 second-half turnovers. She went from visions of an ugly end to her college career to knowing she will play at least one more game.

"She’s my roommate, my friend for four years," Clardy said. "It would kill me, absolutely kill me, to play my last game without her."

Oklahoma State plays Monday night against the winner of Georgia-Tulane. The school wouldn’t let Riley talk to reporters after the game.

According to STATS, it was the biggest halftime comeback since 1999, besting the previous mark of 12. Talk about a transformation.

The Cowgirls shot 17 percent (6 of 35) in the first half, 60 percent (21 of 35) in the second. They never made a 3-pointer all day, going 0 for 15, but they got back into it with layups and short jumpers.

"Everyone on the court said just keep on shooting," Cunningham said. "Everyone had faith in me and I just had to keep on shooting. I knew eventually they’d start falling."

Riley has scored 37 percent of Oklahoma State’s points this season, along with an average of 6.5 assists per game, and her teammates obviously were pressing from the start to try to make up for her absence. In one stretch, the Cowgirls missed 15 shots in a row, as Chattanooga took a 29-10 lead on Christopher’s 3-pointer with 9:53 left in the half.

The Lady Mocs made their first five shots, three of them 3-pointers, then they turned as cold as the Cowgirls, going seven minutes without a point. Still, an 18-point lead had to feel comfortable. Oklahoma State’s 19 first-half points were the lowest scoring in the tournament. Then came that nasty press.

"The funny thing is we barely practice the press," Clardy said. "I honestly don’t know if I’ve practiced the press all year. We just threw it out there. All it is, is heart. Defense is heart, so we went after it."

The Cowgirls erased the 18-point lead in less than 11 minutes. Chattanooga turned it over three straight times in the first 2:24 of the second half. With 11:11 to play, the Lady Mocs had far more turnovers (11) than they did points (six) in the second half.

Precious Robinson’s layup finally tied it at 48-48 with 9:09 to play and Oklahoma State took the lead on Megan Byford’s two free throws with 7:47 to go. Cunningham’s jumper put the Cowgirls up 60-53 with 5:04 to go, then the Southern Conference champs managed one last gasp.

Michelle Davis made a 3-pointer and Hollinquest a layup that cut it to 62-61 with 3:20 to go, but Oklahoma State forced two more turnovers and outscored the Lady Mocs 9-2 the rest of the way.

"You’ve got to give Oklahoma State a lot of credit," Chattanooga coach Wes Moore said. "It was a great move going to the press and falling back into the zone."

The Lady Mocs fell to 1-10 in NCAA tournament games.

-- Bob Baum

S. Dakota St. ready for 2nd NCAA tournament dance

NORMAN, Okla. — While making the transition from NCAA Division II, South Dakota State had to wait four seasons before becoming eligible for the Division I tournament last year. Now the Jackrabbits are becoming tournament regulars.