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Florida women bounced from NCAAs by Penn State

 
Published March 26, 2014

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Florida's return to the NCAA Tournament has it longing for a deeper run the next time.

The Gators expect to be back soon.

"It just continues to generate a high expectation for our program," coach Amanda Butler said. "It's just huge, huge strides being in the position that we're in."

The Gators will have to wait another year to build on this season's flirtation with the Sweet 16. Maggie Lucas and Dara Taylor each scored 22 to send Penn State into the Stanford Region semifinals with a 83-61 win over Florida on Tuesday night.

Kayla Lewis led the 11th-seeeded Gators (20-13) with 20 points and nine rebounds. Jaterra Bonds scored 14.

"They pressured us up," Lewis said. "We turned the ball over a little bit too much."

The third-seeded Lions (24-7) will play at No. 2 Stanford (30-3) on Sunday.

Lucas, the two-time Big Ten player of the year, topped 2,500 career points and led the Lions to the region semifinal for the second time in three seasons.

Lucas planted a kiss on the Penn State logo, one final imprint on her home court.

She was the last Lion to sprint toward the locker room, pumping her fist for the final time in front of her fans.

"That we're able to share it with the fans, it's just a whole better feeling," Lucas said. "It's a great way to go out of the Bryce Jordan Center."

Moments after the final horn sounded, Lucas ran toward the fans and let loose a yell a season in the making: "Let's gooooo!"

UNC 62, MICH. ST. 53: Freshman Diamond DeShields had 24 points and a season-high 12 rebounds for the fourth-seeded Tar Heels (26-9). Host North Carolina led by nine at halftime then dominated the opening minutes of the second half, running off 14 straight points to rout the fifth-seeded Spartans (23-10).

S.C. 78, OREGON ST. 69: Aleighsa Welch had 21 points and 11 rebounds, Tiffany Mitchell added 20 points and 10 boards and the top-seeded Gamecocks (29-4) used their size and athleticism to overwhelm the No. 9 seed Beavers (24-11) in Seattle.

Lincoln Region

UCONN 91, ST. JOSEPH'S 52: Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, who missed 12 games this season with an elbow injury and later a bout with mononucleosis, had 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the host Huskies (36-0). It was the third triple double ever for top-seeded UConn and the 14th in NCAA Tournament history. Erin Shields and Sarah Fairbanks had 12 points each to lead the ninth-seeded Hawks (23-10).

TEXAS A&M 85, JAMES MADISON 69: Courtney Williams scored 23 and Karla Gilbert added 20 points with 15 rebounds for the third-seeded Aggies (26-8) on their home court. Kirby Burkholder led the 11th-seeded Dukes (29-6) with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

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Louisville Region

MARYLAND 69, TEXAS 64: Alyssa Thomas scored all of her 16 in the second half, and the fourth-seeded Terrapins (26-6) squeezed past the fifth-seeded Longhorns (22-12) in College Park. Maryland is 23-8 in the NCAA Tournament under coach Brenda Frese and has reached the Sweet 16 in six of her 12 seasons at the helm.

LOUISVILLE 83, IOWA 53: Shoni Schimmel had 26 points, seven assists and five steals for the third-seeded Cardinals (32-4), who thumped the host Hawkeyes (27-9) to earn their fifth trip to the Sweet 16 under coach Jeff Walz. Sixth-seeded Iowa made 1 of 16 3-pointers.

LSU 76, W. VA. 67: Danielle Ballard had 22 points and 15 rebounds for the seventh-seeded Tigers (21-12), who earned their second straight Sweet 16 berth with a comeback victory over the second-seeded Mountaineers (30-5) in Baton Rouge.

Women's NCAA Tournament Sweet 16

Region semisRegion finalsFinal FourChampionshipFinal FourRegion finalsRegion semis
lincolnLincoln, Neb.1 UConn1 Notre DameSouth Bend, Ind.notre dame
Saturday, 4:30Nashville, Tenn.Saturday, 2 p.m.
12 BYU5 Oklahoma State
March 31 or April 1March 31 or April 1
3 Texas A&M3 Kentucky
Saturday, 7 Saturday, noon
7 DePaul2 Baylor
April 6April 8April 6
stanfordStanford, Calif.1 South Carolina1 TennesseeLouisville, Ky.louisville
Sunday, TBASunday, TBA
4 North Carolina4 Maryland
March 31 or April 1March 31 or April 1
3 Penn State3 Louisville
Sunday, TBASunday, TBA
2 Stanford7 LSU