Women's Hoop Report 77

Women's National Invitational Tournament Final, March 28

Rice 71, Ole Miss 58

Two giants went to battle in the Women's National Invitational Tournament championship game on March 28. Rice's (23-4) Nancy Mulkey and Ole Miss' (15-12) Shakira Austin each stand at six-foot-five and are a major reason for their respective school's success.

On that day, Mulkey led Rice to its first WNIT championship. The center guided her team with a near triple-double. She recorded 19 points, 12 rebounds and seven blocked shots. Austin gave all she had with 25 points, nine rebounds and five blocks in the defeat.

Below: Nancy Mulkey guarded by Shakira Austin

The bottom line is that Rice shot the ball better on all levels. The Owls made 50 percent of their shots, Ole Miss made 30 percent. Rice hit four-of-nine from three-point land, Ole Miss missed all six of its three-point attempts. Rice hit all of its 17 free-throws, Ole Miss made 16-of-22 free-throws.

Mulkey missed just two of her 11 shots. Her teammate forward Lauren Schwartz continued her post-season tear. The sophomore scored 19 points on eight-of-14 shooting. She averaged 20 points per game in the five WNIT games that she helped Rice win. Schwartz entered her the Conference USA Tournament averaging 10.9 points per game.

Rice guard Jasmine Smith scored 11 points, grabbed nine boards and stole the ball four times. Her backcourt mate Katelyn Crosthwait also collected four steals to go along with five rebounds and eight points. Outside of Austin's effort, Ole Miss got very little production from everyone else. Its usual efficient point guard Mimi Reid had just one assist and three turnovers. It was only the second time she had more turnovers than assists all season long.

NCAA Tournament , March 28

Sweet 16

South Carolina 76, Georgia Tech 65

Above: Laeticia Amihere

South Carolina (25-4) knocked out a pesky Georgia Tech (17-9) squad in the round of 16 in the Women's NCAA Tournament. Gamecocks guard Zia Cooke hit five-of-six threes to lead her team to victory with 17 points. Reserve sophomore forward Laeticia Amihere posted a season high 15 points and seven boards off of the bench.

The Yellow Jackets got 20 points and five assists from Lotta-Maj Lahtinen. Kierra Fletcher scored 16 and Lorela Cubaj pitched in 15 points in the defeat.

Stanford 89, Missouri State 62

Above: Hannah Jump

Stanford (28-2) was too much for Missouri State. The Cardinal drained 15-of-32 three-point attempts including five-of-nine shooting from reserve Hannah Jump on the way to a 27-point win. Jump tied her season high with 17 points. The five threes was also matched a season best as well. Freshman forward Cameron Brink played just nine minutes but posted seven points, five blocks and three rebounds.

Senior reserve guard Elle Ruffridge led Missouri State with 18 points. She made four-of-five threes and seven-of-nine shots overall. She averaged 16.6 points during the NCAA Tournament.

Louisville 60, Oregon 42

Louisville (26-3) star guard Dana Evans shot Oregon (15-9) out of the Sweet 16, scoring a game high 29 points. Evans who has scored at least 20 points 18 times this year hadn't done so since Feb. 28 which was a five-game stretch. Cardinals guard Kianna Smith also posted 11 points in the win.

Below: Dana Evans

Oregon senior forward Erin Boley posted a double-double for her squad with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Junior forward Nyara Sabally had 14 points, seven rebounds and three blocks for the Ducks.

Texas 64, Maryland 61

After a rough second round, center Charli Collier got things back on track with 16 points and 11 rebounds in Texas' (21-9) win over Maryland. After trailing 32-25 at the half, Texas used a 24-15 third quarter to gain control of the game. Texas guard Celeste Taylor also had a double-double with 15 points and 11 boards.

Below: Charli Collier

Maryland (26-3) was led by sophomore Diamond Miller's 21 points. She also led the team with eight rebounds and two blocks.

Scores from March 29

Elite Eight

UConn 69, Baylor 67

Arizona 66, Indiana 53