Baylor reaches Elite Eight again by beating Florida State, 78-58

Nina Davis scored 30 points and Baylor is going to the Elite Eight for the third consecutive year after a 78-58 victory over Florida State on Saturday in the Dallas Regional.

The No. 1-seeded Bears (36-1) will play No. 2-seeded Oregon State on Monday in the regional final.

Alexis Jones finished with 15 points, nine rebounds and five assists for Baylor, which has a 23-game winning streak. Khadijiah Cave had 10 rebounds.

Leticia Romero had 11 points for the fifth-seeded Seminoles (25-8), who were held below 65 points for only the fifth time this season.

Florida State missed its last seven shots of the first half and went scoreless in the final 3 minutes 28 seconds with four turnovers in that span.

Baylor had a 40-24 lead at the break, and Davis then scored 11 of her points in the third quarter.

Oregon State 83, DePaul 71: Jamie Weisner had career highs with 38 points and seven three-point baskets to help the Beavers (31-4) reach their first regional final.

Sydney Wiese had 13 points for Oregon State, including three three-pointers in an early three-minute span when the Beavers went ahead to stay. Ruth Hamblin also scored 13 points for the Beavers.

The Blue Demons (27-9) were in their fourth Sweet 16 under 30-year Coach Doug Bruno but have never advanced farther in the tournament.

Jessica January had 20 points for DePaul and Jacqui Grant had 15.

Connecticut 98, Mississippi State 38: Breanna Stewart had 22 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks to lead the No. 1-seeded Huskies (35-0) in the Bridgeport (Conn.) Regional.

It was the 72nd consecutive victory for the Huskies, who are three victories shy of an unprecedented fourth consecutive national championship.

“It was an awakening for our players and everyone else,” Coach Geno Auriemma said. “If you show up in March and don’t bring your ‘A’ game and your guys aren’t focused and locked in and playing their best basketball, that this can happen.”

The victory supplanted the record 51-point victory the Huskies had over Texas in a regional semifinal last year that set the NCAA record for margin of victory in the regional rounds and beyond.

The Huskies scored the game’s first 13 points, including 11 by Stewart and Morgan Tuck.

A basket by the fifth-seeded Bulldogs (28-8) did little to turn the tide as Connecticut scored 19 of the last 21 points of the first quarter.