NCAA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Top-Seeded Vanderbilt Coasts to Victory

Vanderbilt got a scare when Sheri Sam, its leading scorer and rebounder, was injured, relaxed when it won, then got scared again by what lies ahead.

Kelly Dougherty scored 17 points to lead the top-seeded Commodores to a 95-68 victory over Memphis on Sunday in the second round of the West Regional at Nashville, Tenn.

Sam, who averages 15.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, fell and injured her right wrist with 9:10 to play. Her X-rays were negative and she is expected to play next week.

It’s next week that worries Vanderbilt Coach Jim Foster. The Commodores (28-6) play Purdue in the region semifinals on Thursday at Pauley Pavilion on the UCLA campus.

Stanford, which has two titles in the ‘90s, plays defending national champion North Carolina in the other semifinal.

“Every team out there has been in the Final Four, every one of them. So they know how to act in this environment,” said Foster, whose lineup includes two freshmen and a sophomore who weren’t around when Vanderbilt went to the Final Four in 1993.

Memphis was paced by LaTonya Johnson with 24 points and Kitty Allen with 22.

MIDWEST REGIONAL

Tammy Gibson’s only points, on a layup with 2.4 seconds to play, gave No. 24 North Carolina State (21-9) a 76-74 upset of No. 7 Penn State (26-5) at State College, Pa. The second-seeded Nittany Lions are the highest-seeded team to lose in the tournament. . . Myriah Lonergan made a short jump shot with 36.7 seconds to play in overtime and George Washington (26-5) rallied from 17 points behind in the final five minutes of regulation in a 96-93 victory over Drake (25-6) in Washington, D.C. . . . Tracy Henderson had 14 points, 13 rebounds and a school-record 10 blocks in leading Georgia (26-4) to an 81-68 victory over Louisville (25-8) in Athens, Ga.

MIDEAST REGIONAL

Ninth-ranked Western Kentucky (27-3) trailed most of the game, but got 16 of Gwen Doyle’s 17 points in the second half, including nine that fueled a 25-9 run in an 85-78 victory over Oregon State (21-8) at Bowling Green, Ky.