Relaxed Tennessee Hot Enough to Beat Kansas

Tennessee was relaxed and ready for Kansas in the women’s NCAA East Regional semifinals. That’s all it took.

The Volunteers, ranked fourth in the country, ran their winning streak to 12 games with a 92-71 victory over No. 20 Kansas on Saturday in Charlottesville, Va., to move within one game of their ninth Final Four berth in 15 years of the women’s tournament.

That game will be against No. 11 Virginia, which beat No. 6 Old Dominion, 72-60, and which will be playing on its home court.

Tennessee (29-4) got 18 points from Latina Davis, 16 from Chamique Holdsclaw and 12 from Michelle Marciniak. The Volunteers outshot Kansas, 53% to 44.1%, and outrebounded the Jayhawks, 16-8.

Kansas (22-10), making its first appearance beyond the second round, trailed, 49-30, by halftime. The Jayhawks were led by Angie Halbleib with 21 points.

“We played one of the best teams in the nation,” Halbleib said. “I expect to see them in the Final Four.”

Tora Suber’s 26 points led Virginia’s victory over Old Dominion (29-3). The Cavaliers (26-6) lost to Tennessee, 78-51, in the season opener for both teams.

MIDEAST REGIONAL

Sheri Sam continued her torrid postseason shooting with 30 points at Rosemont, Ill., where she led 12th-ranked Vanderbilt (23-7) to a 74-53 victory over seventh-ranked Iowa (27-4). Sam is averaging 32.3 points and shooting 75% in three tournament games. She leads the Commodores into a Monday game against top-seeded Connecticut (33-3), a 72-44 winner over San Francisco (24-8).

MIDWEST REGIONAL

Racquel Spurlock had 20 points and 17 rebounds for top-seeded Louisiana Tech (31-1), which overcame a slow start for a 66-55 victory over Texas Tech (27-5) in Nacogdoches, Texas. Louisiana Tech advanced to a game against Georgia (24-4), which got 19 points from Saudia Roundtree and 17 from Kendra Holland in a 78-64 victory over Stephen F. Austin (27-4).

WEST REGIONAL

Laticia Morris scored 27 points, including seven in the final 1:08, for 19th-ranked Auburn (23-8) in a 75-69 victory over eighth-ranked Penn State (27-7) at Seattle, where the War Eagles will play top-seeded Stanford, a 78-76 overtime winner over Alabama in a late game.

*

Women’s Basketball Notes

Lin Dunn, who led the Purdue women’s basketball team to the NCAA tournament Final Four in 1994 and to three Big Ten titles, was fired, as was assistant MaChelle Joseph. Dunn compiled a 206-68 record in nine seasons at Purdue, but was reprimanded after she was found to have violated NCAA recruiting rules. . . . Lori Roufs had 28 points and 10 rebounds to lead North Dakota State (30-2) to its fourth consecutive Division II women’s title with a 104-78 victory over Shippensburg, Pa. (28-6), at Fargo, N.D.