Stiles Is Held to 16 Points in Southwest Missouri State Win

Jackie Stiles, the NCAA’s career scoring leader, scored only 16 points but No. 16 Southwest Missouri State still defeated Northern Iowa, 86-54, Friday night in the semifinals of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament at Springfield, Mo.

Southwest Missouri (24-5) will play Drake (23-5)--a 64-59 winner over Evansville--for the championship today.

Stiles, the nation’s leading scorer at 31 points a game, scored 14 points in the first half. She scored seven points in a 15-0 run in the first half that gave Southwest Missouri a 25-10 lead.

Stiles, however, picked up her fourth foul with 14:31 left and played only five minutes in the second half.

Northern Iowa (18-10) shot 27% and was one of nine from three-point range. Abbi Schutte led the Panthers with 22 points.

OTHER TOURNAMENTS

Mountain West--Erin Thorn made a three-point basket and had two free throws in the final minute as Brigham Young rallied from a 20-point halftime deficit and defeated No. 14 Utah, 57-50, to advance to the championship game at Las Vegas. The Cougars (18-11) play Colorado State, a 70-65 winner over New Mexico, in the title game.

Big Sky--Janae Griffin made a free throw with two seconds left to give Idaho State a 56-55 victory over Weber State in the semifinals at Pocatello, Ida. Idaho State (24-4) has won 20 games in a row--the second longest streak in the nation. Penn has won 21 in a row. Idaho State will play Montana, which defeated Montana State, 84-67. Lauren Cooper had 19 points for Montana (21-8).

Division II--Lauri McIntosh had 23 points and 11 rebounds to lift No. 12 Cal Poly Pomona to a 91-85 victory over Western Washington in the NCAA West Regional semifinals at Pomona. Julie Walker had 22 points and Jenn McGillivray had 20 for Western Washington (21-8). Aprile Powell had 20 points for Cal Poly, which plays Seattle Pacific tonight for the championship.

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NCAA Women Qualifiers

Schools that have gained NCAA women’s tournament automatic bids by virtue of conference tournament championships, with exception of the Ivy League and Pacific 10--the only conferences that don’t conduct tournaments:

School: Conference

Austin Peay: Ohio Valley

Chattanooga: Southern

Connecticut : Big East

Duke: Atlantic Coast

Georgia: Southeastern

Holy Cross: Patriot

Iowa: Big Ten

Liberty: Big South

Long Island: Northeast

Louisiana Tech: Sun Belt

Oral Roberts: Mid-Continent

Pennsylvania: Ivy League

St. Mary’s: West Coast

Siena: Metro Atlantic Athletic

Tulane: Conference USA

Xavier: Atlantic 10