Bucknell Earns Its First Bid

Molly Creamer scored 22 points as Bucknell earned its first NCAA tournament bid Wednesday night by stunning top-seeded Holy Cross, 88-74, in the Patriot League championship game at Worcester, Mass.

Bucknell’s victory also ended the Crusaders’ 22-game home winning streak and 61-game home winning streak against league opponents. Holy Cross (23-7) suffered its last conference loss at home against Fordham in 1994.

Bucknell improved to 21-9.

OTHER TOURNAMENTS

*

Big 12--Stacey Dales scored 23 points as No. 4 Oklahoma (25-3) beat Oklahoma State (16-15), 87-56, in the second round at Kansas City, Mo.... Sheila Lambert scored a season-high 30 points to lead Baylor (25-4) past Texas Tech (18-11), 75-60.... Kansas State (24-6) got a game-high 23 points from Kendra Wecker to beat Texas (20-9).... Angie Welle rebounded Lindsey Wilson’s miss and scored with three seconds left to lift 11th-ranked Iowa State (23-7) past No. 10 Colorado (21-9), 58-56.

*

Mountain West--Barb Smith was fired as San Diego State’s coach after the Aztecs (10-18) lost, 65-52, to New Mexico (22-7) in the first round at Las Vegas. Smith was 49-86 in five seasons.... Angie Gorton had 23 points as Colorado State (24-5) ousted Air Force (4-24), 79-68.... Erin Thorn had 28 points to lead Brigham Young (20-8) to an 82-69 victory over Wyoming (13-15).

Western Athletic--Ayana Walker scored 15 points to lead Louisiana Tech (23-4) to a 70-53 victory over Boise State (10-20) at Tulsa, Okla.... Karena Greeny led Hawaii (22-6) to a 45-41 victory over Nevada (9-19).... Tulsa (17-12) downed San Jose State (17-11), 66-63.... Rice (21-7) beat Southern Methodist (12-18), 80-58.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Women’s NCAA Automatic Bids

* Arizona State (24-8), Pacific 10

* Austin Peay (20-11), Ohio Valley

* Bucknell (21-9), Patriot

* Chattanooga (23-7), Southern

* Duke (27-3), Atlantic Coast

* Harvard (20-5), Ivy

* Indiana (17-13), Big Ten

* Liberty (23-7), Big South

* Pepperdine (23-7) West Coast

* St. Peter’s (25-5), Metro Atlantic Ath.

* Temple (20-10), Atlantic 10

* Vanderbilt (27-6), Southeastern

* Connecticut (33-0), Big East

* Oakland (Mich.) (16-13), Mid-Continent

* Florida International (26-5), Sun Belt

* Wis. Green Bay (24-6), Horizon