USC Loses to No. 4 Kansas State in Semifinal of Women’s NIT

Kendra Wecker had 24 points and 12 rebounds to lead No. 4 Kansas State to a 73-61 victory over USC on Wednesday night at Manhattan, Kan., in a semifinal of the preseason women’s NIT.

Despite committing 29 turnovers, Kansas State (3-0) never trailed.

Rachel Woodward led USC (2-1) with 13 points and Meghan Gnekow scored 12.

Kansas State threw the ball away seven times in the first seven minutes of the second half, and the Trojans trimmed an 18-point deficit to 10 with 13:34 left. The Wildcats settled down and went on a 10-0 run to take a 21-point lead with 9:13 left.

The Trojans cut that lead to 10 points with 1:45 to play but never got closer.

The Wildcats shot 46% and the Trojans shot 31%.

No. 14 Penn State 82, No. 20 Mississippi State 66 -- Kelly Mazzante scored 36 points to lead the Nittany Lions (3-0) at State College, Pa., in the other NIT semifinal.

It was Mazzante’s second consecutive 30-point game and the 16th time in 67 college games she has scored 30 points or more. She led the nation in scoring last season.

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MEN’S GAMES

Stanford 63, No. 11 Xavier 62 -- Julius Barnes scored 14 points, including two free throws with 27 seconds left, and Stanford (2-0) ran out the clock at Palo Alto in a quarterfinal game of the men’s preseason NIT.

Lionel Chalmers led Xavier (1-1) with 20 points.

North Carolina 71, Rutgers 67 -- Rashad McCants scored eight of his 18 points in the last 6:25 and the Tar Heels (2-0) rallied at Chapel Hill, N.C., in a quarterfinal game of the men’s preseason NIT.

Rutgers (1-1) led, 59-48, with 7:26 left, but fell apart down the stretch against a North Carolina lineup of three freshmen and two sophomores.

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X-rays on the right thumb of UCLA senior forward Jason Kapono were negative, and he should be able to play in the Bruin opener against San Diego on Tuesday. Kapono jammed the thumb at practice Friday and sat out the Bruins’ exhibition loss to EA Sports on Tuesday.