Connecticut women crush Temple, 90-36

Maya Moore scored 19 points and No. 1 Connecticut outscored Temple by 43 points in a near-perfect first half Tuesday night and the Huskies beat the Owls, 90-36, in the second round of the NCAA women’s tournament at Norfolk, Va.

The victory was the 74th in a row for the Huskies (35-0), the longest streak in NCAA Division I women’s history, and probably one of the least enjoyable for Coach Geno Auriemma since it came against a team coached by Tonya Cardoza, one of his assistants for 14 years.

But Cardoza and the eighth-seeded Owls (25-9) never had a chance. Moore made three-pointers on the Huskies’ first two possession, then the Huskies ran off 20 points in a row in six minutes after Temple closed within 13-5, and finished the half on a 20-1 burst for a 55-12 lead.

Connecticut will face Iowa State on Sunday in the regional semifinal in Dayton, Ohio.

While Connecticut shot almost 78% in the half, the Owls treated the ball like a hot potato in the face of the Huskies’ unrelenting defense, making five of 32 shots.

Mississippi State 85, Ohio State 67: Alexis Rack drove through and around Ohio State’s slow-to-react defense for 30 points and seventh-seeded Mississippi State upset the second-seeded Buckeyes at Pittsburgh to reach the NCAA women’s tournament round of 16 for the first time.

The Lady Bulldogs (21-12) trailed by as many as eight points in the first half, only to use their quickness, adept ball movement and outside shooting to seize control with an 18-0 run that turned a 32-26 deficit into a 44-32 lead. They never looked back in avenging a second-round loss to the Buckeyes (31-5) a season ago. Mississippi State plays Florida State (28-5) on Sunday in Dayton.

Iowa State 60, Wisconsin Green Bay 56: Kelsey Bolte scored 15 points, including the go-ahead three-pointer with 1:11 left at Ames, Iowa,, and the fourth-seeded Cyclones (25-7) earned a matchup with Connecticut.

The 12th-seeded Phoenix finished with a 28-5 record.

Memphis Regional

San Diego State 64, West Virginia 55: Jene Morris scored 27 points and Quenese Davis added 19, sending the 11th-seeded Aztecs (23-10) to another upset at Austin, Texas.

Morris scored six points in a 8-0 Aztecs run late in the second half after third-seeded West Virginia (29-6) had rallied to tie it at 47.

The Aztecs now go on to the regional semifinals for the first time in school history.

Kansas City Regional:

Notre Dame 84, Vermont 66: Skylar Diggins had a season-high 31 points, seven steals, and six assists to lead second-seeded Notre Dame at South Bend, Ind.

The Irish (29-5) finished with 19 steals and forced the Catamounts into a season-high 25 turnovers. Notre Dame, which fell behind by 10 points eight minutes into the game, finished the half on a 32-13 run to open a 42-33 lead at intermission. The 10th-seeded Catamounts (27-7) never got closer than eight points.

Notre Dame advanced to the Kansas City Regional semifinal, their eighth trip to the round of 16 in last 14 years.

Oklahoma 60, Arkansas Little Rock 44: Abi Olajuwon had 19 points and 11 rebounds and third-seeded Oklahoma made the most of a sloppy first half at Norman, Okla. The Sooners (25-10) closed a ragged first half with an 11-0 run to go up by 15 and never let the 11th-seeded Trojans (27-7) get back within single digits to complete their stingiest defensive performance of the season.

Sacramento Regional

Xavier 63, Vanderbilt 62: Amber Harris led a last-minute Xavier comeback and made the go-ahead layup with 12.3 seconds left, rallying the third-seeded Musketeers at Cincinnati. Harries, a 6-foot-5 forward, bailed Xavier (29-3) out of a 10-point deficit, scoring the Musketeers’ last six points. Xavier will take a 20-game winning streak into its regional semifinal game against Gonzaga on Saturday.

Vanderbilt (23-11) led most of the game behind point guard Jence Rhoads, who had 20 points and seven assists.