Taliah Scott scored nine of her team-high 15 points in the fourth quarter to help No. 6 Baylor survive an upset bid from No. 11 Nebraska for a 67-62 win in Sacramento Region 2 first-round action Friday in Durham, N.C.
The Bears will face host Duke, the No. 3 seed, in the second round Sunday.
Scott finished 3 of 12 from the floor and 0-for-8 from 3-point range, but compensated by hitting 7 of 8 free-throw attempts in the fourth. The Bears (25-8), who led by 11 in the first quarter, trailed 50-41 with 9:33 to play when Nebraska’s Britt Prince opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer. The Bears proceeded to score 11 of their 26 fourth-quarter points at the charity stripe. They took the lead for good on two Scott free throws with 3:48 left.
Darianna Littlepage-Buggs paired 13 points with 11 rebounds for Baylor while Jana Van Gytenbeek added 12 points and Bella Fontleroy chipped in 10. The Bears held a 43-33 rebounding edge and a 17-6 lead in second-chance points to overcome a 4-for-21 perimeter-shooting performance (19%).
Prince scored a game-high 27 points on 8-of-19 shooting after scoring 22 in Nebraska’s First Four win over Richmond. Logan Nissley contributed 11 points and eight rebounds for the Cornhuskers (19-13) while Jessica Petrie scored 10 before fouling out in 24 minutes. Second-leading scorer Amiah Hargrove (12.7 ppg) grabbed 11 boards, but scored just six points on 2-of-13 shooting.
No. 3 Duke 81, No. 14 Charleston 64
Toby Fournier tallied 24 points to help the Blue Devils get off to a hot start and coast to a victory over the Cougars in Durham, N.C.
Fournier scored nine in the first quarter and 16 in the first half, helping Duke (25-8) to a 45-26 halftime advantage. Delaney Thomas made 7 of 11 shots to finish with 19 points to go with nine rebounds. Jordan Wood made all five of her 3-point attempts to score 17. The Blue Devils turned it over 20 times, including six times in the fourth quarter when Charleston outscored them 23-15.
The Cougars (27-6) were led by 36 points from Taryn Barbot and 13 from Taylor Barbot in the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance. Taryn Barbot (6 of 12) accounted for all of the team’s 3-point makes and 14 of its 22 made free throws. Charleston was held to 26.1% shooting from the field.
No. 5 Ole Miss 81, No. 12 Gonzaga 66
Latasha Lattimore tallied 15 points off the bench and Sira Thienou added 12 points, eight rebounds and four blocks as the Rebels never trailed against the Bulldogs in Minneapolis, Minn.
The Rebels (24-11) will face either host No. 4 Minnesota or No. 13 Green Bay in the second round on Sunday.
Ole Miss dominated the first three quarters and built a 68-37 advantage before emptying its bench heading into the final 10 minutes.
Cotie McMahon contributed 13 points and Denim DeShields had 11 for Ole Miss. But the real difference was on defense as the Rebels held Gonzaga to 36.5% shooting and forced 21 turnovers turned into 23 points on the other end.
Allie Turner led all scorers with 27 points for the Bulldogs (24-10) while Jaiden Haile added 11 points and eight rebounds. Lauren Whitaker grabbed a game-high 13 boards, but she went 4 of 21 from the field.
–Field Level Media
