Lott, Marquette rally past Rice in OT
Columbia High grad has 9 points, 8 rebounds for Golden Eagles in win
Natisha Hiedeman scored 13 points, Allazia Blockton had 12 and five-seed Marquette overcame a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit to get a 58-54 win over No. 12 Rice in overtime in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday.
The Golden Eagles (27-7), who are in the tournament for the third straight season, will play Texas A&M on Sunday.
Amani Wilborn made a jumper with 31/2 minutes left in overtime to put Marquette up 54-52 and extend its run to 11-0. Blockton extended the lead to four with a shot with just more than a minute to go.
The Owls (28-4) ended a scoring drought of about seven minutes stretching back to the fourth quarter when Erica Ogwumike made a basket with 51 seconds left.
But Hiedeman made two free throws with 1.3 seconds left to make it 58-54 and secure the win.
Columbia High grad Selena Lott had nine points, eight rebounds, five steals and a block for Marquette. Texas A&M 84, wright state 61: Chennedy Carter scored 27 points in her return from injury, with 14 coming in Texas A&M’S huge first quarter, to help the No. 4 Aggies cruise to a win over No. 13 Wright State. Texas A&M, which is in the tournament for the 14th consecutive season, advances to the second round for the fourth straight year where it will play No. 5 Marquette on Sunday. Greensboro regional iowa 66, Mercer 61: Megan Gustafson scored 30 points with 16 rebounds and second-seeded Iowa narrowly avoided a monumental upset, holding off No. 15 Mercer for its first NCAA Tournament win in four years. The No. 15 seed has never won an NCAA Tournament game, going 0-101. south Carolina 74, belmont 52: Te’a Cooper scored 13 points, Alexis Jennings added 12 points and nine rebounds, and No. 4 South Carolina shook off a sluggish start to pull away from No. 13 seed Belmont. Tyasha Harris chipped in with 12 points and six assists and Doniyah Cliney added 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting for the Gamecocks.
Florida state 70, bucknell 67: Kiah Gillespie had 17 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 5 Florida State held on to beat No. 12 Bucknell. Nicki Ekhomu, Nausia Woolfork and Valencia Myers each had 15 points for the Seminoles (24-8), who advanced to play fourth-seeded South Carolina on Sunday.
Missouri 77, drake 76 (ot): Jordan Roundtree hit a free throw after being fouled with 1.1 seconds left in overtime and No. 7 Missouri beat No. 10 Drake. Sophie Cunningham scored 21 points and Cierra Porter had 18 for the Tigers (24-10), who can advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2001 with a win over secondseeded and host Iowa on Sunday. Portland regional Clemson 79, south dakota 66: Simone Westbrook scored 27 points, Danielle Edwards added 25 and No. 9 Clemson pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat No. 8 South Dakota. Edwards made four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to turn a tight game into a fairly comfortable victory. The 5-foot-7 senior made 10 of 17 shots, including 5 of 9 from 3-point range. Arizona state 60, UCF 45: Courtney Ekmark scored 15 of her game-high 20 points in the second half, and No. 5 Arizona State beat No. 12 UCF. Ekmark opened the game with a 3-pointer, then opened the second half with a pair of 3s. Those two quickly turned what was a 10-point halftime lead to a 16-point edge. indiana 69, Texas 65: Jaelynn Penn had 24 points and Bendu Yeaney added 17 to help No. 10 Indiana surprise No. 7 Texas. Brenna Wise and Ali Patberg contributed another 10 points apiece for the Hoosiers (21-12), who were making their first appearance in the tournament since the 2015-16 season. oregon 78, Portland state 40: Satou Sabally had 21 points and a careerhigh 16 rebounds to help second-seeded Oregon to an easy victory over No. 15 seed Portland State.
Miami 69, Florida Gulf Coast 62: Beatrice Mompremier scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and fourthseeded Miami needed an 11-0 run in the fourth quarter to come from briefly being behind and beat 13th-seeded Florida Gulf Coast. Endia Banks scored 14 and Mykea Gray added 10 for the Hurricanes (25-8), who wasted a 14-point secondhalf lead.
Mississippi state 103, southern 46: Anriel Howard scored 23 points, Teaira Mccowan added 22 and topseeded Mississippi State rolled past No. 16 seed Southern.