ROUNDUP : Montana Advances to Game Against USC

Montana had neither the seeding nor the ranking, but its experience paid off in a 85-74 victory over Wisconsin in the first round of the NCAA West women’s basketball regional Wednesday night at Madison, Wis.

The Badgers (20-9), ranked 25th in the nation and seeded sixth in the regional, made only 36.6% of their shots in their first NCAA tournament game.

Montana (23-6), which made 51.5% of its shots, advances to a second-round game against USC (22-7) Sunday at the Sports Arena.

Shannon Cate scored 22 of her 34 points in the first half to lead Montana. The 6-foot-1 Cate, the Big Sky Conference’s all-time leading scorer, drew double and and even triple coverage down low, but she scored on a variety of inside moves and pull-up shots to help give Montana a 44-32 halftime lead.

Santa Clara 73, California 71--Melissa King scored 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to upset the Golden Bears in a West Regional game at Berkeley.

Santa Clara (21-9), which will face Texas Tech (26-4) Sunday, scored the first 10 points of the second half to pull away from a 35-35 halftime tie. Cal (20-9) was hurt by the loss of Milica Vukadinovic, who fouled out at the 13:52 mark of the second half after scoring only eight points.

DePaul 67, Arizona St. 65--Tammy Williams made two free throws with 36 seconds left to give the Blue Demons a 67-63 lead in the Midwest Regional at Chicago.

Arizona State (20-9) then made two free throws to cut it to 67-65 and fouled DePaul’s Rita Hale with five seconds left, but the Wildcats couldn’t connect on a last-second long-range shot after Hale missed her first free throw.

George Washington 70, Vermont 69--Mary K. Nordling scored 20 of her 26 points in the second half to lead the Colonials (25-6), who rallied from a 17-point deficit to win the East Regional game at Washington.

Connecticut 83, St. Peter’s 66--Wendy Davis had 17 points as the Huskies (23-10) had a strong second half in the East Regional victory at Storrs, Conn.

North Carolina 60, Old Dominion 54--Sophomore Tonya Sampson scored 25 points and made eight of nine free throws in the final six minutes as the Tar Heels prevailed in the East Regional game at Chapel Hill, N.C.

Clemson 76, Tenn. Chattanooga 72--Cheron Wells and Kerry Boyatt-Hall made two free throws apiece in the final 15 seconds for the East Regional victory at Clemson, S.C.

Northern Illinois 77, Louisiana Tech 71--Angela Lockett scored 22 points in the Huskies’ upset Mideast Regional victory in overtime at DeKalb, Ill.

Northern Illinois (18-3) led, 63-58, with 36 seconds left. But three free throws by Louisiana Tech’s Amy Brown and a short jump shot by Pam Thomas tied the score, 63-63, with 6.3 seconds left.

Toledo 74, Providence 64--Lucretia Legault and Dana Drew each had 17 points to rally the Rockets (26-5) from an 14-1 deficit in a Mideast Regional game at Providence, R.I.

Rutgers 93, Southern Mississippi 63--Tanya Hansen celebrated her 22nd birthday by scoring 10 of her 29 points in a 19-3 first-half run and the Lady Knights (21-10) won the Mideast Regional game at Piscataway, N.J.

Southern Illinois 84, Colorado 80--Angie Rougeau scored 26 points and Tiffany Bolden 22 as the Salukis used superior rebounding to win in overtime in the Midwest Regional at Boulder, Colo.

Southern Illinois (23-7) forced overtime when Kerrie Redeker made an off-balance three-pointer with 13 seconds left in regulation. Southern Illinois plays Saturday against Mississippi.

Southwest Missouri St. 75, Kansas 59--Melody Howard scored 19 points to lead the Bears to the Midwest Regional victory at Springfield, Mo.