Women's NCAA

[carlo]

Former UConn center Michala Johnson, who usually sat on the Huskies bench, ended a shining season with her new team Wisconsin.
A redshirt-jr, Michala leads the Badgers in scoring & FG% and has been named first team All-Big Ten.
Another ex UConn bench player, guard Lauren Engeln, is a regular starter at Boston College, where she ranks second in assists.
That says a lot on UConn's roster quality level.

[carlo]

Conf tournaments are under way, with low-seeded teams displaying fine talents in their quest of a spot against big calibers.
In ACC 2nd round Florida State beat Miami in OT, led by senior fw Natasha Howard with 30 pts and 16 reb.
Another 30-pt performance by Canada's Michelle Plouffe, leading Utah over Washington in Pac-12 opener.
In another Pac-12 bout, Washington State edged Oregon 107-100, behind 31 pts of soph guard Lia Galdeira. Freshman Chrishae Rowe 29 pts and soph Jillian Alleyne 28 pts + 21 reb were not enough for Wash State.

[carlo]

In the biggest upset of the day, North Carolina edged Maryland 73-70 in ACC tournament quarterfinals.
Tar Heels had three freshmen in their starting line-up, Diamond DeShields, Allisha Gray and Stephanie Mavunga, contributing for 48 pts all together.
Terrapins could only celebrate their top player senior Alyssa Thomas breaking the team's all-time scoring record previously held by Crystal Langhorne.

[carlo]

NCAA Women again edge Men's in the final regular season DivI stats.

Women win in Points, Rebounds and Steals per game, as well as in FG and FT%. Men are better in Assists and Blocks per game (by just one bs in 29 games).

Among best performers:

- Odyssey Sims (Baylor) was the top scorer with 30.2 ppg, followed by Jerica Coley (FIU) and Chiney Ogwumike (Stanford).
- Supersoph Jillian Alleyne (Oregon) the best rebounder with 15.7, topping Greek Fw Artemis Spanou (Robert Morris). Alleyne also led the nation in double doubles with 26 in 29 games.
- Center Markeisha Gatling (North Carolina St) shot 67.7% from the field, whilst guard Maggie Lucas (Minnesota) was the most accurate from the FT line with 95.9%.
- Top scoring freshman Oregon's Chrishae Rowe with 21.7ppg

[carlo]

Top seeded Stanford for the first time was denied to play the conf championship game losing to Southern California.
Chiney Ogwumike had 30 pts (and 21 reb) but was held scoreless in the final minutes and the Cardinals shot barely over 30% from the field. USC was led by the trio Alexyz Vaioletama, Cassie Herberts and Ariya Crook.

[carlo]

Sr guard Jerica Coley scored 34 pts (adding 8 reb and 6 ast) as Florida International beat Tulane to advance to C-USA tournament semis.
Coley is now on the lead of Div I national top scorers with 29.8 ppg.

[carlo]

Super-soph Breanna Stewart named Player of the Year by ESPN.
Diamond DeShields and Muffet McGraw are respectively Freshman and Coach of the Year.

http://espn.go.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/10606594/women-college-basketball-connecticut-breanna-stewart-espnw-national-player-year

[carlo]

Fw Artemis Spanou of Greece (30 pts, 20 reb and 6 ast) leads Robert Morris to NE Conference title and an automatic NCAA tournament berth.

ArtemisSpanou2.jpg

[carlo]

Kayla McBride (Notre Dame), Chiney Ogwumike (Stanford), Odyssey Sims (Baylor) and Breanna Stewart (UConn) are the four finalists for the 2014 Player of the Year Naismith Trophy.
They all are seniors except super soph Stewart.

http://naismithawards.com/PressBox/ArticleView/tabid/209/ArticleId/17/2014-Naismith-Trophy-Womens-College-Player-of-the-Year-Finalists-Released.aspx

[carlo]

No major suprise in Tournament's Day 1.
DePaul eliminated Oklahoma in the highest regulation game score so far, 104-100, despite a 36-pt performance (including 7-threes) by Sooner Aaryn Ellenberg.
In Baylor's win over WKU two players scored over 30 pts, but for once Odyssey Sims (with 31 pts) was topped by her freshman teammate Nina Davis with 32.

[carlo]

Two upsets in yesterday's NCAA Tournament games qualifying the winning teams to the Sweet 16.
Duke was eliminated by DePaul and Brigham Young topped Nebraska.
Without their two top guards injured and with low production from top players Tricia Liston and Elizabeth Williams, Blue Devils fell to the Doug Bruno-led Blue Demons who are improving game after game.
BYU was led by Morgan Bailey and 2m. center Jennifer Hamson in the win over short handed Nebraska, that basically played with just its starting five.
A near-upset was avoided by Kentucky by edging Syracuse, that played without its top scorer Brittney Sykes.

[carlo]

As expected UConn rolled over St Joseph's to advance to the second round of the tournament.
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis recorded a triple-double (20 pts, 10 reb and 10 ast), just the third in the team history.
UConn starting five scored 89 of the 91 team's total points, again confirming its strength (arguably it's the best five at collegiate level) but at the same time showing the team's weakness from the bench.

[carlo]

Career-high 29 pts for freshman Tyler Scaife, who led Rutgers to a 2 OT thriller-win over Seton Hall, to advance to the quarterfinals of the WNIT.
Scaife is currently the team's second leading scorer and one of the season's top freshmen.

[carlo]

Syracuse's leading scorer Brittney Sykes will undergo ACL surgery to her right knee, injured in the tournament opener.
She also leads Orange in FG shooting with 51%.

[carlo]

Notre Dame and UConn, both undefeated, are the two teams which have alreaday reached the Final Four.
But the Irish have lost one of their leaders, Canadian Fw Natalie Achonwa, who torn her left ACL in the final minutes of the game vs Baylor.
Achonwa was behaving outstanding in the tournament and her substitution is a big issue for the team.
She probably will miss the World Championship as well.