College basketball: Baylor rolls past Iowa

A pair of 3-pointers by Kristy Wallace and Alexis Prince in the final 39 seconds of the first half propelled No. 2 seed Baylor to an 81-66 victory over No. 3 Iowa in Friday’s first regional semifinal at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Baylor (33-3) will play the winner of Friday’s second semifinal between top-seed Notre Dame and fourth-seed Stanford in the regional championship Sunday night at 8:30 p.m. ET. The winner earns a trip to the Women’s Final Four at Tampa’s Amalie Arena April 5 and 7. Iowa bows out at 26-8.

Coach Kim Mulkey’s Bears took a 42-34 halftime lead with the long-distance shots and led by 23 points (72-49) on Nina Davis’ layup with 5:49 remaining. The Hawkeyes cut the lead to 14 but no further.

Sune Agbuke, a 6-4 senior post, led four Baylor players in double figures with 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting. Davis was next with 20, Wallace had 17 off the bench and point guard Niya Johnson had 10 points with 16 assists.

Greensboro Regional

• South Carolina 67, North Carolina 65: Tiffany Mitchell drove to the basket and scored with 4.2 seconds left and South Carolina edged North Carolina 67-65 on Friday night in the NCAA Tournament’s round of 16.

Mitchell finished with 18 points for the No. 1-seeded Gamecocks (33-2), who had to fight the entire way to push past UNC in a rematch of last year’s Sweet 16 game and advance to the Greensboro Region final.

Alaina Coates also scored 18 points, including two key free throws for the lead with 46.1 seconds to go. Then Mitchell, the Southeastern Conference player of the year, answered a tying basket from Jessica Washington in the final minute by driving past Brittany Rountree for what turned out to be the winning score.

Men

South Regional

• Gonzaga 74, UCLA 62: Przemek Karnowski had 18 points and nine rebounds and second-seeded Gonzaga used a big run early in the second half to pull away.

The victory puts Gonzaga (35-2) in the Elite Eight for the second time, its first regional final since 1999. The Bulldogs will play the winner of the Utah-Duke game on Sunday.

UCLA (22-14) opened the second half with a 6-0 run to get within 35-34.

East Regional

• Louisville 75, North Carolina State 65: Montrezl Harrell scored 24 points, reserve Anton Gill keyed a late-game surge, and Louisville beat North Carolina State in the East Regional semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.

Louisville (27-8), the fourth seed in the East and seeking to make its third Final Four in four years, will play either No. 3 seed Oklahoma or seventh-seeded Michigan State in the East final on Sunday. The Sooners and Spartans played in Friday’s nightcap in the Carrier Dome.

Terry Rozier had 17 points and 14 rebounds and freshman guard Quentin Snider added 14 points for the Cardinals.

Trevor Lacey led the Wolfpack (22-14) with 18 points.

Thursday

West Regional

• Wisconsin 79, North Carolina 72: Sam Dekker scored a career-high 23 points, Frank Kaminsky added 19 and top-seeded Wisconsin rallied in the final 10 minutes to hold off North Carolina Thursday.

Reserve Zak Showalter scored six points in the Badgers’ 19-7 run that sent them into the West Regional final Saturday against No. 2 seed Arizona.

Brice Johnson and Justin Jackson scored 15 points each for the fourth-seeded Tar Heels (26-12).

Marcus Paige hit consecutive 3-pointers that drew Carolina within one with 54 seconds to go, but Wisconsin (34-3) made all eight of its free throws — four by Kaminsky — over the closing seconds.

Paige added 12 points for the Tar Heels.

• Arizona 68, Xavier 60: T.J. McConnell scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half, freshman Stanley Johnson added 12 points, and second-seeded Arizona made a dominant late rally for its 14th straight victory.

Kaleb Tarczewski had 12 points and 12 rebounds as the second-seeded Wildcats (34-3) weathered a major scare from the sixth-seeded Musketeers (23-14) and clamped down defensively during a game-ending 19-7 run.

Midwest Regional

• Kentucky 78, West Virginia 39: Like a massive, unstoppable blue wave, Kentucky hit quickly and just kept coming. There was no escape for West Virginia, no place to hide.

The Wildcats were as advertised: too big, too strong, too everything. Just too good.

Perfect and pulverizing.

Trey Lyles scored 14 points, Andrew Harrison added 13 and the unbeaten Wildcats, chasing history and a ninth national title, made their 37th straight win look easy, blowing past the Mountaineers .

The tourney’s top seed and an overwhelming favorite to cut down the nets next month in Indianapolis, the Wildcats (37-0) jumped to an 18-2 lead, built it to 26 in the first half.