WOMEN'S HIGHLIGHTS: Summitt, Tennessee suffer historic first-round defeat
Two-time defending champion Tennessee's title defense ended sooner than expected, wrapping up the worst season ever for coach Pat Summitt's vaunted program.
Porchia Green scored 23 points and Audrey McDonald 18, and 12th-seeded Ball State stunned the fifth-seeded Lady Volunteers 71-55 in the first round of the NCAA tournament Sunday in Bowling Green, Ky., snapping one of the more remarkable streaks in college basketball history.
Tennessee (22-11) never had lost on the opening weekend of the tournament, going 42-0 through the years. The Lady Vols also had reached the Sweet 16 of every women's tournament played.
The Cardinals (26-8) led 29-28 at halftime, then dominated the second half. Ball State took the lead for good on a three-pointer by Emily Maggert with 14 minutes left, then pulled away. Tennessee got no closer than eight in the last 7½ minutes.
Shekinna Stricklen scored 17 points for the Lady Vols, who shot only 35 percent and played the second half without center Kelley Cain (undisclosed knee injury).
Tina Charles scored 32 points, and Renee Montgomery added 19 -- all in the first half -- to help the top-seeded Huskies (34-0) thump the 16th-seeded Catamounts (21-14) in their NCAA tournament opener in Storrs, Conn. Charles was 13-for-14 from the field and grabbed 11 rebounds. She was only two points off her career-high point total when she left the game for good with 13:34 left.
Emily Fox scored 23 points and Katie Ohm 15, and the 10th-seeded Golden Gophers (20-11) opened an early 14-point lead before holding off a second-half rally to upset the seventh-seeded Fighting Irish (22-9) in South Bend, Ind. Ashley Barlow scored 20 points and Melissa Lechlitner 16 for Notre Dame, which shot 33 percent from the field.
Mia Johnson made a tiebreaking three-pointer with just more than a minute left, Aisha Jefferson scored 20 points and the ninth-seeded Spartans (21-10) overcame a 34-point, 10-rebound, four-steal effort by Alysha Clark to edge the eighth-seeded Blue Raiders (28-6) in East Lansing, Mich. Clark was plagued by foul trouble and didn't score in the last 11 minutes.
Baylor coach Kim Mulkey was in stable condition at a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, after suffering a reaction to medication she was taking after having a kidney stone removed Friday. Assistant Leon Barmore coached the second-seeded Bears to a shaky 87-82 overtime victory against 15th-seeded Texas-San Antonio.
AP