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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, March 15, 2009

No. 3 Oklahoma falls, 74-62

Advertiser News Services

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Texas A&M guard/forward Danielle Gant, left, goes up for a shot as Oklahoma's Ashley Paris defends in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game at the Big 12 Conference women's tournament. Texas A&M won 74-62.

ALONZO ADAMS | Associated Press

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OKLAHOMA CITY — Courtney Paris spent way too long on the bench in foul trouble for No. 3 Oklahoma to feel comfortable about its chances of advancing to the Big 12 championship game.

Of course, when the Sooners are facing Texas A&M, nothing ever seems comfortable.

Danielle Gant scored 22 points, Sydney Colson added 15 and the 10th-ranked Aggies beat Oklahoma, 74-62, yesterday to reach the Big 12 title game for the second straight year.

No. 7 Baylor awaits in today's championship title game.

"We haven't won anything yet. They don't give any consolation prizes and the last time we beat Oklahoma at our place, our fans thought we had won the national championship," said coach Gary Blair, referring to Aggies fans storming the court after A&M snapped Oklahoma's 20-game winning streak last month.

"We haven't won a thing yet."

The top-seeded Sooners (28-4) were able to rally back once after Paris got into foul trouble, but the fourth-seeded Aggies (25-6) delivered a knockout punch even with the All-America center on the court.

An 11-1 run pushed the Aggies' lead to 42-31. Paris wasn't able to make a dent in the deficit before leaving with four fouls, and the Sooners were still down 10 when she fouled out with 3:23 to play.

"It's my own fault. I wasn't ready to go," Paris said. "A lot my fouls came off of situations I can control."

Paris ended up with 15 points and 15 rebounds, matching an NCAA record by reaching double figures in scoring for the 130th time in her career. Sophia Young also had 130 games with at least 10 points in her career at Baylor.

No. 7 Baylor 63, No. 18 Iowa State 57: Jessica Morrow hit six 3-pointers en route to 24 points and hit six 3-pointers as the second-seeded Bears (26-5) held off the third-seeded Cyclones (24-8) after blowing a 12-point lead in the second half.

BIG SKY CONFERENCE

AT MISSOULA, MONT., DAHLBERG ARENA

Montana 69, Portland State 62: League MVP Mandy Morales had 23 points and nine rebounds and Sarah Ena added 19 points and 14 rebounds, leading the regular-season champion and top-seeded Lady Griz (28-7) past the Vikings (22-9) to claim the Big Sky tournament championship.

BIG WEST CONFERENCE

AT ANAHEIM CONVENTION CENTER ARENA

UC Santa Barbara 64, Cal Poly 57: Jenna Green had 13 points and 11 rebounds, Emilie Johnson added 13 points, and the top-seeded Gauchos (22-9) rallied from a 15-point first-half deficit to beat the third-seeded Mustangs (21-11) for their 11th Big West title in 13 years.

MID-EASTERN ATHLETIC

AT WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., COLISEUM

North Carolina A&T 76, Hampton 54: Amber Bland scored 18 points and the top-seeded Aggies (26-6) took a 37-23 lead at the break in rolling past the sixth-seeded Pirates (16-16) to win the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament championship and claim their first NCAA tournament berth since 1994.

MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE

AT LAS VEGAS, THOMAS & MACK CENTER

Utah 63, San Diego State 58: Morgan Warburton scored 24 points and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:57 left, leading the top-seeded Utes (22-9) over the second-seeded Aztecs (23-7) to capture the Mountain West Conference tournament title.

PACIFIC-10 CONFERENCE

AT LOS ANGELES, THE GALEN CENTER

No. 2 Stanford 73, UCLA 47: Nnemkadi Ogwumike had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and the top-seeded Cardinal (28-4) started the second half with a 20-3 run in routing the fourth-seeded Bruins (19-12) to move into today's title game of the Pac-10 tournament against Southern California.

Southern California 69, No. 12 California 67: Camille LeNoir had 25 points as the sixth-seeded Trojans (17-4) advanced to the Pac-10 tournament final by beating the second-seeded Golden Bears (25-6) for the first time in their last nine meetings.

SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE

AT KATY, TEXAS, THE MERRELL CENTER

Texas-San Antonio 74, Texas-Arlington 63: Jordan Stark hit seven 3-pointers and scored 23 points, leading the second-seeded Roadrunners (24-8) past the top-seeded Mavericks (22-10) to win the Southland Conference tournament for the second straight season.

SOUTHWESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

AT BIRMINGHAM, ALA., FAIR PARK ARENA

Prairie View A&M 74, Southern 49: Gaati Werema had 29 points and 16 rebounds to lead the top-seeded Lady Panthers (23-10) over the second-seeded Jaguars (16-13) in the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament championship game for their 19th straight victory.

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