Tennessee's NCAA women's title defense ended sooner than expected, wrapping up the worst season ever for Pat Summitt's storied program.
Ball State, seeded 12th, stunned the two-time defending national champions, 71-55, Sunday in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Bowling Green, Ky., ending one of the more remarkable streaks in college basketball history.
The fifth-seeded Lady Volunteers (22-11) had never before lost on the opening weekend of the tournament, going 42-0 through the years.
It was one of several firsts: * First defending national champion to lose in a first round. Old Dominion won the title in 1985 and failed to make the tournament the next year.
* First NCAA loss by Tennessee before the Sweet 16.
* First appearance by Ball State (26-8) in the tournament.
The fifth-seeded Lady Volunteers (22-11) had never before lost on the opening weekend of the tournament, going 42-0 through the years.It was one of several firsts:* First defending national champion to lose in a first round. Old Dominion won the title in 1985 and failed to make the tournament the next year.
* First NCAA loss by Tennessee before the Sweet 16.* First appearance by Ball State (26-8) in the tournament."I thought we were tentative, maybe uptight," Summitt said. "But you have to give credit where credit is due and that's to the Ball State basketball team. They had a lot more toughness. They beat us to loose balls. They made shots."
In other first-round highlights:
No. 2 Baylor 87, No. 15 Texas San Antonio 82, OT -- The Bears won despite playing without Coach Kim Mulkey, who was hospitalized earlier in the day after suffering a reaction to medication she was taking because of having a kidney stone removed Friday. Leon Barmore, the Baylor assistant coach and also Mulkey's former coach at Louisiana Tech, took over the reins for the Bears (28-5), who won at Lubbock, Texas. Baylor's Jessica Morrow and Melissa Jones each made two free throws in the final 23 seconds of overtime to stop the Roadrunners (24-9).
No. 10 Minnesota 79, No. 7 Notre Dame 71 -- The Fighting Irish's home-court edge was no match for the Gophers' three-point shooting and rebounding at South Bend, Ind. The Gophers (20-11) started the game by making 11 of 13 shots and opened a 14-point first-half lead, then used three-point shots to stop the Irish (22-9).
No. 9 Michigan State 60, No. 8 Middle Tennessee 59 -- Mia Johnson sparked the victory with a tiebreaking three-point shot for the Spartans (21-10) with just over a minute left at East Lansing, Mich. Brandi Brown made a layup to get the Blue Raiders to within one, but Middle Tennessee (28-6) didn't get a shot off after calling a timeout with 10 seconds left.
No. 9 Georgia Tech 76, No. 8 Iowa 62 -- The Yellow Jackets (22-9) harassed the Hawkeyes (21-11) on defense and beat them to rebounds in the victory at Iowa City, Iowa.
Rest of the scores Connecticut and Oklahoma are among the easy first-round winners. C13
Story Source: http://www.latimes.com/sports/college/basketball/la-sp-ncaa-women23-2009mar23,0,5830544.story
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