COLUMBUS, Ohio — Virginia Union is headed to the NCAA Division II Final Four after a 78-73 victory over Columbus State (Ga.) on Tuesday.
The Panthers will face Cal Baptist today at 6 p.m.
Alexis Johnson scored a game-high 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
Lady Walker scored 17 and pulled down 10 rebounds. Ashley Smith added 14 points, Rachael Pecota chipped in 10 and Rejoice Spivey dished out 10 assists to lead Union (27-4).
Britteny Tatum scored 18 and Alexis Carter scored 17 to go with 10 rebounds for Columbus State (30-2), whose 22-game winning streak ended.
Johnson and Kishona Sutton came up big late for the Panthers, who trailed the Cougars 63-57 entering the fourth quarter.
Johnson’s basket with 1:43 remaining gave the Panthers a 74-73 lead. Johnson then hit a free throw with less than a minute left to make the score 75-73.
Virginia Union’s defense held and Kishona Sutton made two free throws with 20.1 seconds remaining for a 77-73 lead.
Johnson added another free throw with 3 seconds left to make it 78-73.
The Panthers outscored the Cougars 21-10 in the fourth quarter.
The Union women are looking for their second national championship in school history. They also won the 1983 national title.
Virginia Union 16 26 15 21 — 78
Columbus State 22 23 18 10 — 73
VIRGINIA UNION (27-4) — Johnson 22, Luckie 3, Pecota 10, Spivey 5, Walker 17, Carter 0, Smith 14, Sutton 7, Wynn 0. Totals 27 18-30 78.
COLUMBUS STATE (31-1) — Asouzu 10, A. Carter 17, Gillespie 4, Tatum 18, Williams 6, K. Carter 0, Herndon 0, Johnson 3, Malone 5, Montgomery 3, Morrow 0, Wayne 7, Williams 0. Totals 27 11-14 73.
3-point goals: VU: Johnson 2, Pecota 2, Spivey, Smith; CS: A. Carter 2, Tatum 2, Johnson, Malone, Montgomery, Wayne.
Monday’s late NCAA tournament games
Washington 108, Oklahoma 82: Kelsey Plum scored 38 points, adding another record to her career resume, and the Huskies raced past the Sooners in Seattle.
Washington (29-5) is going to the Sweet 16 in consecutive years for the first time in school history, thanks to an offensive showcase against Oklahoma in which Plum didn’t do it alone.
Plum passed another Jackie Stiles’ record to become the all-time single-season scoring leader, having already topped Stiles’ all-time career scoring mark last month. Plum now has 1,080 points this season.
But she found others and her teammates regularly hit big shots after Plum drew attention, with a career-high 11 assists. Washington had four players in double figures all with at least 16 points.
Gioya Carter led Oklahoma (23-10) with 17 points, but the Sooners couldn’t keep up with Washington’s offensive efficiency.
Quinnipiac 85, Miami 78: Morgan Manz scored 22 points and made six 3-pointers, Aryn McClure added 15 and the Bobcats stunned the Hurricanes in Coral Gables, Fla.
Sarah Shewan and Paula Strautmane each scored 11 for Quinnipiac (29-6), which will head to Stockton, Calif., and play top-seeded South Carolina on Saturday. The Bobcats, of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, made 15 of 26 from 3-point range, and won their 12th straight game.
Jessica Thomas scored 25 points and Keyona Hayes added 21 for Miami (24-9), which was looking for its first trip to the round of 16 since 1992. The Hurricanes were outscored 45-15 from 3-point range.
Every time Miami made a run, Quinnipiac would answer.
What was as much as a 13-point lead was cut to one late, before Martucci’s 3-pointer with 57.5 seconds left put Quinnipiac up 78-74. Manz knocked the ball away from Miami’s Jessica Thomas on a drive on the ensuing Hurricanes’ possession, and the Bobcats — probably best known in Division I as a hockey school — would soon be celebrating the biggest win in the history of their program.
UCLA 75, Texas A&M 43: Kari Korver scored 21 points, hitting seven 3-pointers, and the Bruins routed the Aggies in Los Angeles.
Monique Billings and Jordin Canada each added 12 points for UCLA, which had the largest margin of victory in school history in a tournament game.
Star point guard Jordin Canada left the game in the third quarter with a cut on her forehead. Trainers stopped the bleeding, applied a bandage and she quickly returned to the game.
UCLA made its first three 3-pointers to build a 9-2 lead and never looked back in a tuneup for its Sweet 16 matchup against No. 1 overall seed UConn.
The Bruins led by 21 points at halftime and extended that lead to 31 points at 62-31 after three quarters. There would be no Texas A&M comeback bid this time. The Aggies rallied from a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit to get past Penn in the first round.
