Kelsey Plum scored 26 points to help Washington advance to the Final Four for the first time in school history with an 85-76 victory over Pac-12 rival Stanford in the regional final at Lexington, Kentucky, on Sunday.
Chantel Osahor added 24 points and 18 rebounds for the seventh-seeded Huskies (26-10). Talia Walton scored 12 points for Washington.
Lili Thompson scored 19 points for fourth-seeded Stanford (27-8). Erica McCall added 17 points and 15 rebounds for the Cardinal.
Washington will face Syracuse in a national semifinal on April 3 in Indianapolis.
The Huskies scored the game’s first 12 points and never trailed. The Cardinal made 14 3-point baskets and moved within four points in the fourth quarter before Washington held off the charge.
Stanford’s Karlie Samuelson scored 12 points on four 3-pointers. She made 14 of 23 shots from behind the arc during the NCAA Tournament.
Tennessee 89, Syracuse 67
Alexis Peterson poured in a season-best 29 points, and the Orange routed the Lady Vols to win the Sioux Falls, South Dakota, region and advance to the Final Four for the first time in school history.
Fourth-seeded Syracuse (29-7) also got 18 points from Brianna Butler and 13 from Cornelia Fondren.
Peterson finished 11-for-20 from the floor and added six assists and four rebounds. Fondren shot 6-for-6 and recorded three steals. Butler sank a game-high six 3-pointers (on 15 attempts).
The Orange shot better on 3-point attempts (14-for-30, 46.7 percent) than on 2-point attempts (18-for-39, 46.2 percent).
Seventh-seeded Tennessee hit just 39.3 percent of its field-goal attempts (24-for-61). Diamond DeShields paced the Lady Vols with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Jaime Nared added 14 points, nine boards and six assists, and Bashaara Graves scored 11 points.
UConn 98, Mississippi St. 38
Breanna Stewart led Connecticut with 22 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks as the No. 1 Huskies routed fifth-seeded Mississippi State 98-38 Saturday in a Bridgeport Regional semifinal.
UConn (35-0) won its 72nd consecutive game while Mississippi State ended its season at 28-8.
The 60-point win broke the record for the largest margin of victory in a regional semifinal or beyond. UConn beat Texas by 51 points a year ago — the former record.
Stewart, the two-time Associated Press player of the year, helped the Huskies take a 13-0 lead early on. UConn cruised from there.
Katie Lou Samuelson scored 21 points for the Huskies and Morgan Tuck added 19.
Teaira McCowan (10 points) was the only Bulldog who scored in double figures.
UConn will play Texas in the regional final Monday night.
Texas 72, UCLA 64
Imani Boyette had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the No. 2-seeded Longhorns in a Bridgeport Regional semifinal Saturday.
Texas trailed UCLA by six entering the fourth quarter but outscored the Bruins 24-10 to pull out the come-from-behind victory.
Brooke McCarty scored 15 points for Texas (31-4).
No. 3 seed UCLA (26-9) was led by Monique Billings’ 20 points and 12 rebounds. Jordin Canada also scored 20 points for the Bruins.
UCLA led at the end of each of the first three quarters, but Texas scored the first 10 points of the fourth and held on from there.
Baylor 78, Florida State 58
Nina Davis scored 30 points and powered the top-seeded Bears into the Elite Eight for the third straight year in the Dallas Regional Saturday.
The Bears (36-1) went ahead to stay with a 15-3 run to end the first quarter after an early flurry of turnovers led to frustrated coach Kim Mulkey calling timeout.
Baylor then rolled to a 40-24 halftime lead
Alexis Jones added 15 points, nine rebounds and five assists for Baylor, which has a 23-game winning streak. Khadijiah Cave had 10 rebounds.
Leticia Romero had 11 points for fifth-seeded Florida State (25-8), which made consecutive Sweet 16 appearances for the first time in school history. Ivey Slaughter, Shakayla Thomas and Brittany Brown each added 10 points.
Oregon State 83, DePaul 71
Oregon State advanced to its first women’s regional final behind Jamie Weisner’s 38 points, seven 3-pointers and 10 rebounds against DePaul in Dallas Saturday.
The second-seeded Beavers (31-4), who won the Pac-12 title, face top-seeded Baylor (36-1) on Monday night for a spot in the Final Four.
Sydney Wiese and Ruth Hamblin each had 13 points for Oregon State.
Jessica January scored 20 points for DePaul (27-9), which has never made it past the Sweet 16.