The Southeastern Conference's fast start in the men's NCAA tournament hasn't carried over to the women.
On a Saturday, when SEC men's teams improved to 8-0 in NCAA play, the league had No. 16 Florida and No. 24 Mississippi knocked out in the first round of the women's tournament.However, Tennessee carried the banner for the conference with a resounding win. The No. 4 Lady Volunteers extended their home winning streak in NCAA tournament games to 27-0 as the conference champs beat Big South champ Radford 97-56 in the East Regional.
No. 1 Louisiana Tech beat Central Florida 98-41 in the Midwest Regional, and defending champion No. 2 Connecticut, the top seed in the Mideast, cruised to a 94-63 victory over Howard.
San Francisco, seeded 12th in the Mideast Regional, surprised fifth-seeded Florida 68-61 and Toledo, 10th in the East Regional, eliminated seventh-seeded Ole Miss 65-53.
Latina Davis scored 18 points in 24 minutes to lead five players into double figures for top-seeded Tennessee.
Chamique Holdsclaw, the SEC freshman of the year, was back in action after suffering a knee injury in the SEC title game March 4 against Alabama. She scored 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting and had eight rebounds.
Valerie Gillon, playing despite a broken finger, fought through Florida's physical defense for 28 points for the Lady Dons (23-7).
Mimi Olson and Angela Drake combined for 17 points during a 25-10 spurt early in the second half as Toledo (25-5) finished off Ole Miss.
Drake, limited to two points in the first half, scored nine in a run that gave the Rockets a 51-37 lead with 8:47 to play. Olson hit two 3-pointers and a long 2-pointer in 21/2 minutes as Toledo took command.
Olson, who had 20 points, said the victory should help gain some respect for the unheralded Mid-American Conference.
"We're a good team and we went out and showed people that the MAC is as good as the SEC," she said.
The tournament's other top seed - Stanford - played later Saturday.
La. Tech 98, Central Florida 41
At Ruston, La., the Lady Techsters (29-1) were led by freshman substitute Monica Maxwell's 16 points.
The 57-point margin of victory was the fourth-highest spread in NCAA tournament history and the second-highest in Tech's NCAA history.
Connecticut 94, Howard 63
At Storrs, Conn., Kara Wolters and Nykesha Sales each scored 17 points, and Jennifer Rizzotti had 15 for UConn (31-3).
Rizzotti also had four steals to set a school season record of 105, surpassing the mark of 102 set last year by Sales.
Old Dominion 83, Holy Cross 56
Shonda DeBerry scored 18 points and Clarisse Machanguana 14 as the No. 6 Monarchs rolled.
Old Dominion (28-2), whose 15 regular season home victories came by an average of more than 40 points, thrilled the packed Old Dominion Field House crowd by putting the game away with a 20-2 run midway through the first half.
Duke 85, James Madison 53
Jennifer Scanlon and Payton Black scored 18 points apiece as 17th-ranked Duke (26-6) pulled away.
James Madison (21-9) was 3-0 in first-round NCAA tournament action, and had never lost an opening game in postseason play.
SF Austin 67, Oregon St. 65
Kristen Armour hit two crucial 3-pointers in the final three minutes as Stephen F. Austin (26-3) won with long-range shooting. Katrina Price made a season-high five 3-pointers and had 26 points.
Ohio St. 97, Memphis 75
Katie Smith scored 26 points and Marcie Alberts hit five 3-pointers for Ohio State (21-12). Alberts finished with 15 points for Ohio State. LaTonya Johnson led Memphis (20-11) with 23 points.
Texas 73, Southwest Missouri 55
Danielle Viglione hit seven of eight 3-pointers, triggering runs of 18-0 in the first half and 16-0 in the second for Texas (21-8). Richelle Winn hit a field goal for Southwest Missouri State (25-5) at the 13:38 mark and chopped the Texas lead to 48-42, but the Lady Bears did not have another field goal for the next 10 minutes, 35 seconds.
Michigan St. 60,
Massachusetts 57
Jamie Wesley scored 17 points, and Cheri Euler had six of her eight points in overtime for Michigan State (18-10). Octavia Thomas scored 21 points to lead UMass (20-10) in a game that was close most of the way and tied 49-49 at the end of regulation.
Clemson 79, Austin Peay 52
Laura Cottrell had 20 points before being hurt, pulling host No. 14 Clemson from a sluggish second half into the second round in the Midwest.
Cottrell's three-point play with 12:30 to go put the Lady Tigers (23-7) up 46-38 after Austin Peay (21-8) had halved sliced a 10-point margin. Cottrell, the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament's outstanding player, made a 3-pointer that gave the Lady Tigers a 53-42 edge.
No. 20 Kansas 72
Middle Tennessee 57
At Lawrence, Kan., Charisse Sampson scored 17 points and Tamecka Dixon added 16 for the Lady Jayhawks (21-9).
Colorado St. 66, Nebraska 62
Teresa James scored 22 points, including five in the last 31 seconds, and Colorado State made its first NCAA tournament appearance a winning one by winning at Stanford, Calif.
Katie Cronin added 14 points, Zenarae Pieters 12 and Becky Hammon 11 as the eighth-seeded Rams (26-4) won their 10th straight game.