Turnovers doom Wildcats

Brian Hodges scored a career-high 28 points to lift the University of Maryland Baltimore County to a 78-73 victory over New Hampshire in the opening round of the America East Conference basketball championship last night in Vestal, N.Y.

Ninth-seeded UMBC (11-17) scored 24 points off 19 New Hampshire turnovers. Hodges, who converted 8 of 17 shots from the floor and was 8 for 8 from the line, scored 16 points in the opening half to help the Retrievers build a 42-35 halftime lead.

New Hampshire (9-19), the No. 8 seed, cut the deficit to 44-43 early in the second half when Jermaine Anderson sank a pair of foul shots. But the Retrievers responded with a 10-1 run to open up a 54-44 lead.

Stony Brook 66, Hartford 46 -- In the other America East first-round game in Vestal, N.Y., Jairus McCollum and Mike Popoko each scored 14 points to help lead the seventh-seeded Seawolves (12-16) over the Hawks.

Stony Brook's defense held 10th-seeded Hartford (8-20) to 14 points in the first half to tie a tournament record for fewest points in a half.

ECAC Division 3: Rhode Island College's Kevin Payette (18 points) scored the winning layup with six seconds left to cap a 16-point comeback as the Anchormen (20-8) knocked off top-seeded Colby-Sawyer, 81-79, in the semifinals in New London, N.H. . . . Josean Vega scored 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting in leading No. 3 seed Wheaton College (20-9) to a rout of No. 7 Western New England College, 85-62, in semifinal action in Norton.

Princeton 66, Harvard 44 -- Andre Logan scored 15 points and the host Tigers shot a season-best 70.3 percent from the field. Will Venable and Scott Greenman added 13 apiece for Princeton (14-12, 5-7 Ivy League).

Penn 64, Dartmouth 37 -- Mark Zoller scored 14 points and Ibby Jaaber set an Ivy League record with nine steals as the Quakers, who have clinched the Ivy title (18-8, 11-1), won in Philadelphia. Jaaber has 90 steals for the year, a new mark.

Yale 79, Cornell 63 -- Four players scored in double figures, led by Sam Kaplan's 16 points, as the Elis (10-15, 6-6) ran past the Big Red (12-14, 7-6) in Ivy League action in New Haven, Conn.

Brown 80, Columbia 56 -- The Bears' Jason Forte led all scorers with 20 points as Brown (4-8 Ivy) trounced the Lions (3-10) in Providence.

Women

Atlantic 10: Katie Nelson scored 17 points to lead five players in double figures as No. 3 (East) seed UMass (14-14) beat No. 6 (West) Duquesne, 67-52, in first-round action in Washington, D.C. . . . Ayahna Cornish scored 18 points and Erica Pollock grabbed 14 rebounds as No. 5 (East) seed Saint Joseph's (7-22) edged No. 4 (West) La Salle, 56-50 . . . Monica Mack scored 20 points and Lara Hanson pulled down 10 rebounds as No. 5 (East) Fordham (10-20) beat No. 5 (West) Dayton, 49-45 . . . Johanna McKnight came off the bench to score 16 points in leading No. 3 (West) Richmond (22-6) over No. 6 (East) St. Bonaventure, 75-56.

SEC: A TV review took away a point from Alabama and helped top-ranked LSU (28-1) escape with a 60-59 victory in Greenville, S.C. Alabama (14-15) appeared to have tied the game on Natasha Gamble's 3-point basket. Then LSU's Tameka Johnson missed, apparently setting up overtime. But officials reviewed Gamble's shot and ruled her foot touched the line, making it a 2-point goal instead of the tying basket. Replays confirmed it . . . No. 5 Tennessee (24-4) won its 12th straight tournament opener and gave coach Pat Summitt win No. 876 (tying her with Kentucky great Adolph Rupp) as the Lady Vols beat Auburn, 64-54 . . . Sherill Baker scored 17 points and six Georgia players scored in double figures, leading the No. 21 Lady Bulldogs (22-8) to an 87-65 victory over Mississippi . . . Ashley Earley had 21 points and 15 rebounds, and No. 18 Vanderbilt (22-6) beat Arkansas, 79-60.

Big Ten: Jessica Davenport scored 18 points and Ashley Allen added 11 points and 11 rebounds to help No. 3 Ohio State (28-3) roll past Wisconsin, 70-46, in the quarterfinals in Indianapolis . . . Jamie Broback had 28 points and No. 15 Minnesota (23-6) used a final 11-3 run to beat two-time defending champion Purdue, 71-68 . . . Kelli Roehrig (15 points, 11 rebounds) started an 11-0 overtime run with two free throws, and Kristin Haynie had 7 points to help eighth-ranked Michigan State (26-3) to a 61-50 victory over Illinois. . . . Jess Strom had 21 points and Tanisha Wright added 17 to help No. 23 Penn State (19-9) rally in the second half and beat Iowa, 68-66.

ACC: Crystal Langhorne had 24 points and 16 rebounds for No. 25 Maryland as the Terrapins (20-8) beat Clemson, 66-55, in the opening round in Greensboro, N.C.

Conference USA: Khara Smith had 23 points and 15 rebounds to lead No. 12 DePaul (25-3) past Memphis, 78-55, in the quarterfinals in Charlotte, N.C.

Northeast-10: No. 3 seed Bentley went wire to wire in beating No. 2 Southern Connecticut, 56-50, in the semifinals in North Andover, reaching the championship game for the 20th time in 24 seasons. Shevon Gibbons scored 19 points for the Falcons (25-7) . . . In the other semifinal game, Joelle Martin nailed a 3-pointer with 46 seconds left to lift top-seeded Merrimack (25-4) over No. 5 seed Pace, 61-58.

ECAC Division 3: Behind Caitlin Malcolm's 21 points on 6-of-11 shooting, No. 1 seed Brandeis (22-4) trounced No. 4 Norwich, 83-70, in semifinal action in Waltham . . . Four players scored in double figures, led by Katie Reidcan's 14, as No. 3 seed Fitchburg State (23-6) beat No. 2 Mount Holyoke, 71-62.

Harvard 71, Princeton 49 -- In Cambridge, the Crimson (10-2 Ivy) dominated the Tigers (5-8) from the start behind Jessica Holsey's 23 points and Reka Cserny's 18 points and nine rebounds.