Women's roundup

Danielle Gant earned herself a trip to her hometown and has Texas A&M past the second round for only the second time in school history.

Gant scored 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting to lead the second-seeded Aggies to a dominant victory over 10th-seeded Hartford in Baton Rouge, La. Morenike Atunrase, playing in her home state, added 13 points to help the Aggies (28-7) win their 11th straight game.

Texas A&M will try to advance to the regional finals for the first time ever this weekend. The only other time A&M advanced to the Round of 16 was in 1994.

Hartford (28-6) has yet to advance beyond the second round. Danielle Hood had 13 points and nine rebounds to lead the Hawks, who shot 34 percent and turned the ball over 25 times.

LSU center Sylvia Fowles had 19 points and 13 rebounds, and 5-foot-3-inch guard Erica White had 15 points to help the second-seeded Lady Tigers (32-3) end the Red Foxes' 22-game winning streak.

The 6-6 Fowles, playing her final game on campus in Baton Rouge, La., overcame double-teams all night. She also became the leading rebounder in the history of the Southeastern Conference with 1,527.

Julianne Viani led seventh-seeded Marist (29-5) with 21 points.

Andrea Riley sank a free throw with 0.7 seconds left in overtime to give the third-seeded Cowgirls (27-7) a narrow victory over the 11th-seeded Seminoles in a second-round matchup in Des Moines.

The back-and-forth game appeared headed to a second overtime when Riley was trapped 18 feet from the basket with time about to run out. She went up for what would have been an awkward shot and official Teresa Dahlem whistled a foul on Florida State's Shante Williams just as the buzzer sounded.

The officials then checked the TV monitor and put 0.7 seconds on the clock. Riley, who had missed two free throws on her previous trip to the line, bricked the first one but nailed the second, then intercepted Florida State's long inbounds pass.

Candice Wiggins scored a school-record-tying 44 points in her final game at Maples Pavilion to lead the second-seeded Cardinal (32-3) past No. 7 seed UTEP (28-4) and into the Sweet 16.

It was the third-most points scored in women's tournament history and the most since Sheryl Swoopes had 47 in the 1993 championship game for Texas Tech. Lorri Bauman of Drake has the all-time record of 50, set in 1982 against Maryland.

Wiggins shot 15 of 27 with six 3-pointers, and had 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals, and a block. She tied Kate Starbird's school record and had the highest-scoring tournament game ever by a Stanford player.

Pitt had just scored its biggest win in women's basketball and guard Shavonte Zellous leaped on the back of big teammate Marcedes Walker at midcourt. But against Baylor, it was Zellous who carried the Panthers into the regional semifinals for the first time.

The former track sprinter turned shooting guard scored 19 points and grabbed a key late rebound to lead the sixth-seeded Panthers (24-10) past No. 3 seed and former national champion Baylor in Albuquerque.

Baylor (25-7), which won it all in 2005, lost in the second round for the second year in a row. The Bears were led by their frontline duo of Danielle Wilson with 15 points and Rachel Allison with 14.

Christina Wirth scored 21 points and reserve Jessica Mooney added 11 to help the fourth-seeded Commodores beat the No. 5 seed Mountaineers in Albuquerque for a spot in the regional semifinals.

Vanderbilt (25-8) has won 11 of its last 12 games, and this time the Commodores got a big lift from their bench. Mooney led the way as Vandy outscored West Virginia's reserves 20-2.

Olayinka Sanni led West Virginia (25-8) with 14 points while Meg Bulger scored 13 and LaQuita Owens had 10.

Kia Vaughn scored 23 points to lead four players in double figures and the second-seeded Scarlet Knights survived a hostile environment in Des Moines and a feisty effort from Iowa State to reach the Round of 16 for the fourth straight season.

Epiphanny Prince added 17 points and Matee Ajavon had 16 for Rutgers (26-6). Though seventh-seeded Iowa State (21-13) never got closer than 4 in the second half, the Cyclones made Rutgers sweat it out. Allison Lacey hit two free throws with 1:29 left to pull Iowa State within, 63-58, but Ajavon hit a pair of free throws and Prince broke Iowa State's press and found Vaughn for a layup with 19.6 seconds to seal the win.

Sarah-Jo Lawrence rebounded a missed shot by Kimberly Beck and beat the buzzer with a shot from the baseline to give the sixth-seeded Colonials (27-6) an improbable comeback victory over No. 3 seed California in Stanford, Calif., and a berth in the regional semifinals.

The winning shot was set up when Natasha Vital traveled while trying to call timeout for Cal (27-7) with less than six seconds remaining. The Golden Bears failed to score over the final 3:20.