Mount St. Mary’s earns NCAA tournament spot

The Mountaineers captured the Northeast Conference crown 68-55.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

FAIRFIELD, Conn. — Jean Cajou and Kelly Beidler each scored 15 points and Mount St. Mary’s earned a trip to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1999 with a 68-55 win Wednesday night over Sacred Heart in the Northeast Conference championship game.

Jeremy Goode added 13 and Shawn Atupem had 12 for the fourth-seeded Mountaineers (18-14), who won the tournament for the third time, but the first under a coach other than Jim Phelan. Current coach Milan Brown was an assistant on the last championship team.

Mount St. Mary’s has won eight of its last nine, including a win over top-seed Robert Morris in the semifinals.

Brice Brooks had 18 points and Drew Shubik had 13 to lead Sacred Heart (18-14), which cut a nine-point deficit to 57-55 with just over three minutes left.

But Beidler hit a basket that stretched the lead back to four, and Shubik threw the ball into the hands of Mount St. Mary’s Markus Mitchell on the other end. Mount St. Mary’s scored 11 straight to end the game, most of those from the foul line.

Women

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Carla Cortijo scored a career-high 24 points and Texas overcame a 16-point halftime deficit to defeat No. 8 Baylor 76-61 in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament.

All-Big 12 selection Angela Tisdale led the Lady Bears with 23 points. Rachel Allison added 16 points and 10 rebounds for Baylor, which also got 16 points from Jessica Morrow but only six points from the rest of the team.

No. 11 Texas A&M 65, Missouri 39

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Takia Starks scored a game-high 18 points to lead Texas A&M. La Toya Micheaux added 11 points for the Aggies (24-7), winners of seven straight games and 11 of their last 12. Alyssa Hollins scored 11 points for Missouri but shot 4-of-16 from the field.

Colorado State 60, No. 12 Utah 52

LAS VEGAS — Emily Neal scored 17 points and Colorado State shocked top-seeded Utah in the Mountain West Conference quarterfinals.

The ninth-seeded Rams (4-28) outmuscled and outhustled the heavily favored Utes (28-4), who went 16-0 in league play and had 22 consecutive wins.

Colorado State was winless in conference play (0-16) and entered the tourney on a 20-game losing streak before beating UNLV in the play-in game Tuesday night, a prelude to one of the biggest upsets in college basketball this season.

Leilani Mitchell led Utah with 19 points but shot just 5-for-16 from the field. The Utes shot 29 percent overall.

Amaka Uzomah added eight points and 15 boards for the Rams.