Maryland hands Princeton its first loss of the season

LAURIN MINCY scored 27 points, and top-seeded Maryland used a second-half blitz to hand visiting Princeton its first loss, 85-70, last night and advance to the Sweet 16 of the women's NCAA Tournament.

The game had heightened security after Princeton freshman forward Leslie Thompson, a niece of President Obama, was the target of a threat made to Maryland before the game. Her father, Craig Robinson, is the brother of first lady Michelle Obama.

Maryland released a statement about the threat that said university police received a call about 3 p.m. that "the caller had received a text from a third party indicating that a male that she knew had a gun and mentioned president Obama's niece."

University police began an immediate investigation and also called in the United States Secret Service, but ultimately determined that "details that were passed on from this third party are unsubstantiated."

The Terrapins (32-2) will bring a 26-game winning streak into a matchup with Duke on Saturday in Spokane, Wash. Maryland and Duke were longtime rivals in the Atlantic Coast Conference before the Terps moved to the Big Ten this season.

Lexie Brown scored 23 for the Terrapins, who are making their fourth consecutive trip to the Sweet 16. Maryland reached the Final Four last year.

Eighth-seeded Princeton (31-1) was coming off the program's first-ever win in the NCAA Tournament, on Saturday against Wisconsin-Green Bay. The Ivy League champions hoped to make a statement against one of the nation's elite teams, and for a half the Tigers hung right in there with the Big Ten titlists.

In the second half, however, Maryland proved to be too fast, too big and, most importantly, too talented.

After leading, 42-38, at halftime, the Terrapins (32-2) broke things open with a 13-0 run.

"I really felt like in that stretch, we just wore them out," Maryland coach Brenda Frese said.

Blake Dietrick led Princeton with 26 points and Vanessa Smith added 15.

In another Spokane Region game:

* At Tennessee, Bashaara Graves scored 21 points and had 14 rebounds as the second-seeded Lady Vols withstood a late rally to defeat Pittsburgh, 77-67.

Tennessee (29-5) improved to 56-0 in NCAA Tournament home games and advanced to a Spokane Region semifinal Saturday against No. 11 seed Gonzaga (26-7).

* At Florida State, Shakayla Thomas scored 12 points and Leticia Romero added 11 to help the No. 2 Seminoles (31-4) end seventh-seeded Florida Gulf Coast's 26-game winning streak with a 65-47 victory and advance to the Sweet 16.

Taylor Gradinjan's 12 points led Florida Gulf Coast (30-3), which shot only 31 percent overall and 25 percent from three-point range.

* At North Carolina, Jamie Cherry hit a jumper with 0.6 seconds left and the Tar Heels beat Ohio State, 86-84.

Stephanie Mavunga had a career-high 27 points and 14 rebounds, Allisha Gray added 20 points and Brittany Rountree had 15 for the fourth-seeded Tar Heels (26-8), who advanced to a regional semifinal against top-seeded South Carolina (32-2) on Friday night.

* At Arizona State, Sophie Brunner and Promise Amukamara scored 17 points each and the Sun Devils (29-5) defeated Arkansas-Little Rock, 57-54.

* At Connecticut, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis scored 23 points to lead the No. 1 Huskies (34-1) to a 91-55 rout of Rutgers on coach Geno Auriemma's 61st birthday, putting the Huskies into the NCAA Tournament's regional semifinals for the 22nd consecutive season.

Tyler Scaife had 16 points for eighth-seeded Rutgers (23-10), which was in its first NCAA Tournament since 2012.

* At South Florida, Jude Schimmel scored 13 points and Louisville (27-6) defeated the Bulls, 60-52.

* At Stanford, Amber Orrange scored 24 points and Lili Thompson added 19 as the Cardinal backcourt mates took the game over in the second half to lead fourth-seeded Stanford (26-9) to an 86-76 victory over fifth-seeded Oklahoma. The Cardinal will play top-seeded Notre Dame (33-2) in the third round on Friday in Oklahoma City.

Kaylon Williams scored 24 points and Gioya Carter added 20 for the Sooners (21-12).