Philly’s Hampton lifts DePaul women past Penn State

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - A Philadelphia star on DePaul's team moved the third-seeded Blue Demons to the Sweet 16 in the Philadelphia Regional of the NCAA women's basketball tournament Monday night.

In the process, Keisha Hampton broke the hearts of Penn State, sinking two out of three foul shots with 4.9 seconds left to seal a 75-73 victory at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Hampton, a graduate of Engineering and Sciences High, finished DePaul's comeback from a 14-point deficit and scored a game-high 26 points.

Felicia Chester scored 16 points for DePaul and Anna Martin scored 10.

Penn State's Alex Bentley scored 23 points, Nikki Greene added 12, and Devon's Julia Trogele in her final game, scored 14 points.

On Sunday night at Temple's Liacouras Center, the Blue Demons will face the winner of Monday's game between second-seeded Duke and 10th-seeded Marist.

The other semifinal will match winners from two games being played Tuesday night when No. 1 seed Connecticut ninth-seeded Purdue on the Huskies campus in Storrs, while No. 4 seed Maryland will host fifth-seeded Georgetown in a bit of a neighborhood scrum in College Park.

For Penn State (25-10), the loss was a disappointing finish, especially after taking control early in the contest.

This season had been the Nittany Lions' best since Coquese Washington, the former Notre Dame associate head coach, arrived in April 2007 to rebuild the program.

Penn State finished second in both the Big Ten's regular season and conference tournament, and made its first trip to NCAAs since 2005.

The sixth-seeded Lions' youthful group then got past 11th-seeded Dayton, 75-66, in Saturday's opener, fueling speculation about a long run.

Although the DePaul comeback destroyed the Lady Lions' upset hopes, their future is bright.

Washington will welcome back Germantown Academy's Maggie Lucas, a star freshman, and other scorers such as Zhaque Gray and Bentley.

DePaul (29-6), meanwhile, wasn't ready to let go of what had been the Blue Demons' finest season since joining the Big East. DePaul finished second in the conference and advanced to the conference tournament semifinals.

Playing what was essentially a road game Monday, DePaul persisted after a grueling 56-43 win Saturday over 14th-seeded Navy to snap a four-year streak of first-round NCAA tournament exits.