Ralph's record unblemished at UConn
It's been two years since Shea Ralph returned to her college alma mater of Connecticut to join the staff of women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma.
In that time, UConn has reeled off an unprecedented 76-game winning streak highlighted by lopsided margins, like last week's 40-point win over Florida State in the finals of the NCAA tournament's Dayton Regional. Ralph's mother, Marsha Lake, keeps telling the UConn brain trust it's obvious Ralph is the reason for the streak.
"I said, 'Well mom, it might be coincidence,' " said Ralph, the former Terry Sanford High School All-American and USA Today National Player of the Year. "I think I just got lucky.''
She definitely feels lucky in one regard, back at her college alma mater, doing something she loves and part of a team that may be on its way to making NCAA basketball history.
The Huskies try to continue their win streak as they bid for a second straight women's national title this weekend. They face Baylor tonight at 9:30 in San Antonio in the national semifinals. The winner advances to Tuesday's national championship game against either Stanford or Oklahoma.
Ralph was the new kid on the UConn coaching staff last year, but the Huskies added a new assistant this season so she's moved up the food chain a little and her responsibilities have changed. She oversees the team's strength and conditioning program and everything to do with equipment, from warm-ups to game uniforms to shoes.
As far as coaching, she works with the guards, the position she played at UConn when she led the 2000 Huskies to the NCAA title and was named All-American and MVP of the Final Four. And of course, there's recruiting. Unlike some schools, UConn doesn't follow a purely regional approach to assigning recruiting duties. Ralph, like her fellow assistant coaches, is responsible for tracking a group of players and trying to get them to play for Auriemma.
Travel is easily the toughest part of the job, Ralph said, and sometimes the most frustrating. This year on her birthday, March 12, she was stuck in Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport all day as her flights were canceled. "I missed two days of practice,'' she said.
If Ralph was coaching her own team, she might be able to delegate some of those headaches to assistants and spend a little less time on the road. But making the jump to being in charge of her own program is something she's not ready for yet.
"I'm really happy because I'm learning so much,'' she said. "I don't know if you ever know if you're ready to be a head coach, unless you've been in the business for a long time. I think opportunities present themselves and you know whether or not you want to do that and go for it.''
Ralph said she has moments where she thinks she could be a coach of her own team, but then she sees all the other responsibilities that involves and thinks otherwise. "I can't imagine myself being any more invested in anything,'' she said. "I love going to work every day. I don't know how many people can say that. This is the perfect job.''
It's understandable Ralph feels that way since being at UConn has already brought her two national titles, one as a player in 2000 and one as an assistant coach last year.
Although a third title could be on the horizon, winning it might not be as easy as some think. The first major obstacle, literally, will be Baylor tonight and its 6-8 freshman post player Brittney Griner. Griner has set an NCAA record for most shots blocked in the tournament, 35 in only four games.
"She's obviously a very good player, a game changer,'' Ralph said, "just with her ability to dominate the paint and alter shots. We haven't seen anything like that since I've been in the game or since I've been coaching.''
Ralph hopes that UConn's inside-outside combination of Tina Charles and Maya Moore will help make the difference against Griner and the Bears. "That makes us a little difficult to guard in that we have two of the best players in the country, if not the two best players in the country, playing different positions,'' she said.
"That'll be something they'll have to address. But you never know what might happen. If Tina gets in foul trouble or Maya gets in foul trouble, that changes everything for us. We have to be smart. We can't make stupid decisions. There's no room for mistakes.''
Ralph said UConn can't feel overconfident because of earlier lopsided wins this season over other teams in the Final Four. She recalls the year before she arrived at UConn as a coach. The Huskies crushed Stanford in the regionals by 30 points, then lost to the Cardinal in the Final Four.
"Every team that plays us plays some of their best basketball,'' she said. "If we don't win the national championship, our season is a failure.''
There are some who suggest that UConn's current dominance of the game, the win streak and all the one-sided margins, is bad for women's basketball. Ralph couldn't disagree more.
"What Coach Auriemma has done and what these kids have done is extraordinary,'' she said. Ralph said it was no accident while she was an assistant at Pittsburgh that she copied a lot of the things she learned from Auriemma at UConn. "It was successful and had been for a long time,'' she said.
"I know what it was like to be here and how it changed my life,'' she said. "There's nothing bad about that."
Copyright 2010 - The Fayetteville Observer
It's fate -- Northern Iowa-Michigan State
How about this for a cosmic joke: Thirty-one years to the day after Magic Johnson and Michigan State beat Larry Bird and Indiana State for the national championship, the Spartans are playing another Missouri Valley team in a regional semifinal.
Oh, and Johnson is on hand to see the game.
Rather than Indiana State, though, it will be giant-killer Northern Iowa taking on fifth-seeded Michigan State. The winner gets a date with sixth-seeded Tennessee on Saturday.
The Panthers and March miracle-worker Ali Farokhmanesh may be new to most fans' radar, but they have quite the postseason pedigree. They made three straight NCAA tournament appearances beginning in 2004, then got back to the tournament last season, before the charmed run this year that includes a victory against overall No. 1 seed Kansas.
Now they'll try to knock off a coach and team that is in the round of 16 for the third consecutive year and the ninth time in 13 seasons, despite a rash of injuries.
Among them was a season-ending Achilles' injury to star Kalin Lucas in a dramatic victory over Maryland that allowed the Spartans to advance to St. Louis. Korie Lucious will be called on to help replace the contributions from Michigan State's leading scorer.
Copyright (c) 2010 The Associated Press
Day 3: NCAA tournament roundup
College basketball's newest giant killers live in nondescript places like Moraga, Calif., and Cedar Falls, Iowa.
They have star players named Omar and Ali.
And Saint Mary's and Northern Iowa are going to the Sweet 16.
A day after chalk ruled the NCAA tournament, the Gaels and Panthers produced two of the tournament's most stunning upsets in recent history.
Chaos returned to the NCAA tournament after a 24-hour hiatus on Friday and it came from the most unlikely of sources. After eight double-digit seeds won first-round games, two more won on Saturday and advanced to the Sweet 16.
And that wasn't even Saturday's biggest surprise.
Northern Iowa, the No. 9 seed in the Midwest Regional, stunned No. 1 overall seed Kansas 69-67 in a second-round game in Oklahoma City. The Jayhawks, who were seeking their fourth national championship, became the first No. 1 seed to lose in the second round since Kentucky and Stanford lost to UAB and Alabama, respectively, in the 2004 NCAA tournament.
Since the NCAA selection committee started ranking the overall No. 1 seed in 2004, only one (Florida in 2007) has won a national championship.
The Panthers, who finished the regular season with a 25-4 record and won the Missouri Valley Conference tournament, lost at Evansville 55-54 less than a month ago. The Purple Aces had a 7-20 record before defeating UNI, which also lost to hapless DePaul early in the season.
Now Northern Iowa can become the first Missouri Valley team to advance past the Sweet 16 since Wichita State in 1981. (By the way, the Shockers knocked off -- you guessed it -- Kansas in the Sweet 16).
After nearly blowing a seven-point lead in the final 78 seconds, the Panthers needed some magic of their own to upset the Jayhawks. With UNI leading by only one point, senior Ali Farokhmanesh passed up conventional wisdom and launched a wide-open 3-pointer with plenty of time left on the shot clock. His 3-pointer was good, giving the Panthers a 66-62 lead with 35 seconds to play. Farokhmanesh, the son of an Iranian Olympic volleyball player, made two foul shots with five seconds left to put Kansas away for good.
The Panthers advanced to play the winner of Sunday's second-round game between No. 4-seeded Maryland and No. 5-seeded Michigan State in next week's semifinals of the Midwest Regional in St. Louis.
"If anybody's going to shoot that shot, I want it to be Ali," Northern Iowa's Jake Koch told reporters on Saturday night.
Why not? In Thursday's first round, Farokhmanesh made a 3-pointer with 4.9 seconds left to beat No. 8-seeded UNLV by a 69-66 score.
Saint Mary's probably doesn't want anyone other than center Omar Samhan shooting the basketball, either. Samhan, a senior from San Ramon, Calif., scored 32 points on 13-for-16 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds in the No. 10-seeded Gaels' 75-68 upset of No. 2 Villanova in a South Regional second-round game in Providence, R.I.
Samhan has led the Gaels to back-to-back upsets, averaging 30.5 points and 9.5 rebounds. His next test will come against No. 3-seeded Baylor in Friday's semifinals of the South Regional in Houston. The Gaels pulled away from the Wildcats after Mickey McConnell banked in a 25-footer to give them a 68-65 lead with 1:15 to play.
Saint Mary's, a tiny Catholic school of fewer than 5,000 students, moved past the first round of the NCAA tournament only once before. The Gaels made the Elite Eight in 1959 when only 23 teams were in the field.
"It's such a small school," Samhan told reporters on Saturday. "There's more people at the game [cheering] for Villanova than we have [who are] students at Saint Mary's."
Washington was the other double-digit seed to advance to the Sweet 16 on Saturday. The 11th-seeded Huskies won their ninth game in a row, crushing No. 3-seeded New Mexico 82-64 in an East Regional second-round game in San Jose, Calif. It was never close. Forward Quincy Pondexter led the Huskies with 18 points and guard Isaiah Thomas added 15.
Washington will play the winner of Sunday's second-round game between 2-seed West Virginia and 10-seed Missouri in next week's East Regional semifinals in Syracuse, N.Y.
"It's March Madness," UW coach Lorenzo Romar said. "You come out and need to be only concerned with what you can do. With the parity the way it is today in the college game, anyone can beat anyone and we have been witness of that. In the last couple of days, it's been March Madness."
And while it has been maddening for many teams on the East Coast, there are smiles all over the West Coast, a region maligned practically all season. Don't look now, but the Pac-10 and WCC are a combined 6-0 -- and it's no fluke. Three of the victims have come from the Big East and another from the ACC. The other two? A trendy sleeper (Richmond) and a third-seeded, 30-win team (New Mexico).
Meanwhile, Butler -- so often the underdog in the past -- nearly became a victim of March Madness, too. The fifth-seeded Bulldogs needed a 7-2 run in the final 2 1/2 minutes to hold off No. 13 seed Murray State 54-52 in San Jose.
More suspense could be in store for Sunday, with eight more games. In Jacksonville, Fla., eighth-seeded California plays top seed Duke in a South Regional game, and No. 12 Cornell plays No. 4 Wisconsin in an East Regional second-round game. Syracuse, the No. 1 seed in the West, plays No. 8-seeded Gonzaga in Buffalo, N.Y., and second-seeded Ohio State plays No. 10 Georgia Tech in the Midwest Regional in Milwaukee.
(c)2010 ESPN Internet Ventures
No. 5 Ohio State a 69-68 win over Michigan
Evan Turner's accuracy was off, and the player widely regarded as one of the nation's best was becoming visibly frustrated in the final minutes.
When the game clock showed 2.2 seconds, those issues no longer mattered.
Turner took an inbounds pass, dribbled upcourt and drained a 37-footer at the buzzer to give No. 5 Ohio State a 69-68 win over Michigan on Friday in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals Indianapolis.
"You can't really practice for those moments, you just have to come out and come ready," he said.
Turner finished with 18 points and eight assists for the Buckeyes (25-7), who advanced to play Illinois.
In other Big Ten games, Devoe Joseph made two of his three 3-pointers during a decisive 10-0 overtime run, leading the Gophers to a 72-67 overtime upset of No. 11 Michigan State and perhaps into next week's bigger tournament.
Mike Tisdale scored 21 points and Demetri McCamey had 13 as Illinois hung on for an 58-54 upset of No. 13 Wisconsin. The Fighting Illini (19-13) is hoping the win solidifies its NCAA hopes.
Wisconsin (23-8) was led by Trevon Hughes and Jon Leuer, each with 14 points.
Jason Bohannon's 3-pointer with 15.9 seconds left clanked off the front of the rim, Mike Davis grabbed the rebound for Illinois, made 1 of 2 free throws and the Illini hung on. The loss ended Wisconsin's four-game winning streak and prevented coach Bo Ryan from earning his 600th career win.
Big 12: Xavier Henry scored 11 points in a stunning 21-2 run that broke a tight game wide open and carried No. 1 Kansas past No. 23 Texas A&M 79-66 in a rough-and-tumble Big 12 semifinal in Kansas City, Mo.
Texas A&M (23-9) led by as many as nine points early in the second half while the regular-season Big 12 champion Jayhawks (31-2) fouled and fumbled and committed turnover after turnover.
In other Big 12 action, Dominique Sutton had a double-double and a key offensive rebound that led to Jacob Pullen's 3-pointer with 2:02 left, helping No. 9 Kansas State survive for a 82-75 win over No. 21 Baylor.
Sutton provided the early spark for listless Kansas State (26-6) early and finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds to send the second-seeded Wildcats into their first Big 12 championship game against rival Kansas.
Big East: Da'Sean Butler, West Virginia's last-second hero in the quarterfinals, scored 24 points to lead the No. 7 Mountaineers over Notre Dame 53-51 in the Big East tournament semifinals.
Third-seeded West Virginia (26-6) will face eighth-seeded Georgetown in the championship game Saturday night. The Mountaineers are looking for their first title; the Hoyas a record eighth.
ACC: Kyle Singler had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 4 Duke pulled away late to beat pesky Virginia 57-46 in an Atlantic Coast Conference quarterfinal in Greensboro, N.C.
Nolan Smith added 15 points for the top-seeded Blue Devils (27-5) and Jon Scheyer shook off a rough start to score 15 - including seven during the late 11-0 run that sent them into Saturday's semifinal against 12th-seeded Miami.
SEC: John Wall had 23 points, including seven straight in the second half to give the Wildcats the lead for good, and Kentucky overcame an 11-point deficit to beat 73-67 Alabama in the Southeastern Conference tournament quarterfinals.
Kentucky (30-2) will play No. 15 Tennessee in the semifinals Saturday looking to add a 26th tournament title to the 44th regular-season championship.
Mikhail Torrance led Alabama (17-15) with 20 points.
Copyright (c) 2010 - San Jose Mercury News
A parity pickle
A muddled mess.
That's what "bracketologists" - those who most closely follow the NCAA Tournament selection process - might call the growing logjam of good-but-unremarkable teams still hoping to catch the eyes of the men's selection committee with strong performances in conference tournaments.
UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero, chairman of the committee, would agree.
"This year many of us (on the committee) think the overarching theme will be parity," Guerrero said during a recent teleconference. "There are some exceptional teams out there, some pretty good teams and a lot of good teams."
The 65-team field will be unveiled a week from today. College basketball's "Selection Sunday" may rank second only to "Super Bowl Sunday" in interest among today's sports fans.
A major reason: so many "bubble" teams, not enough lines on the bracket.
There are nearly two dozen teams with conference records ranging from two games over .500 to two games below, and that's just among the "Big Six" (BCS) conferences. Other conferences with several strong teams throw another monkey wrench into the equation.
"This could be one of the most difficult years for the committee," Guerrero said. "A great number of teams look alike. Parity will make seeding and selecting those last few teams in the field a bear.
"We are looking for the very best teams that we can possibly get into this field irrespective of what colors they wear, what kind of history they have, what trophies they've won in the past, what their mascots look like. We're looking for the best basketball teams."
Here are some items of interest with the official March Madness a week away.
Didn't you used to be...
A regular in the NCAA Tournament?
It's not happening this year for Saint Joseph's (11-19, 5-11 Atlantic 10), North Carolina (16-15, 5-11 ACC), Southern Illinois (15-15, 6-12 MVC), Oklahoma (13-17, 4-12 Big 12), Stanford (13-17, 7-11 Pac-10), Indiana (10-20, 4-14 Big Ten) and LSU (11-19, 2-14 SEC).
Stat-sheet stuffer
Ohio State junior Evan Turner, right, a 6-foot-7 combo guard from Chicago who has NBA scouts drooling, leads the Big Ten Conference in scoring (19.5) and rebounding (9.4) and is second in assists (5.9) and steals (1.8).
"You got a kid that has mobility and size and height, and yet he can play point guard and control the game," Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. "That's the toughest thing for everybody to deal with."
Turner, who has 13 double-doubles and two triple-doubles, missed six games after fracturing two vertebrae in a nasty fall in early December against Eastern Michigan. Without him, No. 6-ranked Ohio State went 3-3, which could help his cause in voting for national player-of-the- year honors.
The envelope, please
Last year, the Big East and Big Ten led all conferences with seven NCAA Tournament bids apiece.
Our guess for next Sunday? The Big East ties its NCAA record (2006, 2008) with eight invitations, and the Big 12 lands seven bids for the first time in its history.
No "aircraft carriers"?
That's what the late coach and commentator Al McGuire called hulking centers who could carry a team by themselves. Those players have all but disappeared in the college game.
There are a few to keep your eye on during the NCAA Tournament, however, including 6-11 junior Cole Aldrich of Kansas, 6-11 junior A.J. Ogilivy of Vanderbilt, 6-11 sophomore Greg Monroe of Georgetown and 6-9 senior Jarvis Varnado of Mississippi State.
That's not exactly Wilt, Russell, Walton or Shaq, however.
Wall of awards
If Kentucky point guard John Wall gets nosed out by Ohio State's Evan Turner for national player-of-the-year honors, he will still receive enough plaques, including national freshman of the year and SEC player of the year, to adorn several walls.
New Jersey Nets fans are already holding their breath in anticipation of the NBA's May 18 draft lottery. Kentucky coach John Calipari, who lost one-and-done Derrick Rose to the pros two years ago while at Memphis, told the New York Daily News: "If John Wall was the first pick in the draft and decided he wanted to come back (to Kentucky), I wouldn't let him. We'd be wrestling on the floor."
Said Wall of the Nets: "They're not very good... I watch 'SportsCenter' all night."
One-bid conferences
That's the harsh reality for most of the 25 conferences that aren't among the power conferences of the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, SEC and Pac-10.
Last year, the 25 non-BCS leagues combined to snare a total of just four of the 34 available at-large bids in the NCAA Tournament field. That number could rise a bit this year, with the Mountain West and Atlantic 10 demonstrating better depth.
But a coach such as Northern Colorado's Tad Boyle knows that his team must win its conference tournament or hope for a call from the NIT as a consolation prize.
"You can't be thinking that you are two or three games or whatever from the NCAA Tournament," Boyle said in looking toward this week's Big Sky Conference Tournament. "If you do that, you'll forget what you need to do to win. The most important game is your next game."
The other Kansas team
Don't look now, but Kansas State has jumped to No. 5 in the coaches' poll. Predictions that the Wildcats would slide back to mediocrity after Bob Huggins left in 2007 for West Virginia were greatly exaggerated. His successor, Frank Martin, is a top candidate for Big 12 coach of the year.
Led by veteran guards Denis Clemente and Jacob Pullen and a slew of springy forwards, Kansas State is vying for a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. In the preseason, Big 12 coaches picked the Wildcats to finish fourth in the conference. They are all believers now.
"I think Kansas State is a heck of a basketball team and a well-coached team, and I expect them to go deep in the NCAA Tournament," Colorado coach Jeff Bzdelik said. "They're kind of living in the shadow of another great team (Kansas) in their state. From a national standpoint, they're under the radar. But once that ball is thrown up, they won't be under the radar."
Pac-10 woes
Unless league leader California (No. 21 RPI) loses in the conference tournament, the Pac-10 could get only one bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Five Pac-10 teams received bids last year, and six each in 2008 and 2007. But coaching changes and player attrition caught up with the conference this year. The Pac-10 had a total of 21 players drafted by the NBA the past two years, including 13 first-rounders. The ACC, Big 12 and Big East tied for next best, each with a total of 13 draftees over the two-year span.
Cal appears to be a shoo-in for an NCAA bid, even if it gets bounced in the Pac-10 Tournament. Washington (No. 53 RPI) and Arizona State (No. 54 RPI) would be the next-best candidates. But Washington lost at home to Southern Cal and Oregon, and Arizona State's most impressive nonconference victory would be, um, against San Diego State.
Betting on Boeheim
At age 65, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim has a national championship (thank you, Carmelo Anthony), 26 NCAA Tournament appearances, an NCAA-record 32 seasons of at least 20 victories and the program's first No. 1 regular- season ranking in two decades.
Boeheim is in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, but one honor has eluded him. He has never been voted national coach of the year.
Considering that his Orange was nowhere to be found in the preseason top-25 poll and had to replace three starters - Jonny Flynn, Eric Devendorf and Paul Harris - off last year's Sweet 16 team, Boeheim looks to be the odds-on favorite to finally claim that elusive award.
Seeding risers and fallers
Five recent risers: Duke, Kansas State, Ohio State, Temple, Baylor
Five recent fallers: Texas, Purdue, Pittsburgh, Georgetown, Wake Forest
Cole and Sherron
No team in the NCAA Tournament will have a more lethal inside-outside combination than Kansas, with 6-foot-11 junior center Cole Aldrich, right, and 5-11 senior guard Sherron Collins.
Aldrich ranks among the nation's leaders in rebounding and blocked shots. Collins, built like a fireplug, has come up with clutch shots in a number of situations to keep the Jayhawks rolling. Defensively, he's often called upon to check the opponent's best outside shooter.
The pair have developed a beautiful chemistry on the court, with Collins knowing when to toss the ball into Aldrich, and Aldrich able to fling an outlet pass to Collins and start a fast break.
"It's funny, because we grew up in completely different environments," Aldrich said. "Sherron is from Chicago, and I'm just a kid from suburban Minneapolis. But it works."
Copyright 2010 The Denver Post
Michigan State knocks Purdue out of Big Ten lead
Raymar Morgan had 16 points and 11 rebounds to help 14th-ranked Michigan State beat No.3 Purdue 53-44 yesterday in West Lafayette, Ind., and snap the Boilermakers' 10-game winning streak.
Draymond Green added 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Spartans (22-7, 12-4), who avenged a 76-64 loss to the Boilermakers on Feb.9 in East Lansing.
E'Twaun Moore scored 12 points and JaJuan Johnson and Chris Kramer 11 each for the Boilermakers in their first game since losing forward Robbie Hummel. The team's No. 2 scorer and rebounder suffered a torn knee ligament Wednesday against Minnesota and will miss the rest of the season.
"As soon as Rob went down, our backs went up against the wall," Kramer said. "We still control our own destiny. Everything we did wrong is fixable."
Men's highlights
Xavier 78, No. 23 Richmond 76, 2OT - Terrell Holloway scored seven of his 24 points during the second overtime, leading host Xavier (21-7, 12-2) past Richmond (22-7, 11-3) in a showdown for first place in the Atlantic 10.
Xavier remains tied with Temple. The Owls beat the Musketeers in the teams' only head-to-head game this season, giving them the first tiebreaker should the two finish with identical conference records.
Xavier hasn't lost a conference home game since the end of the 2005-06 season, running off 31 in a row - the second-longest streak in league history.
Iowa 73, Indiana 57 - Matt Gatens scored a career-high 25 points and Iowa (10-19, 4-12 Big Ten) beat Indiana (9-19, 3-13) in Iowa City.
Iowa grabbed a 17-4 lead and was in control the rest of the way.
Penn State 79, Northwestern 60 - Talor Battle had 16 points and six assists and Penn State (11-17, 3-13 Big Ten) beat Northwestern (18-11, 7-10) in State College, Pa.
Jeff Brooks added 11 points and seven rebounds for the Nittany Lions, who shot 57 percent from the field.
Women's highlights
No. 5 Xavier 74, Fordham 59 - Ta'Shia Phillips scored a season-high 25 points, making 11 of 12 shots from the field, and host Xavier (24-3, 14-0) beat Fordham (8-21, 2-12) to clinch the school's first undefeated season in Atlantic 10 play.
The Musketeers became just the sixth team to run through the conference unbeaten.
North Carolina 64, No. 6 Duke 54 - Cetera DeGraffenreid scored 20 of her 22 points in the second half to help host North Carolina (18-10, 6-8 Atlantic Coast Conference) upset Duke (24-5, 12-2) and earn a needed victory for its shaky NCAA Tournament hopes.
Waltiea Rolle added 12 points, seven rebounds and six blocks for the Tar Heels, who pushed ahead for good behind DeGraffenreid in the final 10 minutes.
(c)2010, Dispatch Interactive
Gonzaga's Courtney Vandersloot sets WCC assists recordSAN DIEGO -- Tiffanie Shives scored 20 points and Courtney Vandersloot had 18 points and nine assists to help No. 22 Gonzaga beat San Diego 75-61 Saturday.
Vandersloot, a Kentwood High School graduate, became the West Coast Conference all-time assists leader, surpassing former San Diego player Amanda Rego.
Vandersloot, a junior, has 663 career assists.
The victory was the 12th in a row for the Zags (21-4 overall, 10-0 WCC).
San Diego (14-11, 6-5) was behind 63-56 with 6:02 remaining, but Vandersloot made a three-point basket to ease the Zags back in front by 10.
Vivian Frieson, a former standout at Garfield High in Seattle, had 12 points and 12 rebounds for Gonzaga.
Top 5 women
At No. 1 Connecticut 66, No. 25 St. John's 52
Tina Charles scored 25 points and grabbed a career-high 21 rebounds as the Huskies (25-0, 12-0 Big East) beat the Red Storm (20-5, 8-4) and extended their winning streak to 64 games.
No. 3 Nebraska 82, at Missouri 78
Kelsey Griffin had 28 points as the Huskers (23-0, 10-0 Big 12) edged the Tigers (11-13, 1-10).
Eastern Washington 60
Sarah Ena, a graduate of Inglemoor High in Kenmore, had 17 points and eight rebounds to lead the Grizzlies (13-11, 8-4 Big Sky) past the Eagles (15-9, 8-3).
Copyright (c) 2010 The Seattle Times Company
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