PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) – Tara Mitchem scored a career-high 40
points and Southwest Missouri State overcame a rare subpar game by
Jackie Stiles to beat Toledo 89-71 in the first round of the NCAA
Tournament Saturday night.
|  | | Southwest Missouri's Carly Deer, top, and Toledo's Melantha Herron give chase. |
Stiles, the NCAA's all-time leading scorer in women's college
basketball, had a season-low 13 points before leaving with about
nine minutes to play after being knocked woozy when she was hit in
the temple running into a pick at midcourt.
The senior guard, who averaged 30.7 points a game this season,
lay on the floor for about 20 seconds before being helped to the
bench. Team doctor Brian Mahaffey did not say whether she sustained
a concussion, but said he expected Stiles to be fine.
Stiles never returned, but Southwest Missouri State (26-5) did
not need her. The Bears were in the midst of a 26-2 run that
put them in the second round of the West Regional on Monday night
against Rutgers, which beat Stephen F. Austin 80-43.
Mitchem's 40 points tied for the fourth most in an NCAA women's
tournament game. It was the best performance since Tamika Whitmore
had 40 for Memphis against Youngstown State on March 13, 1998.
Lorri Bauman of Drake has the record of 50 against Maryland in
1982.
Mitchem hit 13 of 20 shots from the field.
Carly Deer made four 3-pointers and scored 16 of her 21 points
in the second half, when Southwest Missouri shot 59 percent from
the field. The fifth-seeded Bears, champions of the Missouri
Valley Conference, hit 11 of their first 15 shots in the second
half to end Toledo's school-record 16-game winning streak.
Kahli Carter had 21 points, and Melantha Herron had 20 for the
Rockets (25-6), the champions of the Mid-American Conference.
Toledo had an outstanding first half, using a strong inside game
with Herron and Carter and a tough box-and-one against Stiles to
take a 32-31 halftime lead.
Stiles hit only one of four shots from the field – a fastbreak
layup – and had only four points.
However, Southwest Missouri got in high gear after Herron scored
inside with 16:35 to play to give Toledo its last lead at 42-41.
Mitchem, who came in averaging 12.6 points and whose previous
career high was 24, hit a jumper to spark a 14-point run in which
she and Stiles each scored seven points.
After Shekinah Brazzle broke the run with two free throws for
Toledo, Deer hit two 3-pointers and scored eight points in a 12-0
run that stretched the Bears' lead to 67-44.
Stiles was hurt in that sequence running into a pick by Carter,
a 6-foot power forward.
The win was the 300th for Southwest Missouri State coach Cheryl
Burnett.
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ALSO SEE
Women's College Basketball Scoreboard
Toledo Clubhouse
SW Missouri State Clubhouse
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