Vanderbilt's going to miss Albuquerque, but that doesn't mean the Commodores won't welcome going to Raleigh.
The 4th-seeded Vanderbilt women's basketball team pulled away from No. 5 Kansas State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to win 74-61 and advance to the Sweet 16 for the second straight year and 14th time in school history. It marked the second straight year Vanderbilt won its first two NCAA Tournament games at The Pit in Albuquerque, improving the team's mark there to 4-0 in postseason play.
The regional semifinal takes place next weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina and sets up a potential re-match with top-seeded Maryland, who eliminated Vanderbilt from last year's NCAAs.
Coach Melanie Balcomb said before the game that her team wanted to keep playing and those are the kinds of squads that do well in March. Seniors Jen Risper and Christina Wirth certainly look as though they want to keep their collegiate careers going.
Risper led the Commodores (26-8) with a stellar performance on both sides of the ball, scoring a career-high 27 points and grabbing five rebounds while playing outstanding defense with a team-high three steals. Wirth added 24 points, 16 of them coming in the first half to keep Vanderbilt close when the team was struggling to get stops. Their 51 combined points accounted for nearly 70 percent of the Commodore offense.
The Wildcats (25-8) took the lead early, going up by as many as seven, and led by one point at the half, but Vanderbilt buckled down defensively, holding Kansas State to just 23 second half points. With the game tied at 48-48 with 11 minutes to play, the Commodores went on an 11-0 run, punctuated by junior Merideth Marsh's first 3-pointer of the game to put Vanderbilt up 59-48.
The Commodores dominated the boards, holding a 33-24 advantange, including a 12-5 advantage on offensive rebounds. Also, junior Jessica Mooney, despite her lack of height, had three blocks and gave a strong defensive effort against Kansas State's point guard, Shalee Lehning, who committed four turnovers.
Kansas State could get no closer than eight in the final minutes, as Vanderbilt extended the lead to as many as 16 with 1:30 to play.
Marsh threw the ball in the air to celebrate at the buzzer while Risper and Wirth embraced.
Without both of the seniors' efforts Monday night, the Commodores would have been done for the year. Now they're coming back to Nashville to prepare for their regional semifinal and attempt to reach the Elite Eight for the first time since 2002.
