STARKVILLE, Miss. — DePaul’s Tanita Allen snagged a loose ball under the basket, but then lost her balance, awkwardly flipping the ball toward the rim as she was falling down and being fouled.
Somehow, it bounced a few times on the rim and went through the hoop.
It was that kind of charmed game for the Blue Demons — especially Allen.
The Blue Demons’ sophomore scored 25 points — including hitting her first five 3-pointers — Lauren Prochaska and Brooke Schulte each added 12 and DePaul cruised past Northern Iowa 88-67 on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
“She’s capable of this kind of game,” DePaul coach Doug Bruno said of Allen. “She’s a really quality shooter and was ready to let it rip.”
Seventh-seeded DePaul (27-7) kept up a torrid scoring pace despite fairly quiet games from Schulte and Jessica January, the team’s two leading scorers. Instead, it was Allen and Prochaska who were often the go-to options.
“It was just the way the game evolved,” said Prochaska, who had a team-high 6 assists. “No one on the team is an ‘I’ player who looks for their own stats.”
Allen, a 5-foot-10 guard who was the Big East Sixth Woman of the Year, came off the bench and hit her first 6 shots, including five 3-pointers to push the Blue Demons ahead early. She finished 9 of 11 from the field, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range.
“I just seemed to have a lot of open shots,” Allen said. “And I knocked them down.”
Allen said she had been struggling lately, but a pregame pep talk from her dad included the advice of “just shoot, don’t really think about it.” Bruno, after hearing Allen’s explanation, shook his head and said he’s been saying the same thing for weeks.
“You needed your father to tell you that?” Bruno said, laughing.
Northern Iowa (24-9) took a 3-0 lead in the opening minute on Mikaela Morgan’s 3-pointer, but that was pretty much the end of the good news for the Panthers. DePaul’s fast-paced offense continually caught 10th-seeded Northern Iowa out of position and the Blue Demons shot 61 percent in the first half (20 of 33) on the way to a 51-33 halftime lead.
“What Allen did — my goodness — you’ve got to give her credit,” Northern Iowa coach Tanya Warren said. “To go 9 of 11 and 5 of 6 from the 3? 25 points off the bench? That’s incredible. She was in a zone.”
Notre Dame 79, Robert Morris 49:
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Marina Mabrey and Arike Ogunbowale scored 15 points each to help top-seed Notre Dame beat Robert Morris.
The Irish (31-3), who have won 15 straight, improved to 28-5 in seven tournament appearances as a No. 1 seed, but the 30-point margin of victory was the smallest during those games. The Irish previously had won by at least 31.
It also was the smallest margin of defeat for the Colonials (22-11) in five tournament games. They lost 101-49 to Connecticut last season and 93-42 to Notre Dame in 2014.
The Irish dominated inside, outscoring the Colonials 44-14 in the paint and had a 52-23 rebounding advantage. The Irish also outshot the Colonials 53 percent to 27 percent.
Lindsay Allen repeatedly cut through the Robert Morris defense and finished with 14 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Brianna Turner had 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Florida State 87, Western Illinois 66:
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Shakayla Thomas scored 23 points and third-seeded Florida State beat No. 14 Western Illinois.
Thomas, who was the coaches choice as Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year, had 10 points in the third quarter as the Seminoles broke open a close game in the second half. Florida State (26-6) led 36-34 at halftime but went on a 14-5 run at the beginning of the third quarter to take control. Thomas also had 14 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season.
Taylor Higginbotham had 20 points for Western Illinois (26-7) and Morgan Blumer had 12.
The Leathernecks led for most of the first half.
Ohio State 70, Western Kentucky 63:
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kelsey Mitchell and Asia Doss each scored 15 points, Shayla Cooper grabbed a season-high 15 rebounds and Ohio State withstood a late charge from Western Kentucky.
The fifth-seeded Buckeyes (27-6) began to take control just before halftime and followed with timely baskets to keep a safe cushion against the No. 12 seed Hilltoppers. Ohio State eventually stretched a 7-point halftime advantage to 64-48 with 4:38 remaining before Western Kentucky used a 15-5 run to make it a two-possession game.
Doss’ free throw with 18 seconds left sealed the outcome for Ohio State, which advances to Sunday’s second round against No. 4 seed Kentucky. The Wildcats escaped No. 13 seed Belmont 73-70 in the preceding game.
Ohio State improved to 18-6 in first-round NCAA games.
Arizona State 73, Michigan State 61:
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Quinn Dornstauder scored 16 points to lead No. 8 seed Arizona State to a win over ninth-seeded Michigan State.
In a matchup between the stingy defense of the Sun Devils (20-12) and the high-power offense of the Spartans, Arizona State won easily. Without a 26-point fourth quarter, it would have been the lowest point total of the season for Michigan State (21-12).
It didn’t take Arizona State long to take control. Kiara Russell’s 3-pointer tied the game 6-6, and the Sun Devils went on a 16-2 run over the next six minutes to take a 22-8 lead. They would lead by double digits the rest of the game.
Dornstauder went 6-of-6 from the field and hit all four of her free throws. Sabrina Haines scored 15 points and Reili Richardson added 13 for the Sun Devils.
Tori Jankoska, the nation’s 10th leading scorer at 22.5 points a game scored 26 points, 15 of them in the fourth quarter.
