Walker's 32 Points Help Lead a Cal Rout of Virginia
No. 4 Seed California 99, No. 5 Seed Virginia 73
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Tuesday, March 24, 2009; 12:38 AM
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A powerful inside duo and a sharp-shooting guard helped California put up NBA-like numbers in taking the school where it's never been before.
Ashley Walker scored 20 of her career-high-tying 32 points in the first half, and Cal used its strong inside game to rout Virginia 99-73 Monday night, sending the Golden Bears to the NCAA tournament's final 16 for the first time in school history.
Devanei Hampton had 22 points and 11 rebounds and junior Alexis Gray-Lawson added 22 points for the fourth-seeded Bears (27-6), who advanced to the Trenton Regional semifinals Sunday in New Jersey. They'll play the winner of Tuesday's game between Connecticut and Florida.
"We just said we don't want this to be our last game. We're going to leave it all the court," Walker said. "We just played with our hearts and souls."
Seniors Walker and Hampton and Gray-Lawson scored 76 of their team's 99 points, by far Cal's highest-scoring game this season.
"Without this big three, our team would still be as great," Gray-Lawson said. "I would definitely call us the big 11 because it took all 11 players to come out here and get 99 points."
Monica Wright scored 26 points before fouling out with 2:23 remaining for fifth-seeded Virginia (24-10), seeking its first trip to the regional semifinals since 2000.
The loss denied Hall of Fame coach Debbie Ryan her 700th career victory.
"They came out swinging and we were taking punches and not swinging back," Ryan said. "Their high-low game was really good to start the game and we just had no answer for it. We went zone, we went man, we tried different players. There's no excuse, they just flat-out beat us in every aspect of the game."
The Bears' 27th victory equaled the most in program history, a mark set last year when they were 27-7. They improved to 4-7 in NCAA tournament games, and advanced out of the second round a year after losing to George Washington in their second game.
Virginia owns a much grander basketball history, with Final Four appearances in 1990, '91 and '92 under Ryan, who has spent her entire 31-year career in Charlottesville.
But the Cavaliers simply couldn't match up with the inside duo of the 6-foot-1 Walker and 6-3 Hampton, who led the Bears to a 32-18 first-half edge in the paint.
