NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - Martina Tinklova made two free throws with 16.7 secondsremaining Friday night and Maine won for the first time in five trips to thewomen's NCAA tournament, beating Stanford 60-58.
The Black Bears (24-6) three times pulled ahead of the Cardinal (18-12), andeach time saw the seventh seeds come back, the last time on two free throws byCarolyn Moos with 41.8 seconds to play. The shots, Moos' first points of thegame, made it 58-all and set up the final sequence.
After Jamie Cassidy's drive came up short, Tinklova rebounded and washacked. Pumping her fist after the whistle sounded, she made both free throws.Maine finished 13-for-13 from the foul line in the second half.
Stanford immediately headed back upcourt and worked the ball to ReganFreuen, whose driving baseline jumper with about 2 seconds left missed,sparking a celebration by the 10th-seeded Black Bears at midcourt.
The Black Bears, dispatched in the first round of the tournament in each ofthe last four years, thus earned the right to play either fifth-ranked OldDominion or Tennessee Tech in the East Regional second round Sunday.
Cassidy led Maine with 15 points despite missing 15 of 19 shots, KristenMcCormick added 13 and Tinklova and Amy Vachon 11 each. Tinklova also had 11rebounds, helping the Black Bears outrebound the Cardinal 43-36.
Lindsey Yamasaki led Stanford with 24 points, 18 on 3-pointers. Freuen added13 and scored nine from behind the arc.
The loss marked the second year in a row the Cardinal didn't make it pastthe first round. Last season at home, they were shocked 71-67 by Harvard tobecome the first top seed in tournament history to lose its opener.
The Black Bears led 30-26 after a first half in which they outrebounded theCardinal 25-16 and shot 37.5 percent to Stanford's 31 percent.
By HANK KURZ Jr.
AP Sports Writer