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NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Recap (Florida Intl-Xavier)
Posted: Sat March 13, 1999 at 1:04 a.m EST STORRS, Connecticut (Ticker) -- Nicole Levandusky scored 23 points and Taru Tuukkanen added 19, leading eighth seed Xavier to its first ever NCAA Tournament win, an 85-71 triumph over Florida International in the Mideast Region's first round of the NCAA Women's Tournament. The Musketeers advance to the second round where they will face top-seed Connecticut at Gampel Pavilion on Sunday. "Is that the prize?," Xavier coach Melanie Balcomb said. "I just told my players they are like any other team. They can be beat. It's really hard to put into words or think about what this means. We're going to have to execute against their press." Jennifer Phillips scored 16 points and Kim Hotz added 13, helping Xavier shoot 59 percent (30-of-51) from the floor. Florida International was held to 35 percent (27-of-77) from the field. Xavier (24-8) opened the contest with a 17-8 run over the first 6:09, courtesy of six points from Tuukkanen. They shot 64 percent (18-of-28) from the floor in the opening 20 minutes and held a 45-34 lead at the break. Tuukkanen led the Golden Panthers with 15 first-half points on 6-of-9 shooting. Florida International (23-7) never got closer than six points in the second half and fell to 2-7 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. It finished the season with losses in three of its last six outings. Dalma Ivanyi scored 23 points and Zuzana Michalcova added 16 and 12 rebounds for the Golden Panthers. Michalcova has 1,002 rebounds in her career, making her only the second FIU player to reach that plateau. "These two players have made history here at FIU," Golden Panthers coach Cindy Russo said. "It was great to have two such tremendous players. We're a very disappointed group right now."© 2000 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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