HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Olayinka Sanni had 20 points as No. 3 seeded West Virginia (No. 18 ESPN/USA Today, No. 14 AP) moved into the Big East semifinals Sunday with a 64-42 win over the No. 11 seed University of South Florida.
LaQuita Owens added 14 points for the Mountaineers (24-6), who will play Louisville in Monday's semifinals. The Cardinals upset Rutgers (No. 5 ESPN/USA Today, No. 4 AP) 57-56 in their second-round game.
Shantia Grace had 13 points for USF (16-15) which will now await word on a Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) bid. The WNIT will announce it's bracket after the NCAA Selection Show on Monday, March 17.
The Mountaineers, who were delayed in arriving to the tournament by this weekend's snow in the Midwest, had a first-round bye and drew Sunday's final game. But once they finally hit the court, they made quick work of the Bulls.
Owens had eight early points and the Mountaineers broke out to a 16-6 lead. They stretched it from there, holding USF to 20 percent shooting in the first half.
Grace, who scored 25 points in an overtime upset of No. 6 seed Syracuse in the first round, was 3-for-10 from the floor before intermission, but that was half of the team's made shots, and they went into halftime trailing 39-15. She finished 4-of-16, including 1-of-8 from behind the arc.
Eight minutes into the second half, it was 52-22.
Sanni, a 6-foot-2 senior, hit nine of her 14 shots. Owens was 5-of-7 from the field, and had three 3-pointers.
USF, which came in on a three-game winning streak and had won four of six, looked tired. The Bulls had four players log at least 39 minutes against the Orange, and Grace and Jazmine Sepulveda each played all 45 minutes Saturday night.
The team hit just 15-of-59 shots, and was 2-of-23 from 3-point range on Sunday.
West Virginia had beaten USF in their only other meeting this season, 79-73 on Jan. 5.
Grace's 13 points gives her 559 on the season m oving her in to third on the school's single all-time season scoring list. In addition, Porche Grant grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds in the loss, the most since Nalini Miller grabbed the same amount on Jan. 16, 2007 against Louisville.
