WVU women fall in NCAA tourney
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Photo by Scott Wachter/NCAA Photos
Players from WVU and Georgia Tech scramble for a loose ball during the Division I Women's Basketball Tournament Tuesday in San Antonio, Texas.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Georgia Tech needed no big rally to ramble into the Sweet 16.
A missing shooter's touch found and big contributions from their European duo of Lotta-Maj Lahtinen and Lorela Cubaj carried the fifth-seeded Yellow Jackets to a 73-56 win over No. 4 West Virginia on Tuesday, sending Georgia Tech to the Sweet 16 for the second time.
Lahtinen, of Finland, struggled to find her stroke in a first-round overtime win over Stephen F. Austin when the Yellow Jackets needed a 17-point second-half rally, the fourth largest comeback in tournament history. She was 0 for 7 from long range in that game.
But Lahtinen struck for 17 points in the first half against the Mountaineers to dig the Yellow Jackets out an early hole. She was 9-of-16 shooting against West Virginia with three 3-pointers.
Esmery Martinez scored 13 points to lead West Virginia (22-7).
Georgia Tech turned the ball over eight times in the first quarter -- four in the first five possessions -- and trailed 15-6 before clawing back within 17-15 when Cubaj snatched an air ball and flipped it backward for a layup at the buzzer.
The Yellow Jackets cleaned up the sloppy play in the second and Lahtinen got rolling.