Originally published Thursday, March 13, 2008 at 12:00 AM

Women's Basketball Roundup | ESPN tour may hurt UConn

Connecticut has responded to NCAA concerns that its women's basketball office helped arrange a private tour of Bristol-based ESPN for then-top...

By The Associated Press

Women's college basketball scores & stats

HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut has responded to NCAA concerns that its women's basketball office helped arrange a private tour of Bristol-based ESPN for then-top recruit Maya Moore.

The tour, which might have violated NCAA rules because it may be considered a benefit not available to all UConn students, took place in October 2005 and included Moore and her mother, Kathryn.

UConn declined Wednesday to say whether the school self-reported the incident or the NCAA considered it a violation and offered a brief statement.

"The institution has worked with the NCAA on the matter and the association has taken no action," the school said.

Stacey Osburn, a spokeswoman for the NCAA, said the organization does not comment on current, pending or potential investigations.

Citing unidentified sources, ESPN reported the NCAA began looking into the tour after fielding a complaint from the Southeastern Conference over concerns raised by Tennessee.

Games

Texas 76, No. 8 Baylor 61

At Kansas City, Mo., Carla Cortijo scored a career-high 24 points and the Longhorns (21-11) overcame a 16-point halftime deficit to defeat the Bears in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 women's tournament.

The loss by second-seeded Baylor (24-6) continued one of the most unpredictable tournaments in the history of the Big 12, with top-seeded Kansas State losing to eighth-seeded Iowa State earlier in the day and No. 13 Oklahoma losing to the worst team in the Big 12, Missouri, in the opening round Tuesday.

Bucknell 57, Holy Cross 45

At Worcester, Mass., Amanda Brown scored 14 points to lead Bucknell to an upset of Holy Cross and the Patriot League title. It's only the second automatic NCAA tournament bid for the Bison (16-15), who lost to second-seeded Holy Cross (19-13) twice in the regular season.


Automatic NCAA bids
These teams have earned automatic bids to the field in the NCAA tournament:
Team	Conference
Bucknell	Patriot
Chattanooga	Southern
Connecticut	Big East
E. Tennessee St.	Atlantic Sun
Marist	Metro Atlantic Ath.
Murray State	Ohio Valley
North Carolina	Atlantic Coast
Oral Roberts	Summit
Purdue	Big Ten
San Diego	West Coast
S. Methodist	Conference USA
Stanford	Pac-10
Tennessee	Southeastern
W. Kentucky	Sun Belt
Xavier	Atlantic 10