espnW Women's Basketball

AMES, Iowa (AP) -- Jackie Adamshick scored all of her 15 points in the second half and Liad Suez added 11, leading Villanova to a 66-63 victory over Mississippi on Sunday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Seventh-seeded Villanova (23-6) kept the West Regional game at the deliberate pace it prefers and advanced to the second round for the fourth straight year. The Wildcats will play second-seeded Purdue -- a 78-59 winner over St. Francis of Pennsylvania -- on Tuesday night.

Mississippi (17-14), the No. 10 seed, scrambled back from a 12-point deficit and twice got within three, the second time at 66-63 on Genice Terry's driving shot with 1:06 remaining.

The Lady Rebels were called for kicking the ball with 47.9 seconds to play, giving Villanova a fresh 30 seconds on the shot clock. Ole Miss still got a last chance after Villanova missed two shots, but Carletta Brown's line drive 3-point shot bounced off the front of the rim and Villanova's Courtney Mix grabbed the final rebound, her 10th.

Mississippi, in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1996, got 23 points from Amber Watts and 13 from Tywanna Inmon. But Arminitie Price, the team's leading scorer for the season, managed only three. Price, the freshman of the year in the Southeastern Conference, was averaging 15.3.

It was the first women's subregional at Iowa State's Hilton Coliseum without the host team playing and because of the small crowd, the game lacked much of a tournament buzz. Only the bands from the two schools did much cheering and there was never enough noise to drown out the urgent pleadings of Villanova coach Harry Perretta.

Perretta was especially animated while his team was struggling early. The Wildcats missed 10 of their 15 shots and Mississippi built a 20-14 lead. Then the Wildcats started connecting from 3-point range, one of their specialties.

Courtney Roantree and Suez hit 3s on consecutive possessions, starting a 13-0 run that lifted Villanova into a 27-20 lead. The Wildcats led the rest of the way.

Adamshick made a layup on a nice feed from Betsy McManus and sank a 3-pointer to finish an 8-0 run that made it 54-42 with 9:06 left. Watts then got two straight baskets inside to start Mississippi's comeback.