SAN ANTONIO — Lotta-Maj Lahtinen scored 22 points, Lorela Cubaj had 21 points and 12 rebounds and No. 5 seed Georgia Tech used a big third quarter to beat No. 4 West Virginia, 73-56, on Tuesday in the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament.
Esmery Martinez scored 13 points to lead West Virginia (22-7).
West Virginia coach Mike Carey has led the Mountaineers to 11 NCAA Tournaments but never has made the Sweet 16.
“When we did get them to take a tough shot, they got an offensive rebound and it was a reset. We didn’t close out on the shooter and let them have a shot,” Carey said. “I seen this coming, I really did. We tried to correct it, we just didn’t get it corrected.”
The Yellow Jackets needed a second-half rally in the opening round against Stephen F. Austin — the fourth-largest comeback in tournament history — but had this game well in control with a 17-point lead over the Mountaineers to start the fourth. Their European inside-outside combo of Cubaj, from Italy, and Lahtinen, of Finland, led the way.
Lahtinen was 9 of 16 from the field and struck for 17 points in the first half to dig the Yellow Jackets out of an early hole.
Georgia Tech (17-8) advanced to the Sweet 16 for the second time in program history and first since 2012. The Yellow Jackets will meet Tuesday night’s winner between No. 1 South Carolina and No. 8 Oregon State in the Hemisfair Region.
Cubaj, the ACC’s co-defensive player of the year, anchored a Georgia Tech defense that smothered West Virginia’s Kysre Gondrezick, who scored three points and took just six shots after scoring 26 in the first-round win over Lehigh.
