SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Imani Tate and the Albany Great Danes weren’t going to have senior Shereesha Richards’ record-setting career end while sitting on the bench.

And not even an official’s scoring error that gave Florida an extra point was going to stop them.

Tate scored 28 points, and a putback by former Lake Region High star Tiana-Jo Carter with 8 seconds left helped seal Albany’s 61-59 upset over the fifth-seeded Gators in the first round of the NCAA women’s tournament Friday afternoon.

In a game that featured numerous twists, the final score wasn’t officially announced until three hours after the game ended. The NCAA acknowledged a scorer counted a missed free throw as a point, but ruled that the incorrect score will stand because it was not fixed during the game.

Though the score was 61-59, the official box score will reflect the Gators (22-9) having scored just 58 points.

What can’t be taken away is the 12th-seeded Great Danes (28-4) earning their first tournament win in their fifth appearance. Albany overcame a 17-point deficit despite playing much of the game without its top scorer, Richards, who was in foul trouble. Richards finished with 14 points in just 22 minutes, and fouled out with 6:18 remaining.

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“Rees’ has done so much for us every game that she plays. We just knew that we had to finally do something for her,” guard Erin Coughlin said. “We had to give her another game in a UAlbany uniform.”

Richards was unhappy about fouling out, but then became enthralled watching the Great Danes mount their comeback.

“There were a lot of emotions, I’m not going to lie,” Richards said. “I felt like I wasn’t there for my team at the end and I knew they needed me. They stepped up and did a great job.”

Albany trailed by 11 points with 7:49 remaining but outscored Florida 15-2 down the stretch.

SYRACUSE 73, ARMY 56: Alexis Peterson scored 24 points to help fourth-seeded Syracuse (26-7) coast to a win over No. 13 Army (29-3) in the Sioux Falls regional.

(9) KANSAS STATE 56, (8) GEORGE WASHINGTON 51: Megan Daines scored 11 of her 14 points in the second half including the go-ahead foul shot, as Kansas State (19-12) rallied past George Washington (26-7) at Columbia, South Carolina.

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(1) SOUTH CAROLINA 77, JACKSONVILLE 41: Alaina Coates had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and A’ja Wilson added 15 points and 11 rebounds as South Carolina (32-1) ran past visiting Jacksonville (22-11).

(3) OHIO STATE 88, (14) BUFFALO 69: Kelsey Mitchell scored 27 points to help Ohio State (25-7) rout visiting Buffalo (20-14).

(6) WEST VIRGINIA 74, (11) PRINCETON 65: Bria Holmes scored 26 points as West Virginia (25-9) overcame a sluggish start in Columbus, Ohio, to beat Princeton (23-6) – the first Ivy League team to get an at-large bid.

(7) TENNESSEE 59, (10) WISCONSIN-GREEN BAY 53: Te’a Cooper scored 15 points, Diamond DeShields added 14 and Tennessee (20-13) pulled away in the final six minutes to beat Wisconsin-Green Bay (28-5), at Tempe, Arizona.

(2) ARIZONA STATE 74, (15) NEW MEXICO STATE 52: Katie Hempen opened the game with two 3-pointers and made all six of her attempts to score 20 points, helping Arizona State (26-6) run away from visiting New Mexico State (26-5).

DALLAS REGIONAL

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(3) LOUISVILLE 87, (14) CENTRAL ARKANSAS 60: Myisha Hines-Allen scored 25 points to help Louisville (26-7) overcame a slow start against visiting Central Arkansas (28-4).

(6) DEPAUL 97, (11) JAMES MADISON 67: DePaul made 11 3-pointers, and Jessica January scored 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting as DePaul (26-8) routed James Madison (27-6) at Louisville, Kentucky.

(1) BAYLOR 89, NO. 16 IDAHO 59: Alexis Jones scored 23 points and the top-seeded Bears (34-1) rolled to a victory over Idaho (24-10) on their home court.

(9) AUBURN 68, (8) ST. JOHN’S 57: Janiah McKay scored 24 points and Auburn (20-12) opened its first women’s tournament since 2009 with a victory over St. John’s (23-10) in Waco, Texas.

(2) OREGON STATE 73, (15) TROY 31: Ruth Hamblin had 18 points, 18 rebounds and five blocks as Oregon State (29-4) cruised to a win over visiting Troy (20-13).

(10) ST. BONAVENTURE 65, (7) OKLAHOMA STATE 54: Katie Healy had 23 points and three steals to lead St. Bonaventure (24-7) to an upset of Oklahoma State (21-10) at Corvallis, Oregon.

BRIDGEPORT REGIONAL

(4) MICHIGAN STATE 74, (13) BELMONT 60: Aerial Powers scored 27 points, Jasmine Hines added 24 and Michigan State (25-8) pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat Belmont (24-9) in Starkville, Mississippi.

(5) MISSISSIPPI STATE 60, (12) CHATTANOOGA 50: Victoria Vivians scored 19 points for Mississippi State (22-7) in a win over visiting Chattanooga (24-8).


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