Valerie King is hoisted by happy teammates. (AP photos) | ZOOM |

        CHICAGO — Valerie King scored 23 points as No.21 Cincinnati ended Tulane's three-year reign as Conference USA tournament champions with a 68-56 victory Monday night.

        Laura Wilder had 15 points and K.B. Sharp added 14 for Cincinnati (26-4), which lost to the Green Wave in last year's championship game. The Bearcats earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Pairings will be announced Sunday.

        The third-seeded Bearcats never trailed and led by as many as 20 points in the second half.

King cuts the net. | ZOOM |

Coach Laurie Pirtle. | ZOOM |

        Teana McKiver and Britt Themann scored 12 points to lead Tulane (23-10).

        The fifth-seeded Green Wave (23-10) beat top-seeded TCU Sunday to advance to the final. But Tulane had to win four games in four days for the title, and seemed fatigued.

        The Bearcats took a 37-29 first-half lead, led by 13 points from King, the tournament MVP, on 3-of-5 3-pointers.

Champions. | ZOOM |

        Cincinnati held Tulane to one field goal in the first 14:46 of the second half.

        McKiver's three-point play chipped the lead to 59-49 with 3:15 left, but Wilder responded with a three-point play of her own with 2:03 left.

        Debbie Merrill, who needed stitches after colliding foreheads with Wilder in Sunday's semifinals, had a headband covering a large bandage above her left eye. She scored two points in 21 minutes.

        Merrill, who was named the C-USA Freshman of the Year, captured All-Tourmament honors, along with Houston's Chandi Jones and TCU's Kati Safaritova.

        TULANE (23-10) - Wilson 1-4 4-4 6, Slaughter 2-9 0-0 4, McKiver 5-9 2-4 12, Goree 3-12 2-2 10, Nadeau 1-3 0-0 2, Lymon 0-1 2-2 2, Joseph 1-4 1-2 3, Lennix 1-3 0-0 2, Hampton 1-5 1-2 3, Themann 5-11 0-0 12. Totals 20-61 12-16 56.

        CINCINNATI (26-4) - Wilder 3-7 8-10 15, Young 1-9 0-0 2, Merrill 1-3 0-0 2, Sharp 6-10 0-0 14, King 7-16 5-7 23, Alexander 2-6 0-0 4, Flournoy 2-4 0-0 4, Douglas 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 24-59 13-17 68.

        Halftime—Cincinnati 37, Tulane 29. 3-Point goals—Tulane 4-12 (Themann 2-4, Goree 2-6, Nadeau 0-1, Joseph 0-1), Cincinnati 7-16 (King 4-7, Sharp 2-6, Wilder 1-3). Fouled out—None. Rebounds—Tulane 39 (Slaughter, Hampton 8), Cincinnati 40 (Sharp, Douglas 8). Assists—Tulane 10 (Nadeau 3), Cincinnati 12 (Sharp 6). Total fouls—Tulane 17, Cincinnati 18. A—2,525.

        XAVIER:

        Junior guard Amy Waugh was named to the Atlantic 10 all-tournament team. Waugh averaged 18.3 points and 6.0 assists for three games to lead the Musketeers (12-19) to their fifth straight semifinal appearance.

        MIAMI

        Junior guard Heather Cusick was honored by the Mid-American Conference as the sixth women's player in school history to earn first-team all-league recognition. Cusick ranks among the MAC's top 10 in eight of 12 major statistical categories this season and leads the league in scoring (17.6 ppg) and steals (2.9 spg). Cusick, who became Miami's career assist leader with six in Saturday's first-round tournament victory over Akron, ranked second in the league in overall assists (5.8 apg). Cusick also broke Miami's record for 3-pointers with 71.

Sports Stories

Alabama player, coach sweep SEC awards RedHawks beat Buffalo; Ball St. next Three more join NCAA field Women: King leads UC to title Flyers stop Bruins, 4-1 NBA roundup Coming up this week

Logan named All-American
No. 1 seed is Cats' top priority
It's unanimous: XU among top 25
XU's West favored to be named best in A-10
Grbac picks retirement over Bengals
NFL notebook
Reds' 'batter's eye' suite hopes to be a hit with fans
'Papa Grande' Jose Rijo knows best
Opening Day on Channel 9
Reds notebook
Royals 16, Reds 6; Pirates 7, Reds 1
Baseball notebook
Winton Woods avoids early exit
CovCath storms past Scott with late run
Highlands shuts down St. Henry
Lebanon 51, Oak Hills 48
Moeller has final KO punch on St. X
Woodward cruises to win
Ohio boys basketball scores
Kentucky boys basketball scores
Kentucky girls basketball scores
Schedule for Ohio girls basketball