NCAA women roundup: No. 2 Seed Notre Dame beats No. 7 Seed Ole Miss 71-56 to advance to Sweet 16
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Maddy Westbeld scored 20 points and Hannah Hidalgo added 19 to help No. 2 seed Notre Dame beat seventh-seeded Mississippi 71-56 on Monday in the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament.
Sonia Citron added 17 for the Fighting Irish (28-6), who advanced to the Sweet 16 where they will play No. 3 seed Oregon State in the Albany Regional 1.
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Kennedy Todd-Williams and Madison Scott led Ole Miss (24-9) with 15 points each.
Notre Dame hit Ole Miss with an intense attack from the opening tip, establishing an uptempo tone on offense and a relentless but controlled defense early.
The Fighting Irish bolted to a 21-9 lead after one quarter, harassing Ole Miss into 4-of-17 shooting in the first quarter while connecting on 6-of-12 shots.
Notre Dame expanded its lead to 19 points at 33-14 on a 3 by Westbeld from the top of the key with 5:10 left. The Fighting Irish led by 17 points, 43-26, at halftime. Ole Miss committed 13 turnovers and only hit 38% of its shots (11-of-29).
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INDIANA 70, OKLAHOMA 68
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Mackenzie Holmes scored 29 points, including six in a row, to give fourth-seeded Indiana a late lead Monday night as the Hoosiers rallied past fifth-seeded Oklahoma.
Sydney Parrish added 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists for the Hoosiers (26-6), who advanced to their second Sweet 16 in three years and now face undefeated South Carolina in Albany, New York.
Indiana’s players celebrated by racing into the student section and up the steps at Assembly Hall as music blared and fans pumped their hands in the air,
Big 12 Player of the Year Skylar Vann led the Sooners (23-10) with 20 points and eight rebounds. Aubrey Joens had 16 points for Oklahoma, which walked off the floor dejectedly after a fourth consecutive second-round loss in the NCAA Tournament.
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ALBANY REGIONAL 2
IOWA 64, WEST VIRGINIA 54
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Caitlin Clark scored 32 points and No. 1 seed Iowa survived one of its worst offensive performances of the season to beat No. 8 seed West Virginia in a women’s NCAA Tournament second-round game.
The Hawkeyes (31-4) advanced to play No. 5 seed Colorado in Saturday’s Albany 2 Regional semifinal. Sydney Affolter’s three-point play with 2:03 to play, the Hawkeyes’ lone field goal of the fourth quarter, gave Iowa a 55-52 lead. Clark and Hannah Stuelke closed the game with nine free throws to clinch the win.
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UCLA 67, CREIGHTON 63
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kiki Rice scored 24 points, Lauren Betts had 20 points and 10 rebounds and second-seeded UCLA rallied in the second half for a victory over seventh-seeded Creighton.
The Bruins (27-6), who trailed by 10 points early in the third quarter, will face third-seeded LSU in an Albany 2 Regional semifinal Saturday afternoon. Top-seeded Iowa and fifth-seeded Colorado are in the other semi. Lauren Jensen scored 20 points and Morgan Maly added 18 for the Bluejays (26-6).
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PORTLAND REGIONAL 3
UCONN 72, SYRACUSE 64
STORRS, Conn. (AP) — Paige Bueckers tied her season high with 32 points, freshman Ashlynn Shade added 19 and No. 3 seed UConn held off Syracuse to earn a 30th straight trip to the Sweet 16.
It was Bueckers’ fifth straight game with at least 25 points, and seventh in her last eight games.
Dyaisha Fair scored 18 of her 20 points in the second half as Syracuse came back from a 12-point first half deficit to pull within two with just under two minutes left. But the Orange missed four 3-point attempts down the stretch and UConn scored seven of the game’s final eight points.
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SOUTHERN CAL 73, KANSAS 55
LOS ANGELES (AP) — JuJu Watkins had 28 points, 11 rebounds and five assists and top-seeded Southern California led all the way in defeating Kansas to reach the Sweet 16 of the women’s NCAA Tournament.
McKenzie Forbes hit a career-high six 3-pointers and scored 20 points for the Trojans (28-5), who will face fifth-seeded Baylor (26-7) in the Portland Region 3 in Oregon on Saturday.
USC last went this deep when it reached the Elite Eight in 1994, 10 years after the school won the second of its back-to-back national championships.
Freshman S’Mya Nichols scored 22 points to lead the Jayhawks (20-13). Taiyanna Jackson had 10 points and 18 rebounds. Kansas fell to 0-6 all-time when facing a No. 1 seed in the tournament.
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PORTLAND REGIONAL 4
GONZAGA 77, UTAH 66
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Kayleigh Truong scored 21 points, Yvonne Ejim added 17 points and 13 rebounds, and fourth-seeded Gonzaga advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in nearly a decade beating No. 5 seed Utah in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Zags used a barrage of 3-point shooting in the second and third quarters to overcome an early deficit and advanced to their first regional semifinal since 2015. Gonzaga (32-3) won its 36th consecutive game at home and will face top-seeded Texas in the Portland 4 Regional semifinal on Friday in Portland, Oregon.
Gonzaga received contributions from throughout the lineup. Truong and twin sister Kaylynne were on the mark from the perimeter as the Bulldogs hit 12 3-pointers in the first three quarters and led by as many as 21.
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NC STATE 79, TENNESSEE 72
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Aziaha James scored 22 points and the Wolfpack blew nearly all of a 20-point lead before holding off the Volunteers, sending them back to the Sweet 16.
Saniya Rivers added 20 points for the Wolfpack (29-6), who dominated the second quarter to build that huge margin before the Lady Vols (20-13) started creeping their way back.
Tennessee got as close as two points in the fourth, but N.C. State did just enough to protect its lead. That sent the Wolfpack on to a date with No. 2 seed Stanford in the Portland 4 Region.
