Women’s NCAA Tournament capsules: Top seeds Notre Dame, Louisville roll to victory
Here is a look at Friday’s games in the women’s NCAA Tournament:
SPOKANE REGION
(1) Notre Dame 99, (16) Cal State Northridge 81: Arike Ogunbowale scored 30 points and the Fighting Irish defeated the Matadors in South Bend, Indiana.
The Irish did suffer another injury as senior captain Kathryn Westbeld went down early in the game with a rolled left ankle and did not return.
There was no immediate word whether Westbeld would be ready for Sunday’s game. Notre Dame played most of the season without four players who suffered season-ending ACL injuries.
Jessica Shepard scored 24 points, Marina Mabrey had 23 and Jackie Young 13 for the Irish (30-3), who will meet the winner of Friday’s second game between eighth-seed South Dakota State and ninth-seed Villanova on Sunday at the Purcell Pavilion, where Notre Dame has won 24 straight.
The Matadors (19-16), who won four straight to win the Big West Tournament coming in, got 25 points from Channon Fluker, 24 from Brooks and 23 from Tessa Boagni.
(9) Villanova 81, (8) South Dakota State 74 (OT): Adrianna Hahn scored 24 points, including a key 3-pointer in overtime to help the Wildcats defeat the Jackrabbits in the other game at South Bend.
This was the first NCAA Tournament win for the Wildcats since 2004 when they beat Mississippi State 66-63 in the opening round. Villanova had to work for the victory.
South Dakota State trailed by 12 early in the fourth quarter before rallying to tie the game on Madison Guebert’s 3-pointer from the wing just before the buzzer at the end of regulation.
With the game tied at 70 in overtime, the Wildcats hit three straight 3-pointers – the first two by Jannah Tucker. Hahn’s 3-pointer made it 79-70 with 55 seconds left.
Tucker finished with 20. Mary Gedaka had 15 and Alex Louin added 10.
Macy Miller paced the Jackrabbits (26-7) with 25 points. Guebert had 21 points and Ellie Thompson had 16 to round out double-digit scorers for South Dakota State.
(2) Oregon 88, (15) Seattle 45: Sabrina Ionescu had 19 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds for her 10th career triple-double, the Ducks defeated the Red Hawks in Eugene.
Ionescu, who holds the NCAA record for triple-doubles, becomes the 15th woman to get one in the NCAA Tournament. The last was Iowa’s Samantha Logic in 2015.
Alexis Montgomery had 14 points for Seattle, which was making its first tournament appearance.
(10) Minnesota 89, (7) Green Bay 77: Kenisha Bell scored 24 of her 26 points in the second half to lead the Golden Gophers to an upset victory over the Phoenix in the other game in Eugene.
Destiny Pitts, the Big Ten freshman of the year, added 20 points for the Golden Gophers (24-8), who will play either Oregon on Sunday.
Minnesota outscored the Phoenix (29-4) 30-13 in the fourth quarter, with half the points coming at the foul line. The Golden Gophers made 22 of 23 free throws in the second half and 25 of 29 overall.
Allie LeClaire and Jessica Lindstrom, the Phoenix’s only seniors, had 17 and 11 points, respectively. It was the fourth year in a row that Green Bay was ousted in the first round.
(4) Texas A&M 89, (13) Drake 76: Freshman Chennedy Carter scored 26 points, powering the Aggies to a victory over the Bulldogs in College Station, Texas.
Khaalia Hillsman added 22 to help send the Aggies to the second round against DePaul. Carter also had 11 assists and six steals.
A&M had an answer for every comeback try to Drake. Danni Williams hit a 3-pointer with 5:44 left put the Aggies back into a 15-point lead.
Drake got as close as 85-76 when Maddy Dean hit a runner in the lane, but A&M moved down court and passed to Hillsman, who scored easily.
Sara Rhine scored 21 and Becca Hittner had 19 for Drake (26-8).
(5) DePaul 90, (12) Oklahoma 79: Amarah Coleman and Kelly Campbell each scored 17 points and the Blue Demons held off a second-half comeback by the Sooners in the other game at College Station.
Ashton Millender and Mart’e Grays both added 16 for the Blue Demons (27-7), which used 3-pointers to jump to an early lead that it never lost.
DePaul’s first four baskets came on 3-pointers, building a 15-7 led with Coleman hitting fallaway shots to open and close the run.
In the second half, DePaul held a 52-36 advantage but Maddie Manning cut the Blue Demons’ lead to 65-58, hitting a reverse layup, set up by Gileysa Penzo’s looping pass.
Guard Gabbi Ortiz sparked the Sooners’ comeback. She was the only Oklahoma player to hit a 3-pointer, making four of seven from behind the line, but it provided a boost for the Sooners, who picked up their defensive play.
Ortiz scored 18. Center Vionise Pierre-Louis led Oklahoma (16-15) with 21.
LEXINGTON REGION
(1) Louisville 74, (16) Boise State 42: Kylee Shook had 14 points and 10 rebounds off the bench to lead the Cardinals to a blowout of the Broncos in Louisville, Kentucky.
Beginning NCAA play as a top seed for the first time in school history, the Cardinals (33-2) used quick spurts early in both halves, along with defense, to cruise to victory. They shook off their initial sluggishness shortly after Shook entered midway through the first quarter. The 6-foot-4 sophomore alternated 3-pointers with Jazmine Jones’ layups for a 19-8 lead before adding her own layup to make it 21-11.
Louisville combined size and quickness to break it open coming out of the break, outscoring Boise State (23-10) 16-4 for a 50-26 cushion. The Cardinals dominated most every category, from points in the paint points to rebounds (51-30) to fast-break and bench points.
(8) Marquette 84, (9) Dayton 65: Natisha Hiedeman scored a career-high 32 points, including 18 in the first quarter, and the Golden Eagles rallied past the Flyers in the other game at Louisville.
Hiedeman’s five 3-pointers in the first quarter were critical in rallying the Golden Eagles (24-9) from an 11-3 deficit to a 22-15 lead that they maintained on the way to their first NCAA win since 2011.
Erika Davenport had 16 points and 13 rebounds for Marquette, which won for the ninth time in 10 games. The Golden Eagles will face top-seeded Louisville in Sunday’s second round.
The Flyers (23-7) got within 69-58 early in the fourth quarter before jumpers by Davenport and Danielle King (11 points) stretched it back to a comfortable margin.
Jenna Burdette’s 18 points led Dayton, which finished the season with three losses in four games.
(3) Tennessee 100, (14) Liberty 60: Freshman Rennia Davis scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in her NCAA debut as the Lady Vols pulled away in the second half to defeat the Lady Flames in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Tennessee pulled away in the second half to beat Liberty.
Tennessee (25-7) plays Oregon State in the second round of the Lexington Regional on Sunday with a spot in the Sweet 16 on the line.
The Lady Vols used an offensive outburst in the third quarter to win their NCAA opener for the ninth straight season and remain undefeated at home in NCAA play at 57-0.
Tennessee finished 24 of 30 from the field in the second half (80 percent) and scored 64 points.
Liberty entered the game ranked No. 7 in the country in scoring defense (53.7 points per game), but couldn’t hold Tennessee’s offense down for a full game.
The last time Liberty (24-10) allowed a team to score 100 points was in 1998, when the Lady Flames lost to Tennessee in an NCAA Tournament game in Knoxville.
(6) Oregon State 82, (11) Western Kentucky 58: Marie Gulich scored 21 of her 29 points in the second half and grabbed 15 rebounds as the Beavers defeated the Lady Toppers in the other game at Knoxville.
The 6-foot-5 Gulich finished 11 of 15 from the field, with a steady stream of layups and short jumpers highlighting her second-half surge.
The national leaders in 3-point field goal percentage, OSU used its precision from distance to build an early advantage.
Tashia Brown finished with 17 points on 7 of 21 shooting to lead WKU while Ivy Brown scored 14.
(2) Baylor 96, (15) Grambling State 46: Lauren Cox had a career-high 30 points and 17 rebounds to lead four players in double figures, and the Lady Bears defeated the Lady Tiger in Waco, Texas.
The Lady Bears (32-1) scored 17 of the game’s first 18 points and were never challenged in picking up their 29th straight win. Cox tied the Lady Tigers’ offensive output of 19 points in the first half by herself and tied for a team-high five assists.
Jazmin Boyd scored 20 points to lead Grambling State, the SWAC Tournament champion.
(7) Michigan 75, (10) Northern Colorado 61: Hallie Thome scored 24 points, Katelynn Flaherty added 20 and the Wolverines defeated the Bears in the other game at Waco.
Michigan (23-9) pulled away with a 20-4 run that turned a 7-6 deficit into a 26-11 lead that eventually stretched as far as 32-14. Thome scored 10 straight points for the Wolverines during that stretch and finished with six rebounds and tied Flaherty for the team lead with four assists.
Savannah Scott led Northern Colorado (26-7) with 25 points.
KANSAS CITY REGION
(5) Maryland 77, (12) Princeton 57: Kaila Charles scored 20 points and the Terrapins defeated the Tigers in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Eleanna Christinaki added 16 points, Kristen Confroy finished with 14 and Brianna Fraser had 11 rebounds for the fifth-seeded Terrapins (26-7).
They shot 56 percent in the second half, built a 43-25 rebounding advantage and pulled away in the second half to advance to the second round of the Kansas City Regional. Maryland hasn’t gone one-and-done in the tournament since 2001.
Abby Meyers scored 13 points and Bella Alarie had 12 for the 12th-seeded Tigers (24-6).
(4) N.C. State 62, (13) Elon 35: Kiara Leslie scored 13 points and the Wolfpack defeated the Phoenix in the other game at Raleigh.
Aislinn Konig added 12 points to help the fourth-seeded Wolfpack (25-8) advance to a second-round matchup with Maryland in the renewal of a past Atlantic Coast Conference rivalry. Leslie played two seasons at Maryland before coming to N.C. State last summer as a graduate transfer.
Shay Burnett had 12 points for the 13th-seeded Phoenix (25-8), who had their 13-game winning streak snapped.
ALBANY REGION
(2) South Carolina 63, (15) North Carolina A&T 52: A’ja Wilson had 19 points and 16 rebounds to lead South Carolina to a victory over North Carolina A&T in Columbia, South Carolina, after the Aggies threw a serious scare into the defending national champions.
South Carolina (27-6) was up 39-21 at the half and seemed ready to cruise to their seventh straight NCAA win and ninth consecutive opening-round game. Instead, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament champ outhustled and outplayed the Southeastern Conference tourney winners much of the final 20 minutes.
The Gamecocks were still ahead 53-37 after Doniyah Cliney’s layup with 8:44 to go. Then the Aggies took off on a 14-5 run that cut the margin to 58-51 on Kala Green’s third 3-pointer of the period with 3:22 remaining. That was as close as North Carolina A&T (23-9) got as the Gamecocks held on to advance to a Sunday second-round game with Virginia, the program that South Carolina coach put on the map with three Final Four appearances as a player more than a quarter-century ago.
(10) Virginia 68, (7) California 62: Dominique Toussaint hit a tie-breaking 3-pointer with 1:08 to go and Virginia held off Cal for its first NCAA win in nine years.
Felicia Aiyeotan led the Cavaliers (19-13) with 16 points, just her second game in double figures since Jan. 7.
Cal had a streak of seven straight first-round NCAA wins entering the game, but played without leading scorer and rebounder Kristine Anigwe, who was medically ruled out after missing a morning shoot-around. The team would not detail what was wrong with the 6-foot-4 junior.
No doubt Anigwe’s absence gave Virginia and especially the 6-9 Aiyeotan room to move down low. Aiyeotan was 5-of-5 in the final two quarters as Virginia moved in front.
Kianna Smith led Cal (21-11) with 20 points.