After an exciting conclusion to the Sweet 16 round, the women's NCAA Tournament moved on to the Elite Eight on Sunday, with two afternoon games pitting the two No. 1 seeds against the region's No. 3 seed. (In fact, Monday's other two games in the Elite Eight will also feature No. 1 seeds vs. No. 3 seeds.)
Undefeated South Carolina (35-0) and coach Dawn Staley advanced to their fourth consecutive Final Four, fending off a late challenge from Oregon State 70-58 in Albany, New York. Texas (33-4) will take on North Carolina State (30-6) in Portland, Oregon.
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Today's Women's March Madness Game
Here is the complete schedule for Sunday's NCAA women's tournament games:
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How to watch women's NCAA Tournament games
Both of today's Elite Eight games will be broadcast on ABC.
Women's NCAA Tournament games can be streamed on Fubo and ESPN+.
Texas gains some ground against North Carolina State.
The Longhorns had plenty of room to recover in the second half if they wanted to advance to the Final Four, cutting the Wolfpack lead to single digits at 57-48 entering the fourth quarter.
The Longhorns made 5 of 6 shots to end the quarter and went on an 11-3 run to cut the lead to six points before Asiaha James (24 points) made her sixth 3-pointer of the game. He made a successful shot. Mimi Collins' three from earlier also gave North Carolina State some breathing room.
North Carolina State was (debatable and potentially inaccurate) 8-of-15 from beyond the arc, while the Longhorns only attempted 3-of-4. For the third goal, he relied on going inside.
North Carolina State's Asiaha James made five threes in a dominant first half.
Someone forgot to tell Asia James 3 The mark on the point line is incorrect.
The North Carolina State junior guard typically shoots just 32.5 percent from three, but he was perfect from long range in the first half, making five treys on his way to 21 points and defeating the third-seeded Wolfpack. He contributed to a 43-31 lead. Top seed Texas is on the break.
In addition to James, Mimi Collins also hit her only attempt from deep. Three of his other shots at NC State missed, but when you're making 6/9 of his shots against a team led by a coach nicknamed “Secretary of Defense,” you're good. It's night.
In addition to James, who grabbed five rebounds, North Carolina State's Saniya Rivers had nine points and Zoe Brooks had eight points. Texas has 10 offensive boards on him, but that doesn't really matter when he's shooting just 34% from the field. Meanwhile, North Carolina's rate is 48%.
Texas closed out the second quarter by converting four of five looks to cut the lead to 12 (up from 18), but the Longhorns have a tough task ahead of them in the second half. Freshman point guard All-American Madison Booker leads UT with eight points, but has only made 4 of 13 so far.
Officials find 3-point line issue before NC State vs. Texas game
Sunday's women's NCAA Tournament game in Portland, Oregon, took a strange turn before tipoff after officials discovered the incident. The 3-point line was not the same distance on both sides of the court.
Under NCAA rules adopted for the 2021-22 season, the women's 3-point line is set at 22 feet, 1 3/4 inches. But the spacing from the top of the key to the 3-point line at Moda Center looked different. The NCAA was asked to take measurements about 30 minutes before the showdown between top-seeded Texas and No. 3 North Carolina State, and it turned out that was indeed the case. – Read Steve Gardner’s story here.
NC State vs. Texas gets off to a fast start.
Scoring six points in 44 seconds is one way to take the lead.
North Carolina State finished the first quarter on 4-of-4 field goals and held Texas to 2-of-10 from the floor to take a 19-14 lead entering the second quarter. Saniyah Rivers' spectacular pull-up at the end of the first period clinched the cap with an 8-2 victory over the third-seeded Wolfpack.
But the real star of the first quarter was North Carolina State guard Asiaha James, who already had 10 points — yes, 10 points — and a (possibly mismarked) 3-point line. He has completed 4 out of 6 shots including 2 tries.
However, there is one trend that is troubling for the Wolfpack. He already has seven offensive boards for Texas and he scores four points off those second chances. If NC State wants to win this game, they need to get on the glass and cut down on the Wolfpack's turnovers, which they already have five of.
Opinion: Why South Carolina isn't under real threat
ALBANY, N.Y. — South Carolina sucks the oxygen out of the room and the hope out of the hearts of its opponents.
South Carolina, with such a deep roster that there's almost no end in sight, is never in real danger. Oh, the other person might think so. He may feel he can outrun the gamefowl with just one or two buckets.
Little do they know that South Carolina is biding its time. Until boom! As Shamcox runs off, his opponents wonder what's going on and check his back for any footprints.
Consider Sunday's game against Oregon State. Read Nancy Armor's columnhere.
South Carolina advances to Final Four for fourth consecutive year
The search for a perfect season continues for the South Carolina Shamcocks.
South Carolina used its depth and aggression to keep Oregon State at bay, earning a 70-58 victory in the Albany District 1 final.
South Carolina led by 12 points at the start of the final period, but Oregon State fought back to cut the deficit to four points with just under four minutes left. However, the Beavers were unable to score the rest of the game, and the University of Southern California pulled away.
South Carolina (36-0) had nine different players score, led by freshman guard Tessa Johnson, who had 15 points off the bench.
This is the fourth consecutive Final Four appearance for Shumcox and coach Dawn Staley, who are aiming to become the first undefeated women's team to win a national championship since UW in 2016.
South Carolina pulls away in the 3rd quarter.
South Carolina, which went on a 12-0 run late in the third quarter, is in prime position to clinch the first spot to advance to the Women's Final Four.
With one quarter left, the Gamecocks hold a 58-46 lead over Oregon State.
After the Beavers cut the lead to two points, Raven Johnson and Tessa Johnson connected on 3-pointers to jumpstart USC's momentum. South Carolina, the nation's best 3-point shooting team, made just 2 of its first 15 shots from beyond the arc as Oregon State kept it close.
USC also enjoys a sizable advantage on the boards, outscoring the Beavers 37-26, with 18 of those teams coming on the offensive end.
Two of Oregon State's key players committed three fouls.
Foul trouble could be a key factor in Oregon State's ability to defeat South Carolina and advance to this year's Women's Final Four.
Two key members of the Beavers' front line were forced to spend significant time on the bench during the first half as they lost 37-33 to the top-seeded Gamecocks at halftime.
Timea Gardiner picked up his third foul midway through the second quarter, and with less than a minute left in the first half, center Regan Beers was called for his third foul on a questionable call.
However, Oregon State made 6 of 14 3-point shots to keep the game close.
Eight different players scored in the first 20 minutes for South Carolina, with guard Bree Hall leading the way with seven points.
South Carolina and Oregon are off to a slow start.
Neither team looked particularly good in the early going of today's first regional final.
South Carolina made just two of its first nine field goal attempts, and Oregon State committed four turnovers to keep the score low after a quarter of a game.
The top-seeded Gamecocks held an 18-14 lead.
Southern California built an eight-point advantage behind guard Bree Hall's five points, but Oregon State opened the gap late in the period with sophomore Lily Hansford coming off the bench and making two 3-pointers. shrunk.
Both teams shot less than 37% in the first 10 minutes.
Women's March Madness Players to Watch Today
- South Carolina G. Raven Johnson (8.2 ppg, 4.9 apg, 35.3% 3pt), making all three 3-pointers, including the decisive one in the final minute, in the regional semifinal win over Indiana.
- Oregon State University F Timea Gardiner (11.6 ppg, 6.8 rpg), was the Beavers' leading scorer with 21 points in the win over Notre Dame, and also grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out four assists. She increased her average points per game to 16.7 points in this tournament.
- Texas G Madison Booker (16.5 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 5.0 apg), the talented freshman was held to just six points against Gonzaga while battling foul trouble.
- North Carolina State University G Asia James (16.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg), the junior scored a game-high 29 points, including 10-of-11 from the free-throw line, in the upset of Stanford.
— Steve Gardner
LA Times removes reference to 'dirty debutante' from controversial LSU column
marquee I used abusive language for a long time. In response to what she called “sexist” language in her column, she initially referred to the game against UCLA as a battle of “good versus evil.” In particular, Mulkey objected to describing the defending NCAA champion Lady Tigers as “dirty debutantes.”
This phrase was removed from the column, along with “villain” references to LSU, “milk and cookies” to UCLA, and references to “America's Sweetheart” (although the headline read “America's Sweetheart vs. Basketball 'villains' remained). online link). – Steve Gardner and Nancy Armor
Iowa's Molly Davis doubts LSU rematch
Iowa State will likely be without Elite 8 Molly Davis.
Hawkeyes coach Lisa Bruder said Sunday she did not expect Davis to play against LSU, a rematch of last year's national title game.
“I'm really disappointed,” Bruder said. “I really thought she would come back for the tournament, and she really did.”
Davis injured his right knee in Iowa's final regular season game against Ohio State. Initially, the injury seemed severe – she had to be carried off the floor and in a wheelchair during the Senior Day celebration – but Bruder announced the following day that Davis would play during the postseason. He said there was still a possibility. She has been undergoing intensive physical therapy since then, but she was warming up for Saturday's Sweet 16 game.
Davis played in all 30 regular season games this year, starting all but three. The fifth-year senior averaged 6.1 points and ranked second behind Caitlin Clark with 93 assists. – nancy armor
Elite 8 predictions
USA TODAY Sports Expert Who Did It? Nancy Armor and Lindsay Schnell choose? Please read here.
Who won last night's Sweet 16 game?
LSU's Angel Reese and Frauge Johnson did enough to lead the third-seeded Tigers to defeat second-seeded UCLA and return Kim Mulkey's team to the Elite Eight. Caitlin Clark and Iowa knew their coveted rematch would take place in the tournament Monday night when the top-seeded Hawkeyes defeated Colorado in their next game, setting up Round 2 of Iowa vs. LSU. I made sure.
In the third game of the day, the top-seeded No. 1 seed was close to elimination, but JuJu Watkins and No. 1 Southern California persevered to hold off a determined Baylor, the region's No. 5 seed. In the nightcap, Paige Bueckers and third-seeded UConn defeated seventh-seeded Duke.
NCAA women's March Madness bracket
You can see the full March Madness bracket for women here.
Women's March Madness scores
Here is the scoreboard for today's Elite Eight game in the NCAA Women's Tournament.
