For the first time since 1998, the round of 16 in the N.C.A.A. women’s tournament will be played without two of its No. 1 seeds.
No. 9 seed Miami, after blitzing Indiana early then holding on for dear life during an onslaught led by Mackenzie Holmes, will instead head to the tournament’s second weekend for the first time since 1992, two years before the bracket-defining expansion that built up the tournament to 64 teams.
Miami’s Destiny Harden shook off a defender with an up-and-under move to gain enough space for a bucket inside with four seconds left for the 70-68 win. Her basket came moments after Indiana’s Yarden Garzon had tied the game with a step-back 3-pointer, her second tying 3 in the final minute.
A final, panicked attempt by the Hoosiers to avoid missing the round of 16 for the first time since 2019 ended with the ball being stripped near the top of the key. That sent the Hurricanes across the floor to hug each other in triumph, touching off a celebration that carried into the locker room and resonated throughout a sport in which home-court advantage has often been a major factor early in the tournament.
“It stings. It hurts. But it should if you’re competitors and it means anything to you,” said Teri Moren, Indiana’s coach. She added: “Like I told them, if they didn’t have tears and they weren’t emotional, then I would wonder what all the hard work was for.”
Indiana, slated behind only the reigning champion South Carolina when the 68-team field for the tournament was revealed, tied the game at 60 with three minutes left after building up most of its comeback in the third quarter. That was when Holmes, the leading scorer this season for the Hoosiers, took over with a series of driving layups and tough shots that reversed a frustrating first half in which she scored only 4 points.
Indiana fell into its deep hole almost purely because of its poor shooting, with Holmes missing seven of her first nine shots. Miami started hot and led 41-29 at halftime.
“We came into this game saying that we were down 30,” Harden told ESPN after the game, adding: “We came into this game knowing that we had to play defense to win.”
After facing Holmes, Miami will have another big shooter to defend in its round-of-16 matchup on Friday, with Villanova boasting Maddy Siegrist, the top scorer in Division I.
Indiana was stunned on its home floor one night after Stanford lost in similar fashion, 54-49, to Mississippi, giving the tournament a highly unusual pair of No. 1s ousted during the first weekend.
Before this season, the last time a No. 1 seed missed the round of 16 in the women’s tournament was in 2009, when Duke lost to Michigan State in the second round. It also happened in 2006, when Ohio State lost to Boston College, and 1998, when Texas Tech lost in the second round and Stanford lost in the first, to No. 16-seeded Harvard. — Oskar Garcia
UConn erased an early deficit to advance again.
In a physical game that repeatedly sent players scrambling to the floor for the ball, Connecticut beat Baylor, 77-58, to move on to the round of 16, its 30th such appearance in program history.
UConn quickly erased a 6-point first-quarter deficit as Nika Mühl regularly drove the floor to set up Azzi Fudd, who finished with 22 points, and Aaliyah Edwards, who scored 19.
UConn appeared to be in hot water in the third when the forward Edwards had to sit with her fourth foul. Jaden Owens, dancing nimbly from one side of the paint to the other, tied the game for Baylor with five minutes left in the quarter, and the Bears kept things close for a time, with Ja’Mee Asberry finding openings. Asberry would lead her team with 15 points.
But the Bears began to lose steam, and UConn’s confident core pounced to break away for a rout. The Huskies had built up their lead to 12 going into the fourth.
“If we could have ended the game at 25 minutes in, I think it was a really, really good battle,” Baylor Coach Nicki Collen said. “Obviously they won the battle of the paint.”
Part of that was spurred by Aubrey Griffin, who sparked the Huskies with 12 rebounds in 19 minutes of play. UConn outscored Baylor 36-12 in the paint.
UConn Coach Geno Auriemma said he worried during the first half that his team was in “big trouble” on defense. But by the second half, he said, “there was never a time I didn’t think we were going to win the game.”
The Huskies played before a sellout crowd at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion that included the former UConn great Maya Moore and her husband, Jonathan Irons.
UConn’s fans had plenty to celebrate: The team made its latest round of 16 in a long string of them. The Huskies haven’t missed this stage of the tournament since 1993, two years before the team won its first national championship under Auriemma.
With UConn’s men’s also in its round of 16, both teams advanced to their regionals together for the first time since 2014. The men will play Arkansas on Thursday, and the women will play Ohio State on Saturday. — Remy Tumin
No. 6 seed Colorado overcame Duke in overtime.
It took an extra five minutes, but No. 6 seed Colorado became the latest underdog to advance to the round of 16, with a 61-53 overtime win against Duke.
Duke scored the first point of overtime on a free throw by Shayeann Day-Wilson, but Colorado scored the next 7, including two layups from Aaronette Vonleh, and held the Blue Devils to just two more free throws to end the game.
The Buffaloes had raced to a 10-point lead after the first quarter before Duke clawed back on its home court. But neither team could pull away in the fourth, shooting a combined 8 for 24, and the game went to overtime tied at 50.
Each team had a chance to end the game in regulation. When Colorado’s Jaylyn Sherrod hit the game-tying layup with 34 seconds left, she was fouled but couldn’t convert the free throw. Duke’s Day-Wilson then missed a 3-pointer with five seconds left.
“We’ve worked so hard to get here, put Colorado back on the map,” Sherrod said on ESPN after the game. As she reflected on her decision to go to Colorado — her only offer from a Power 5 conference, she said — her teammates leaped toward her and shouted her name to playfully disrupt her interview. — Sara Ziegler
Ohio State got a dramatic game-winner from Jacy Sheldon.
Ohio State needed to mount a big comeback to win its first-round game in the women’s N.C.A.A. tournament. On Monday against North Carolina, the Buckeyes needed to withstand one — and needed a shot from its senior leader to bail them out.
No. 3 seed Ohio State led by 12 points in the fourth quarter, but the sixth-seeded Tar Heels strung together an impressive rally and had tied the game with 9 seconds left.
That’s when Jacy Sheldon stepped up.
With time winding down, Sheldon took a pass on the wing, drove through traffic and pulled up for a floater in the paint. The shot went down with 1.8 seconds left, and Ohio State ended North Carolina’s tournament run, 71-69.
Ohio State seemed well in control before the game turned with just under seven minutes left. Deja Kelly, the Tar Heels’ leading scorer, was carried off the court with an injury, yet somehow North Carolina turned it on without her, scoring 9 straight points in just two minutes. Kelly came back and helped the Tar Heels take a 1-point lead, its first and only lead of the game.
Sheldon scored the next 3 points, with a layup and a separate free throw. Kelly then hit a jumper to tie the game, setting the stage for Sheldon’s finish.
In its first-round game, Ohio State trailed by 16 points to James Madison before eventually winning, 80-66, on its home court.
Sheldon played just six games during the regular season while battling a leg injury, but she returned for the Big Ten Conference tournament. She finished Monday’s game with 16 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. — Sara Ziegler
Villanova cruised to the round of 16.
VILLANOVA, Pa. — As the third quarter came to a close with Villanova leading by 16, its jubilant fans cheered to a small Florida Gulf Coast contingent, “We can’t hear you,” knowing the game was effectively over.
Fifth-seeded Villanova cruised, 76-57, as its star Maddy Siegrist had big help in the form of guard Lucy Olsen, who filled the stat sheet with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists. Siegrist wasn’t bad either, notching 31 points for her 36th straight game with at least 20 points, a Division I record.
Villanova advanced to the round of 16 for the first time in 20 years, and the second time in program history.
Siegrist exited the game with just under two minutes left to deafening roars from the home crowd and a big embrace from her coach, Denise Dillon. It could, perhaps, have been Siegrist’s last game at Finneran Pavilion; she is projected to be a top pick in the W.N.B.A. draft but still has a year left of college eligibility.
“If this is my last game at home, I know that’s a great way to go out,” Siegrist said.
After the win, Villanova players gathered at midcourt and took turns dancing as the rapper Lil Uzi Vert’s song “Just Wanna Rock” blared through the arena.
For a short while, it seemed like the Wildcats were in danger. F.G.C.U., which led Division I in made 3-pointers, kept things close and flustered Siegrist, who missed shots that are typically automatic for her. Villanova was also without Christina Dalce for much of the half after she picked up two quick fouls.
When Dalce started the second half, she immediately gave Villanova the boost it needed with her size, disrupting Florida Gulf Coast’s offense. She eventually picked up a fourth foul to the delight of the visiting Eagles, but their 15-point hole was already too steep. — Kris Rhim
