Third-seeded Ohio State romped previous second-seeded Connecticut to advance to the spherical of 8, grabbing maintain of the sport early and unceremoniously ending UConn’s lengthy streak of reaching the ultimate weekend of the N.C.A.A. ladies’s event.
Ohio State gained, 73-61, stopping the Huskies from reaching the spherical of 8 for the primary time since 2005 and the Last 4 for the primary time since 2007, a streak that features six nationwide championships, together with 4 straight from 2013 to 2016.
The Buckeyes took management within the second quarter with a game-defining run that began once they had been 8 factors down late within the first.
They discovered their circulation with a swarming press protection that compelled a flurry of turnovers and sparked a 17-point run. Maybe extra jarring than Ohio State’s scoring in that stretch was its means to carry the Huskies with out even a field-goal try for practically 5 minutes to begin the second quarter.
“We misplaced our stability and we misplaced our equilibrium a bit, and I don’t assume we ever obtained it again,” Geno Auriemma, UConn’s longtime head coach, stated after the sport.
UConn turned the ball over on eight straight possessions initially of the second quarter, and watched considered one of its most necessary gamers get harm.
Lou Lopez Sénéchal, a switch from Fairfield who took on a management function when Paige Bueckers was misplaced for the season with a knee damage, left the court docket limping after crumbling to the ground with ache in her proper knee as she tried to arrange a play. Sénéchal stated she knew this could possibly be considered one of her final collegiate video games and was adamant that she return to the court docket within the second half. “I simply tried to only push by means of and are available again and not likely give it some thought,” she stated. She led the Huskies with 25 factors.
UConn ahead Aaliyah Edwards, the group’s main scorer this season, additionally hit the bench for key stretches due to foul hassle. She was held to only 4 factors — on simply 4 photographs.
Ohio State, led by 23 factors from Cotie McMahon, was in a position to stem a number of pushes from UConn, largely by maintaining its aggressive protection.
“I stated, ‘Hey, the hot button is going to be our means to disrupt them,’” stated Kevin McGuff, Ohio State’s coach. “We definitely had been efficient.”
Nervousness on the UConn bench constructed within the fourth quarter as Ohio State gamers tried to maintain their cool. The Buckeyes performed with the arrogance of a group that knew its strengths, and with the starvation of an underdog going through a program that has been a dynasty.
“UConn’s a fantastic program and so they have a fantastic group this yr, however we got here into this sport anticipating to win,” stated Jacy Sheldon, who scored 17 factors and had seven rebounds for Ohio State. “I feel that alone clearly builds our confidence quite a bit.”
With 90 seconds remaining, Ohio State slowed the tempo as some gamers on the UConn bench struggled to look at their season finish effectively wanting expectations.
Ohio State has appeared within the N.C.A.A. event’s spherical of 16 twice in a row. This was UConn’s twenty ninth consecutive look. “It’s an impossibility to do what we do already,” Auriemma stated.
The streak was going to be damaged someday. However that was little consolation for the Huskies.
“We knew they’re not going to surrender and so they’re not simply going to place their palms up and see that we’re UConn and simply sort of shrink back from that,” UConn’s Dorka Juhász stated.
The final time Ohio State superior to the spherical of 8 was in 1993, when it made it to the championship sport and misplaced to Texas Tech.
Final season, UConn misplaced the championship sport to South Carolina. The Huskies haven’t gained the title since 2016.
Ohio State will face Virginia Tech within the spherical of 8 on Monday. — Talya Minsberg
No. 9 seed Florida Atlantic is sure for the Last 4.
Earlier than this season, Florida Atlantic College had by no means gained a single sport within the males’s N.C.A.A. event.
Now the Owls have gained 4 in a row and are headed to the Last 4 in Houston.
Backed by a contingent of enthusiastic followers, a lot of whom made the journey from Boca Raton, Fla., the ninth-seeded Owls confirmed no concern on the largest of phases and gained their eleventh straight sport, 79-76, over No. 3 seed Kansas State within the East Regional ultimate at Madison Sq. Backyard.
Sophomore guard Alijah Martin went for 17 factors and sophomore guard Johnell Davis notched 13 factors, 8 rebounds and 6 assists.
Vladislav Goldin, a 7-foot-1 sophomore from Nalchik, Russia, was dominant within the paint with 14 factors and 13 rebounds, and Michael Forrest hit 4 foul photographs within the closing seconds.
F.A.U.’s final loss got here on Feb. 16, in opposition to Center Tennessee, earlier than it completed the season by successful each the Convention USA regular-season and event titles. Its solely earlier N.C.A.A. event look got here in 2002, when it misplaced as a No. 15 seed to Alabama within the first spherical.
F.A.U. has now overwhelmed the No. 8 seed Memphis, No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson, No. 4 seed Tennessee and the No. 3 seed Kansas State. The Owls will face the winner of the Creighton-San Diego State sport on Sunday in a nationwide semifinal on April 1 in Houston.
“We simply completed one other considered one of our targets,” stated Martin, who had thrown down an emphatic highlight-reel dunk within the first half. “About to return to Boca simply chill for somewhat bit as a result of we’re seaside boys, you already know.”
Trailing 63-57, F.A.U. scored 10 straight as Kansas State went chilly for nearly 5 minutes following a bank-shot 3-pointer by Markquis Nowell, the Wildcats’ nifty level guard who once more placed on a present in his hometown.
After Nowell dished to Nae’Qwan Tomlin for a layup to chop it to 77-76 with 8.6 seconds left, Forrest hit two foul photographs to make it a 3-point margin.
Kansas State’s Ismael Massoud couldn’t get a shot off as time expired, and the Owls and their followers celebrated.
The Owls outrebounded the Wildcats, 44-22, thanks closely to Goldin.
Since 2018, F.A.U. has been coached by Dusty Could, a 46-year-old Indiana graduate who served as a pupil supervisor below Bob Knight from 1996 to 2000.
Could has by no means had a dropping season at F.A.U., and in January, the Owls entered the Related Press High 25 ballot for the primary time in program historical past.
“It’s superior to have actual faculty sports activities, it by no means existed earlier than,” stated Brian Schmier, an F.A.U. fan who lives in Boca Raton and attended the sport with a number of relations.
The win by F.A.U. delivered to an finish the run of Nowell, who grew up in Harlem, and his Wildcat teammates. Kansas State had overwhelmed Montana State, Kentucky and Michigan State to get to the spherical of 8.
Nowell went for 30 factors and 12 assists within the sport after placing up 20 factors and an N.C.A.A.-tournament document 19 assists in Thursday’s win over Michigan State.
“When that ultimate buzzer hit, it was somewhat powerful as a result of I like these guys a lot that I wish to proceed enjoying for the remainder of my life with them,” Nowell stated. — Adam Zagoria
South Carolina overpowered U.C.L.A. to maintain its unbeaten streak alive.
GREENVILLE, S.C. — U.C.L.A. started its ladies’s regional semifinal in opposition to South Carolina with the defensive technique that just about each group this season has tried in opposition to the undefeated Gamecocks. The Bruins sat in a zone protection, dropping their guards under the free-throw line to assist defend in opposition to South Carolina’s towering forwards.
South Carolina struggled, capturing simply 38 % from the sector and 25 % from 3-point vary, however U.C.L.A. couldn’t flip the reigning champion’s mishaps into factors, falling 59-43 to ship the Gamecocks to the spherical of 8.
South Carolina capitalized on second-chance alternatives and smothered the Bruins’ offense, and its star ahead, Aliyah Boston, led the way in which with 8 factors, 14 rebounds and a pair of blocks.
The Gamecocks’ measurement distinction was evident all through, as South Carolina bullied the smaller Bruins within the paint, usually knocking them down. One of the crucial notable performs of the sport got here when 6-foot-7 heart Kamilla Cardoso chased down and swatted a layup try by U.C.L.A. guard Londynn Jones, which despatched Jones flying to the ground.
“We all the time discuss like we don’t wish to get punked, like don’t step out on the ground and let any group punk us,” Boston stated. “So I don’t assume we have a look at ourselves because the bully, I feel we simply play our sport and that’s simply being dominant.”
South Carolina guard Zia Cooke added that the group had too many nice gamers to be thought of bullies.
“We have now a number of cheat codes on our group,” she stated. After itemizing off the specialties of every participant on the roster, she added: “All people’s obtained a superpower. It’s a blessing to have.”
Throughout the first three video games of this mixed regional at Bon Secours Wellness Area, on Friday and Saturday, a smattering of followers had stuffed in solely the sections close to midcourt, with many of the area remaining empty. That modified on Saturday afternoon. Simply as Maryland and Notre Dame’s sport was ending up and South Carolina’s sport was set to start, followers sporting garnet T-shirts packed the world. They roared with their group’s each rating and booed something in favor of fourth-seeded U.C.L.A.
The world is taken into account a impartial regional web site by the N.C.A.A., but it surely serves successfully as a house sport for South Carolina, the event’s No. 1 total seed. Cori Shut, U.C.L.A.’s coach, acknowledged the drawback earlier than the sport however stated that the regional websites had been “necessary to continue to grow our sport.”
“Look what number of upsets we had on house courts within the first two rounds,” she stated. “So backside line is you’ve obtained to play your finest basketball, and also you’ve obtained to be a tricky group, you’ve obtained to be a collectively group, and also you’ve obtained to seek out methods to win.”
Cooke stated that she didn’t assume the regional format was unfair and that South Carolina deserved to play in entrance of the fan base that Coach Daybreak Staley constructed.
U.C.L.A. appeared poised to threaten South Carolina’s quest for a second straight title. When the groups performed in November, the Gamecocks overcame a 10-point first-half deficit and ended up successful by 9. After the sport, South Carolina Coach Daybreak Staley advised Shut that they’d see one another once more.
Staley’s phrases had been prescient, however this matchup was by no means shut. South Carolina proved why it has been one of the best group in Division I all season, with the peak and physicality to overwhelm U.C.L.A.
South Carolina will play Maryland on Monday. — Kris Rhim
No. 1 seed Virginia Tech held off a rally by Tennessee.
Within the first three quarters of No. 1 Virginia Tech’s sport in opposition to Tennessee, it appeared as if the winner was all however determined. Virginia Tech had overwhelmed Tennessee from the bounce, and held an 18-point lead within the third quarter.
However the Hokies’ eventual win, 73-64, got here solely after they’d weathered a fourth quarter that threatened to ship yet one more No. 1 seed house by the midpoint of the ladies’s N.C.A.A. event.
Although it couldn’t end its comeback, Tennessee made a livid — and stunningly fast — bid to get again within the sport. With simply over six minutes left within the fourth quarter, Jasmine Powell hit a 3 to carry the Volunteers to 1 level down; her basket got here not lengthy after Tennessee followers had resorted to pleas from the stands to “maintain combating,” throughout a lackluster stretch early within the second half.
At that time, it appeared prefer it could possibly be both group’s sport. However as a substitute of falling aside, Virginia Tech responded with a peaceful aggression, led by Georgia Amoore, who scored a game-high 29 factors.
With its win, Virginia Tech joins South Carolina as the one No. 1 seeds advancing to the spherical of 8. High-seeded Stanford and Indiana each exited the event after dropping within the second spherical.
The Hokies will face Ohio State, which halted UConn’s string of deep event runs, within the spherical of 8, on Monday night time in Seattle. — Talya Minsberg
Diamond Miller leads Maryland into the spherical of 8.
GREENVILLE, S.C. — When Notre Dame and Maryland matched up in December, the sport rapidly grew to become the Diamond Miller present. Miller, a 6-foot-3 guard, scored her thirty first level on a game-winning, one-legged fadeaway jumper. She ran round Notre Dame’s house court docket along with her index finger on her lips to silence the group.
On Saturday, within the spherical of 16 of the ladies’s N.C.A.A. event, Notre Dame appeared hellbent on stopping the Miller present. The Preventing Irish doubled-teamed — and generally triple-teamed — Miller when she obtained the ball within the publish.
However Notre Dame’s stop-Miller-at-all-costs technique left room for different gamers, who capitalized on open seems to be and saved the sport shut whereas Miller struggled. Within the second half, Miller finally obtained right into a groove, and second-seeded Maryland beat No. 3 seed Notre Dame, 76-59. Maryland will advance to its first round-of-8 sport since 2015. Miller and guard Shyanne Sellers led all scorers with 18 factors apiece.
“I felt like they had been daring me to shoot,” stated Maryland guard Lavender Briggs, who scored 12 factors.
Notre Dame threw the primary figurative punch of the sport. Down by 5, the Preventing Irish scored 13 straight factors within the second quarter, neutralizing Miller and main Maryland’s half-court offense into compelled photographs and errant passes that resulted in turnovers.
However within the second half, Miller obtained unfastened. And Maryland responded with a giant third quarter, anchored by Miller and Sellers. Maryland cruised within the fourth.
Regardless of the eight-year drought, the spherical of 8 is acquainted to Maryland and its coach, Brenda Frese. Since she began in 2002, Maryland has been among the many finest groups in faculty basketball. The Terrapins have made the spherical of 8 six occasions and gained this system’s solely nationwide title in 2006. — Kris Rhim