Baylor survives OT, wins date with UConn
SAN ANTONIO — NaLyssa Smith scored 24 points in a perfect shooting game and Queen Egbo made two big plays in the final seconds of overtime, helping No. 2 Baylor beat No. 6 Michigan 78-75 in the Sweet 16 of the women’s NCAA Tournament on Saturday.
Egbo gave Baylor a 76-73 lead with a foul shot with 19 seconds left. After Leigha Brown scored for Michigan, Egbo picked up an assist on Moon Ursin’s wide-open layup.
Akienreh Johnson missed a half-court try for Michigan, and the Big Ten team was unable to get another shot up before time ran out.
Smith was 11 for 11 from the floor. Ursin had 20 points for Baylor (28-2), and Dijonai Carrington scored six of her 19 in overtime.
Baylor advances to Monday’s River Walk Region final against top-seeded UConn, which beat No. 5 Iowa 92-72 earlier in the day. The Lady Bears have won 20 consecutive games.
Brown scored 23 for Michigan (16-6), which had never before advanced this far in the tournament. It pushed Baylor into the first overtime game in the Sweet 16 since Tennessee’s victory over Gonzaga in 2015.
■UConn 92, Iowa 72: Christyn Williams scored 27 points and Paige Bueckers added 18 to lead the topseeded Huskies over the fifthseeded Hawkeyes on Saturday
in the Sweet 16.
The game featured a matchup of two extremely talented freshmen in Bueckers and Iowa’s Caitlyn Clark. The friends had taken the women’s basketball world by storm this season. Bueckers became the third freshman to earn All-America honors and Clark led the nation in scoring. They didn’t disappoint. Bueckers also had nine rebounds and eight assists for UConn, which raised its record to 27-1. She had a lot more help from her teammates as Evina Westbrook
just missed the 18th triple-double in NCAA women’s tournament history, with 17 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists.
Clark, shadowed on defense by Williams on almost every possession, finished with 21 points — below her nearly 27-point a game average. She was just 7-for21 from the field.
The game marked the return of UConn coach Geno Auriemma, who missed the opening two rounds because he was recovering from the coronavirus.