Iowa eases into 2nd round, beats Central Michigan
Freshman Caitlin Clark, the nation’s leading scorer, had 23 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, Monika Czinano also scored 23 points, and No. 5 seed Iowa (19-9) beat 12th-seeded Central Michigan (18-9) in San Antonio.
Iowa advances to play the winner of the Kentucky-Idaho State game on Tuesday. Clark had 15 points and five assists through the first 14 minutes – before picking up her second foul with 3:33 in the half on a charging call. Iowa was comfortably ahead at the break, 48-37, partially because the nation’s seventh leading scorer, Micaela Kelly, picked up three fouls in the first quarter for Central Michigan.
Oklahoma State 84, Wake Forest 61: Natasha Mack scored 27 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead Oklahoma State (19-8) to a victory over Wake Forest (12-13) in San Antonio.
Mack was 13-of-22 shooting, feasting on variety of shots inside, and collected her 18th double-double of the season to send Oklahoma State, the eighth seed in the Alamo Region, into a second-round matchup against the winner of overall No. 1 seed Stanford and 16th-seeded Utah Valley on Tuesday. She was also a force on defense with 11 rebounds on the defensive boards and blocking four shots, extending her nation-leading total to 111.
Tennessee 87, Middle Tennessee 62: Rennia Davis scored 24 points and grabbed 14 rebounds and No. 3 seed Tennessee (17-7) used a dominant second half to beat 14th-seeded Middle Tennessee (17-8) in Austin, Texas.
The Blue Raiders and guard Anastasia Hayes, one of the top scorers in the country, looked like they could pull off a shocker early on when they were tied with the Lady Vols at 39 at halftime. But a bid to become the first No. 14 seed to win an NCAA Tournament game was worn down against Tennessee’s superior size and length.
Kentucky 71, Idaho State 63: Rhyne Howard and Chasity Patterson scored 14 points apiece and Kentucky (18-8) grinded out a win over Idaho State (22-4).
The game wasn’t offensively pleasing until a wide-open fourth quarter. The Wildcats, the fourth seed in the River
Walk Region, took an opening punch from the 13th-seeded Bengals and then battled back. The Bengals had 31 points through three quarters and 32 points in the fourth, outscoring Kentucky by eight.
Michigan 87 Florida Gulf Coast 66: Leigha Brown scored 28 points, including 17 straight for sixth-seeded Michigan (15-5) at one point, and the Wolverines beat 11th-seed Florida Gulf Coast (26-3) in San Antonio.
Michigan will play Tennessee in the second round on Tuesday. It’s the third straight NCAAs that the Wolverines have reached the second round.
North Carolina State 79, North Carolnia A&T 58: Jada Boyd scored 15 of her 18 points in the second half to help top-seeded North Carolina State (21-2) overcome a slow start and coast to a win over 16 seed NC A&T (14-3) in San Marcos, Texas.
N.C. State was making its fourth straight tournament appearance and 26th overall, but earned a No. 1 seed for the first time.
Baylor 101, Jackson State 52: Moon Ursin scored a career-high 24 points, AllAmerican NaLyssa Smith had a doubledouble and Baylor (26-2) had no problem in its women’s NCAA Tournament opener, cruising to a win over Jackson State (19-6) in San Antonio.
Smith scored 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds for the second-seeded Bears, who face seventhseeded Virginia Tech on Tuesday in the River Walk Region.
Georgia Tech 54, Stephen F. Austin 52: Lorela Cubaj recovered from a scary fall to score 14 points, including the goahead free throws in overtime, and fifthseeded Georgia Tech (16-8) came back from a 17-point halftime deficit to turn back 12-seed Stephen F. Austin (24-3) in
San Antonio.
The Yellow Jackets’ first openinground victory since 2012 sends them to a Tuesday matchup versus the winner of fourth-seeded West Virginia and No. 13seed Lehigh.
Syracuse 72, South Dakota State 55: Emily Engstler scored 18 points and made three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and No. 8 Syracuse (15-8) pulled away from No. 9 South Dakota State (21-4) for a win in Austin, Texas.
Syracuse led 50-48 to open the fourth quarter before Englstler struck from long range on consecutive baskets for the Orange and Syracuse slowly pulled away from there.
South Carolina 79, Mercer 53: South Carolina coach Dawn Staley got her 500th career victory when Aliyah Boston and the top-seeded Gamecocks (23-4) beat Mercer (19-7) in San Antonio.