Terrapins pour it on in rout of Tide
SAN ANTONIO – The Maryland Terrapins are ruthless and relentless on offense and rolling once again into the Sweet 16.
Angel Reese scored 19 points, leading a wave of scoring off the bench, as No. 2 seed Maryland (27-2) and its offensive juggernaut overwhelmed No. 7 Alabama (17-10) in a 100-64 rout Wednesday in the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament.
“It showed the balance of our team and the depth that we have,” Terrapins coach Brenda Frese said.
And just how scary this bunch may look to the rest of the tournament field.
The Terrapins came into the tournament with the nation’s highest-scoring offense and have yet to take their foot off the gas.
The Terps are averaging 99 points in their two tournament wins after scoring 91.3 per game in the regular season.
Maryland hit the 100-point mark for the seventh time this season and got 46 points off the bench.
The Terps were so dominant, season scoring leader Ashley Owusu didn’t make her first basket until the lead was already 46-23 in the second quarter. Five Maryland players scored in double figures.
Oregon 57, Georgia 50: Sedona Prince scored 22 points, Nyara Sabally took over late and sixth-seeded Oregon (15-8) beat No. 3 Georgia (21-7) in San Antonio.
Sabally scored six straight points – including a putback of her own missed shot – to break open a tie game and give the Ducks a 54-48 lead with less than a minute to go. She finished with 15 points, including 10 in the second half, and nine rebounds.
Oregon is in the tournament for the 16th time overall, but this Ducks team came in less heralded than those led by Sabrina Ionescu, who missed out on her final chance at a national title last year because of the pandemic.
Jenna Staiti had 18 points and nine rebounds for Georgia, which was looking to reach its first Sweet 16 since 2013.
Missouri State 64 Wright State 39: Elle Ruffridge had a career-high 20 points with five 3-pointers, Jasmine Franklin had a double-double and fifthseeded Missouri State (23-2) is going to its second consecutive Sweet 16 after knocking off Wright State (19-8) in San Antonio. The Lady Bears pulled away in the second half when Ruffridge had 17 of her points. Franklin had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Ruffridge and Franklin are among nine current Lady Bears who were also part of the Sweet 16 team two years ago that lost to Stanford, the same team they will play in the Alamo Region semifinal Sunday.
Missouri State went ahead on two tiebreaking free throws by Brice Calip with 2 minutes left in the second quarter before Mya Bhinhar swished a 3pointer for a 24-19 halftime lead.
Louisville 62, Northwestern 53: Kianna Smith scored 16 points and No. 2 seed Louisville (25-3) advanced to the Sweet 16 by rallying from an early 18point deficit to beat seventh-seeded Northwestern (16-9) in San Antonio.
The Cardinals got off to another rough start, trailing 25-7 late in the first quarter. Louisville slowly started to chip away on offense and played stellar defense. The deficit was 40-28 midway through the third quarter before the Cardinals scored 17 straight points.
The game was tied at 40 heading into the fourth, and Louisville increased its first lead to 45-40 before Lindsay Pulliam – Northwestern’s third-ever 2,000point scorer – got her only basket of the game. The Wildcats closed to 53-50 on Jordan Hamilton’s 3-pointer with 3:26 left. They had a chance to move closer, but Veronica Burton missed two free throws 30 seconds later.
Louisville didn’t miss from the line in the final two minutes as the Cardinals converted nine of 10 free throws to seal the game.
Northwestern blitzed Louisville right from the start, scoring the game’s first seven points and opening a 13-2 lead, leading to a timeout by the Cardinals. It didn’t get much better with the Wildcats going 4 for 4 from 3-point range on their way to a 25-10 lead after one quarter.
Indiana 70, Belmont 48: Grace Berger scored 17 points and Indiana used another suffocating defensive effort to beat Belmont (21-6), sending the fourthseeded Hoosiers (17-9) to the program’s first Sweet 16 in the women’s NCAA Tournament.
Belmont was the first Ohio Valley Conference team to win a tournament game since 1990, but its chances of becoming the fifth No. 12 seed to advance to the regional semifinals were smothered by the Hoosiers’ defense and the Bruins’ own dismal 3-point shooting through the first three quarters.
Indiana was just as efficient on offense as four Hoosiers scored in double figures. Indiana advances to play North Carolina State, the No. 1 seed in the Mercado Region. Destinee Wells scored 16 points to lead Belmont.
Indiana held VCU to 32 points in the first round and immediately applied its clampdown on Belmont.
After taking a 15-12 lead into the second quarter, the Hoosiers allowed just six more points until halftime.