» Iowa tops Central Michigan.
A showdown of two of the nation’s top-10 scorers was nearly over before it really got going.
Central Michigan star Micaela Kelly picked up her third foul with 1:11 left in the first quarter on an unfortunate trip near midcourt. And the nation’s leading scorer, Caitlin Clark, and her Iowa teammates took advantage.
Clark finished with 23 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, Monika Czinano also scored 23 points, and No. 5 seed Iowa beat 12th-seeded Central Michigan 87-72 on Sunday in the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament at San Antonio.
“I thought that was the difference in the game to be very honest,” Central Michigan coach Heather Oesterle said. “I try not to complain to the officials, but when you take my best player out with three fouls in the first quarter, that obviously affected us.”
Kelly had eight points in six minutes but Clark combined with Kate Martin for 23 points and five 3-pointers in the opening 10 minutes to give the Hawkeyes a 27-20 lead.
Kelly, ranking seventh at 23.9 points, finished with 23 points and four 3-pointers in 27 minutes.
“That was big because she’s obviously their No. 1 scorer and someone that they look for, somebody that’s had a lot of experience,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “So yeah when we got her into foul trouble I thought that was tremendous and put her on the bench.”
Iowa (19-9) advances to play fourth-seeded Kentucky, which beat Idaho State, on Tuesday.
Molly Davis, ranking 22nd at 20.9 points, was just 7 of 18 from the field for 18 points with six rebounds and five steals for Central Michigan (18-9).
NO. 7 VIRGINIA TECH 70 NO. 10 MARQUETTE 63
Elizabeth Kitley had 23 points and the Hokies held on to beat the Golden Eagles at San Marcos.
The Golden Eagles used a 14-2 run to cut it to 3 with 39 seconds to go. Marquette missed its first eight 3-pointers before making its next four, capped by two from Lauren Van Kleunen, to power that run.
The Golden Eagles (19-7) were making their fourth straight trip to the tournament and 13th overall.
NO. 8 OKLAHOMA ST. 84 NO. 9 WAKE FOREST 61
Natasha Mack scored 27 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead the Cowgirls (19-8) over the Demon Deacons at San Antonio and into a second-round matchup against the winner of overall No. 1 seed Stanford and 16th-seeded Utah Valley on Tuesday.
Mack was 13-of-22 shooting, feasting on a variety of shots inside, and collected her 18th double-double of the season. She was also a force on defense with 11 defensive boards, and blocking four shots to extend her nationleading total to 111.
Ja’mee Asberry, who combined with Mack as one of the nation’s top-scoring tandems with a combined 37.2 points per game, added 18 points with four 3-pointers.
NO. 1 N. CAROLINA ST. 79 NO. 16 N.C. A&T 58
Jada Boyd scored 15 of her 18 points in the second half to help top-seeded Wolfpack overcome a slow start and coast to a win over the Aggies at San Marcos.
N.C. State (21-2) was making its fourth straight tournament appearance and 26th overall, but earned a No. 1 seed for the first time.
The Aggies led by as many as six in the second quarter. But N.C. State used a big run to take a seven-point lead into halftime before Boyd scored the first six points of the second half to make it 50-37 with 7½ minutes left in the third.
NO. 6 MICHIGAN 87
NO. 11 FLORIDA GULF COAST 66
Leigha Brown scored 28 points, including 17 straight as the Wolverines beat the Eagles at San Antonio.
Michigan (15-5) will play Tennessee in the second round on Tuesday. It’s the third straight
NCAAS that the Wolverines have reached the second round.
The win snapped the Eagles’ 25-game winning streak which was the second longest in the nation, trailing only California Baptist’s 27-game run.
NO.4 KENTUCKY 71 NO. 13 IDAHO ST. 63
Rhyne Howard and Chasity Patterson scored 14 points apiece and the Wildcats beat the Bengals at San Antonio.
Blair Green added 10 points for the Wildcats (18-8), who face fifth-seeded Iowa in the second round on Tuesday in a matchup of Howard and the Hawkeyes’ Caitlin Clark, the nation’s leading scorer at 26.7 points per game.
Diaba Konate led the Big Sky Conference champion Bengals (22-4) with 16 points before fouling out in the middle of the fourth.
NO. 3 TENNESSEE 87
NO. 14 MIDDLE TENNESSEE 62
Rennia Davis scored 24 points and grabbed 14 rebounds and the Lady Vols used a dominant second half to beat the Blue Raiders at Austin.
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.
Hayes scored 16 points in the first half before Tennessee shut down the upset bid with a dominant third quarter on both ends, outscoring MTSU 23-10 and holding the speedy and shifty guard to just a pair of free throws in the period.
Rae Burrell scored 22 points and Jordan Walker had nine points and 14 rebounds for Tennessee (17-7).
Hayes finished with 26 points for the Blue Raiders.