N.C. State wins to set up meeting with Stanford

Aziaha James scored 22 points and Portland 4 Regional No. 3 seed North Carolina State blew nearly all of a 20-point lead before holding off visiting No. 6 seed Tennessee 79-72 in Monday's second round of the NCAA Tournament, sending the Wolfpack back to the Sweet 16.

Saniya Rivers added 20 points for N.C. State (29-6), which dominated the second quarter to build that huge margin before the Lady Vols (20-13) started creeping back.

Tennessee got as close as two points in the fourth, but the Wolfpack did just enough to protecttheir lead and send them on to a Sweet 16 date with No. 2 seed Stanford.

Rickea Jackson had 33 points and 10 rebounds for Tennessee.

Albany 2 Regional

IOWA 64, WEST VIRGINIA 54 >> Caitlin Clark scored 32 points and the No. 1 seed Hawkeyes survived one of their worst offensive performances of the season to beat the visiting eighth-seeded Mountaineers.

Iowa (31-4) advanced to play No. 5 seed Colorado.

Sydney Affolter's three-point play with 2:03 to play, the Hawkeyes' lone field goal of the fourth quarter, gave Iowa a 55-52 lead. Clark and Hannah Stuelke closed the game with nine free throws to clinch the win.

The Hawkeyes came into the game leading the nation in scoring at 92.8 points per game, but Iowa was held to its lowest singlegame point total this season. Iowa shot just 36.4% from the field.

JJ Quinerly led West Virginia (25-8) with 15 points.

Albany 1 Regional

NOTRE DAME 71, MISSISSIPPI 56 >> Maddy Westbeld scored 20 points and Hannah Hidalgo added 19 to help the second-seeded Fighting Irish beat the visiting seventhseeded Rebels (24-9).

Notre Dame (28-6) advances to the Sweet 16 where it will play No. 3 seed Oregon State.

The Fighting Irish bolted to a 21-9 lead after one quarter and led 43-26 at halftime.

INDIANA 75, OKLAHOMA 68 >> Mackenzie Holmes scored 29 points, including six in a row, to give the host fourth-seeded Hoosiers a late lead as they rallied past the fifthseeded Sooners (23-10).

Sydney Parrish added 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists for Indiana (26-6), which advanced to its second Sweet 16 in three years and now faces undefeated No. 1 overall seed South Carolina.

Skylar Vann had 20 points and eight rebounds for Oklahoma.

Portland 3 Regional

UCONN 72, SYRACUSE 64 >> Paige Bueckers had 32 points, Ashlynn Shade added 19 and the thirdseeded Huskies held off the visiting sixth-seeded Orange to earn a 30th straight trip to the Sweet 16.

Dyaisha Fair scored 18 of her 20 points in the second half as Syracuse came back from a 12-point first-half deficit to pull within two with just under two minutes left. But the Orange missed four 3-point attempts down the stretch and UConn scored seven of the game's final eight points.