Indiana in first Elite Eight with win
SAN ANTONIO — Ali Patberg scored 17 points to help fourth-seeded Indiana beat No. 1 seed North Carolina State 73-70 on Saturday night, sending the Hoosiers to the regional final for the first time in school history.
Indiana (21-5) had been in the Sweet 16 just once before, back in 1983 before the women’s NCAA Tournament became a 64-team field.
Indiana led 70-60 with 2:51 left before N.C. State scored eight straight points to get within two with 1:21 left. The Wolfpack (22-3) had a chance to tie it, but star Elissa Cunane missed a contested layup with 30 seconds left.
Nicole Cardano-Hillary then made two free throws with 21.1 seconds left. Before those two from the line, Indiana had been a dismal 6 for 13 on free throws.
The Wolfpack weren’t done, with Raina Perez making a jumper in the lane to get N.C. State back within two with 13.5 seconds left. Patberg then hit one of two free throws to make it 73-70 and Cunane missed badly on a
3-point attempt just before the buzzer, setting off a wild celebration by the Hoosiers at midcourt.
Indiana trailed 33-28 late in the first half before scoring the final six points of the second quarter. It carried the momentum into the third, opening a 45-35 lead. Indiana hit seven of its first eight shots in the period.
Patberg had seven points in the quarter as the Hoosiers, who face the winner of Arizona and Texas A&M on Monday night in the Mercado Region final, led
58-48.
Jada Boyd scored 18 points for N.C. State, and Raina Perez had 17.
BAYLOR 78, MICHIGAN 75, OT
NaLyssa Smith scored 24 points on 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 78-75 lead with a foul shot with 19 seconds left. After Leigha Brown scored for Michigan, Egbo picked up an assist on Moon Ursin’s wideopen 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.
Michigan never led in regulation. Naz Hilmon tied it at 63 with 15 seconds left, converting a lob pass from Hailey Brown that barely floated over the arms of a Baylor defender.
UCONN 92, IOWA 72
Christyn Williams scored 27 points and Paige Bueckers added 18 to lead No. 1 UConn to a 92-72 win over fifth-seeded Iowa on Saturday in the Sweet 16 of the women’s NCAA Tournament.
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. Clark led the nation in scoring and came into the regional semifinals averaging 29 points in the tournament.
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. Aliyyah Edwards added 18 points.
Clark, shadowed on defense 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. Auriemma arrived in San Antonio on Wednesday.
Williams missed five of her first seven shots before getting going on offense. She made six straight, including six in a row in the second quarter, to give UConn a 49-35 halftime lead. The junior wing had 14 points in the period.
Iowa (20-10), behind Clark, was able to get within nine twice in the fourth quarter but Bueckers answered with a 3-pointer each time and Iowa could get no closer.
UConn, which was playing in its 27th straight Sweet 16, faces the winner of Michigan and Baylor on Monday night in the River Walk regional final.