BYU pulls off first upset in women’s tournament
Chris Iseman
The win was there for Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights just couldn’t hold on.
Mercado 6-seed Rutgers lost a 12point lead and fell to 11-seed BYU 69-66 in the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament on Monday at Strahan Arena in San Marcos, Texas.
The Cougars will face No. 3 seed Arizona, a 79-44 winner over No. 14 Stony Brook, in the second round Wednesday.
For the Scarlet Knights, it ends a trying season that included a month-long pause because of multiple COVID-19 tests within the program.
Paisley Harding was the catalyst for BYU, finishing with 28 points on 8 of 17 shooting, including 4 of 9 from the perimeter, to go along with five rebounds.
Arella Guirantes finished with 30 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals, while Diamond Johnson had 13 points, four rebounds, two assists and three steals.
Tegan Graham hit a 3-pointer with 1:18 to go in the fourth quarter to put BYU up by four, but Guirantes responded with a triple. With 30 seconds left, Mael Gilles fouled Shaylee Gonzales as she shot a 3-pointer and Gonzales made all three foul shots to put the Cougars back up by four.
After Gonzales made two more free throws with 24 seconds left, Liz Martino drained a three to bring the Scarlet Knights to within two with five seconds to go. But after a Guirantes foul, Harding made one of two free throws to essentially seal the game.
Alamo region upset:
Arkansas came to the women’s NCAA Tournament armed with a seasoned lineup forged in a tough regular season that included wins over Connecticut and Baylor.
Wright State came with scorer Angel Baker and an attitude that it was time to make history. Baker and the 13-seed Raiders did just that.
Baker’s 3-pointer with 29.1 seconds left snatched the lead, and Jada Roberson’s two free throws at 8.1 seconds sealed a 66-62 win over the No. 4 Razorbacks on Monday in Austin, Texas.
The Raiders (19-7) pulled off the first win by a No. 13 over a No. 4 since 2012 and earned their first tournament win in school history. Coming into the tournament, No. 13 seeds were 9-104 all time.
“It feels good man,” Baker said. “We made history for our program, for our university. … Definitely feel like we were underestimated. A lot of teams fail to realize numbers don’t mean nothing though, so they probably look at it like an underdog. We stepped up to the challenge.”
Baker scorched the Razorbacks for 26.
The win wasn’t sealed until Roberson stepped to the line and made her only two free-throw attempts of the game.
Chelsea Dungee scored 27 points for Arkansas (19-9) and gave the Razorbacks the lead at 59-58.
Another Mercado upset:
Belmont freshman Destinee Wells scored 25 points and had seven assists in a turnover-free game as the younger and smaller 12th-seeded Bruins held on for their first victory ever in the women’s NCAA Tournament, pulling off a 64-59 upset over fifth-seeded Gonzaga on Monday in San Marcos, Texas.
The Bruins (21-5) sealed the game with 19 seconds left when Wells, on a drive with the shot clock winding down, passed inside to Madison Bartley. The fellow freshman had to rip the ball away from the defender but made the layup while being fouled and added the free throw for a five-point lead.
Jill Townsend had 17 points for Gonzaga (23-4), which had cut a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to 57-55 on Abby O’Connor’s 3-pointer with just over four minutes left.