Lady Dogs can’t stop Hawkeyes in the end
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Caitlin Clark admitted she didn’t have her best game Sunday.
It was enough to get Iowa to the Sweet 16.
The unanimous AP All-American had 22 points and 12 assists as the Hawkeyes defeated Georgia 74-66 in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
“I probably could have made a couple of more shots,” Clark said. “I thought I had at least open 3s that usually go down for me. But sometimes that happens.”
Clark was held scoreless for 13 minutes in the first half, but she produced 14 second-half points as the Hawkeyes (28-6), the No. 2 seed in the Seattle 4 Region, finally shook off the 10th-seeded Lady Bulldogs (22-12). The junior from West Des Moines finished just 6-of-17 from the field, but she either scored or assisted on 30 of Iowa’s 33 second-half points.
Iowa is in the Sweet 16 for the second time in Clark’s career and ninth time overall.
“I think any time you’re one of the 16 teams who get to keep playing basketball, it’s pretty special,” Clark said. “But it wasn’t a huge party or celebration in the locker room. This wasn’t our goal. It’s one of the steps for reaching our goal, but it’s not the end all, be all for us.”
Katie Abrahamson-Henderson, who wrapped up her first season as Georgia’s coach, thought the Lady Dogs defended well against the Iowa star.
“She averages 27 points a game, that’s a lot. I think we did a great job on her,” said Abrahamson-Henderson, a Cedar Rapids native who played at Georgia from 1986-88, then transferred home to finish her career with the Hawkeyes.
Monika Czinano scored 20 points, Gabbie Marshall added 15 and McKenna Warnock had 14 for Iowa, which erased the memory of last season’s second-round home loss to No. 10 seed Creighton.
Javyn Nicholson and Brittney Smith had 12 points apiece for Georgia, which got within 68-66 on a 3-pointer from Audrey Warren with 2:17 left in the game. The Lady Dogs would not score again, committing three straight turnovers and missing a layup.
“We made a lot of runs,” Abrahamson-Henderson said. “I know everything is going to be about Iowa right now. But my team is really good. They are really good. We came in here, we fought like crazy, we were the underdogs, but there was no underdog here today.”
Iowa’s regional semifinal is Saturday in Seattle, where the Hawkeyes will face the winner of Monday night’s second-round matchup between No. 6 seed Colorado and No. 3 seed Duke.
The Lady Bulldogs fell short of their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2013, but they finished the season strong, having won nine of their past 12 games entering Sunday.
“We had two really really good teams on the floor today,” Abrahamson-Henderson said. “And one of them was Georgia. For sure.”
GREENVILLE 1 REGION › South Carolina 76, South Florida 45
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Zia Cooke scored 21 points, and Aliyah Boston added 11 points and 11 rebounds for her 81st career double-double in her final home game as overall No. 1 seed South Carolina shook off a slow start to power past eighth-seeded South Florida and into the Sweet 16.
The Gamecocks improved to 34-0 this season with their 40th straight win overall and moved four victories away from a second straight national title. For their next game, they’ll head to Greenville, where they won the Southeastern Conference tournament two weeks ago. The Gamecocks will play the winner of Monday night’s secondround matchup between No. 5 seed Oklahoma and No. 4 seed UCLA.
South Florida (27-7), seeking its first berth in the Sweet 16, led 16-12 after the first quarter and trailed just 33-29 at halftime but couldn’t hang with the Gamecocks after they made a run in the third quarter.
› Notre Dame 53, Mississippi St. 48
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Lauren Ebo had 10 points, 18 rebounds and four blocks to help No. 3 seed Notre Dame beat No. 11 seed Mississippi State.
Maddy Westbeld added nine points and 15 rebounds for the Fighting Irish (27-5), who blew an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter before making key plays down the stretch.
Mississippi State (22-11), a First Four winner, scored eight straight points to open the fourth and tie the game at 41. Ebo scored the first Irish basket of the final period on an offensive putback with 4:38 remaining.
The Irish regained the lead for good on a pair of KK Bransford free throws that made it 45-43 with 3:49 left.
› Maryland 77, Arizona 64
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Diamond Miller scored 13 of her 24 points in the third quarter to help the second-seeded Terrapins (27-6) advance to the Sweet 16 for a third straight year and the 11th time under coach Brenda Frese, who played at Arizona and graduated in 1993.
Maryland trailed by a point after two quarters but ran past the seventhseeded Wildcats (22-10) in the second half.
Shyanne Sellers scored 15 points and Faith Masonius gave the Terps a lift with 12, while Cate Reese led Arizona with 19 points.
Maryland, which was 11-for-14 in the third quarter, will face Notre Dame on Friday in Greenville.
GREENVILLE 2 REGION › LSU 66, Michigan 42
BATON ROUGE, La. — Angel Reese dismantled Michigan on both ends of the court with 25 points, 24 rebounds, six blocks and three steals as her third-seeded Tigers beat the sixth-seeded Wolverines.
Reese, a 6-foot-3 AllAmerica forward, did most of her damage with gauze wedged under her upper lip after a shot to her mouth drew blood in the opening minutes of the game.
Alexis Morris scored 11 and LaDazhia Williams had 10 points and 10 rebounds for LSU (30-2), which never trailed and held Michigan (23-10) to its lowest point total of the season.
In just their second season under coach Kim Mulkey, the Tigers advanced past the second round of the tournament for the first time since 2014.
Laila Phelia scored 20 points for Michigan, which opened the second half with a 7-0 run to pull as close as eight, then quickly went back down by double digits for good after Reese’s layup and Kateri Poole’s 3.
› Utah 63, Princeton 56
SALT LAKE CITY — Alissa Pili had 28 points and 10 rebounds to lead second-seeded Utah past 10th-seeded Princeton, and Jenna Johnson added 15 points for the Utes, who made only one 3-pointer but still advanced to their first Sweet 16 since 2006.
Kaitlyn Chen scored 19 points, Grace Stone had 16 and Ellie Mitchell finished with 18 rebounds, including 10 on the offensive end, for Princeton (24-6).
Down the stretch, the game turned into an oldfashioned rock fight. The teams combined to miss 15 consecutive field-goal attempts at one point, but Utah (27-4) got to the foul line to advance and face No. 3 seed LSU on Saturday in Utah.
The host Utes didn’t have a basket in the final 6:24 but went 13-for-19 from the line in the fourth quarter to complete their season undefeated at the Huntsman Center.
SEATTLE 3 REGION
› Virginia Tech 72, South Dakota St. 60
BLACKSBURG, Va. — Georgia Amoore scored 21 points as No. 1 seed Virginia Tech held off ninthseeded South Dakota State.
Elizabeth Kitley added 14 points and 14 rebounds for the Hokies (29-4), who won their 13th consecutive game, to advance to the Sweet 16 for just the second time in program history. They’ll try to stretch their streak to 14 wins on Friday in Seattle, where they will play the winner of Monday’s second-round matchup between No. 12 seed Toledo and No. 4 seed Tennessee.
Virginia Tech also set a school record with its 29th win, breaking the mark of 28 set by the 1998-99 squad — the only other team in program history to advance to the Sweet 16.
Myah Selland led South Dakota State (29-6) with 17 points and nine rebounds.