Beach native James guides NC State to first-round win
Virginia Beach’s Aziaha James scored each of her 19 points in the second half Saturday, and North Carolina State pulled away from Chattanooga for a 64-45 victory in Raleigh in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Saniya Rivers scored 16 points and River Baldwin had 10 points and 11 rebounds, boosting N.C. State coach Wes Moore to a victory against his former team. Jada Guinn scored 13 points for Chattanooga (28-5), which is 1-17 all-time in NCAA Tournaments; Moore was the coach in the victory.
Next for No. 3 seed N.C. State (28-6) is ex-Wolfpack coach Kellie Harper and sixth-seeded Tennessee (20-12) on Monday.
Tennessee 92, Green Bay 63:
Rickea Jackson scored 26 points, Sarah Puckett 14 points and Jewel Spear 13 for the Lady Vols, who are the only team to participate in all 42 women’s NCAA Tournaments. Maddy Schreiber led 11th-seeded Green Bay (27-7) with 13 points.
UConn 86, Jackson State 64:
Paige Bueckers scored 28 points and freshman Ashlynn Shade added 26 as No. 3 seed UConn celebrated coach Geno Auriemma’s 70th birthday with a home win, giving the Huskies a secondround game against Syracuse. Aaliyah Edwards, wearing a mask after missing two games with a broken nose, had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Huskies (30-5).
Syracuse star Dyaisha Fair scored 32 points, including 13 after she returned from a second-half injury, to lead the sixth-seeded Orange (24-7) to a come-from behind win over No. 11 seed Arizona in Storrs, Connecticut. The third-team All-American scored all of her team’s points during a winning run that began with the Orange trailing 66-61 with 3:16 left.
Syracuse 74, Arizona 69:
Sara Scalia scored 27 points to lead fourth-seeded Indiana to a home victory over No. 13 Fairfield. The Hoosiers (25-5) will face No. 5 seed Oklahoma on Monday night.
Indiana 89, Fairfield 56: Oklahoma 73, Florida Gulf Coast 70:
Skylar Vann scored 24 points as the Sooners (23-9) held off No. 12 seed FGCU in Bloomington, Indiana.
Payton Verhulst gave the Sooners a 72-70 lead on a turnaround jumper in the paint with 48 seconds left. After a Eagles turnover, Vann hit one of two free throws with 15 seconds left to push the lead to 73-70.
Dolly Cairns’ 3-point shot was blocked by Vann with 3 seconds left. The Eagles got the rebound with a second left, and Uju Ezeudu missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have tied it.
Notre Dame 81, Kent State 67: Sonia Citron scored 29 points and Hannah Hidalgo added a double-double with 14 points and 11 assists to help the host Irish, seeded No. 2, beat 15th-seeded Kent State and earn a secondround clash against Mississippi.
Mississippi 67, Marquette 55:
Madison Scott scored 20 points for seventh-seeded Ole Miss (24-8). Kennedy Todd-Williams added 15 points and seven rebounds for the Rebels. Zakiya Stephenson, a freshman from Princess Anne High, had three rebounds and two assists off the bench for Ole Miss.
Southern California 87, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 55:
JuJu Watkins scored 23 points in her NCAA Tournament debut, leading No. 1 seed USC in Los Angeles. The Trojans (27-5) will face Kansas on Monday.
Late Friday
Middle Tennessee State 71, Louisville 69:
Savannah Wheeler scored 20 of her 22 points in the second half, and No. 11 seed MTSU overcame an 18-point, second quarter deficit to defeat sixth-seeded Louisville in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Friday in the first round. Louisville (24-10) had reached five consecutive regional finals.
After two missed MTSU free throws in the final seconds, Merissah Russell tried a half-court shot for the win that hit the backboard and rim.
Oregon State 73, Eastern Washington 51:
Raegan Beers had 19 points and nine rebounds before she was hurt at the end of the third quarter, and third-seeded Oregon State won at home in Corvallis. The Beavers (25-7) will face sixthseeded Nebraska (23-11) today.
Nebraska 61, Texas A&M 59:
Alexis Markowski had 16 points and six rebounds as Nebraska gained its first NCAA Tournament victory since 2014. Logan Nissley also had 16 points for Nebraska, including two late go-ahead free throws.
Aaronette Vonleh had 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead the fifth-seeded Buffaloes in Manhattan, Kansas. They will face No. 4 seed Kansas State in the second round today.
Colorado 86, Drake 72:
Iowa State 93, Maryland 86:
Freshman Audi Crooks scored a season-high 40 points on 18-for-20 shooting and grabbed 12 rebounds in her sensational NCAA Tournament debut, and No. 7-seed Iowa State (21-11) hit all the big shots in the second half to rally from 20 points down and beat 10th-seeded Maryland at Stanford’s Maples Pavilion. The Cyclones will face Stanford today.
The 20-point comeback marked the second-largest all-time in a women’s NCAA Tournament game, trailing only Texas A&M overcoming a 21-point deficit to beat Penn in 2017.