Favorites South Carolina, Iowa, Notre Dame advance
No. 1 South Carolina 76, No. 8 South Florida 45:
Aliyah Boston showed once more she’s far from a one-dimensional superstar.
While the South Carolina All-american collected her 81st career double double with 11 points and 11 rebounds in a 76-45 victory over South Florida to advance to the Sweet 16 on Sunday, she also used her incomparable defense to energize her team and lift them out of a slow start to keep their drive for backto-back national titles going strong.
“She made a lot of plays that don’t show up on the stat sheet,” South Florida coach Jose Fernandez said.
Like when next month’s No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draf t twice dove on the floor to corral a loose basketball, then after blowing up Maria Alvarez’s drive to the basket ran out to the sideline to double team Emma Johansson and force a turnover.
No. 2 Iowa 74, No. 10 Georgia 66:
Caitlin Clark had 22 points and 12 assists while Monika Czinano added 20 points to help Iowa beat Georgia 74-66 in a secondround women’s NCAA Tournament game Sunday.
The Hawkeyes (28-6), the No. 2 seed in Seattle Regional 4, advance to the ninth Sweet Sixteen in program history.
Gabbie Marshall added 15 points and Mckenna Warnock had 14 for Iowa, which erased the memory of last season’s secondround home loss to No. 10 seed Creighton.
Clark, a first-team Associated Press All-american, was held scoreless for 13 minutes in the first half, but scored 14 second-half points as the Hawkeyes finally shook off the 10th-seeded Lady Bulldogs (22-12). She made just 6 of 17 shots, but either scored or assisted on nearly every point by the Hawkeyes in the second half.
Georgia, a No. 10 seed, got within 68-66 on a 3-pointer from Audrey Warren with 2:17 left in the game, but the Lady Bulldogs would not score again, committing three straight turnovers and missing a layup.
No. 3 Notre Dame 53, No. 11 Mississippi State 48:
Lauren Ebo had 10 points, 18 rebounds and four blocks to help No. 3 seed Notre Dame beat 11th-seed Mississippi State 53-48 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.
Maddy Westbeld added nine points and 15 rebounds for the Irish, who blew an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter before making the plays down the stretch for the win.
Mississippi State scored eight straight points to open the fourth quarter 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 with 3:49 left in the game, which gave Notre Dame a 45-43 advantage. The Irish held onto the lead the rest of the way.