San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Hoosiers make first Elite Eight
SAN ANTONIO — Teri Moren grew up near Indiana’s campus and readily admits she went to men’s basketball games as a kid because the women’s team wasn’t very good.
That’s not the case anymore, thanks to her coaching and the play of another Indiana native.
Ali Patberg, from Columbus, Ind., scored 17 points to help fourthseeded Indiana beat No. 1 seed North Carolina State 7370 on Saturday night, sending the Hoosiers to the regional final for the first time in school history.
“It means so much for us to be able to do what we did tonight and we are continuing to build our own tradition,” Moren said. “The tradition was always on the men’s side and we wanted to build our own.”
Indiana (215) had been in the Sweet 16 just once before, in 1983. Now the Hoosiers play for a Final Four berth against Arizona in Monday night’s Mercado Region final.
Jada Boyd scored 18 points for the Wolfpack (223), who scored eight straight points to get within two with 1:21 left. North Carolina State had a chance to tie it, but Elissa Cunane missed a contested layup with 30 seconds left.
Arizona 74, Texas A&M 59: Pac-12 player of the year Aari McDonald scored 31 points to help the Wildcats (19-5) become the first Pac-12 team in this year’s Elite Eight, advancing to the regional final for the first time in program history. The Wildcats had only made one previous trip the regional semifinals, when coach Adia Barnes was a player in 1998. Aaliyah Wilson scored 17 points to lead Texas A&M (25-3).
River Walk Regional
UConn 92, Iowa 72: Christyn Williams scored 27 points and Paige Bueckers had 18 and the top-seeded Huskies (27-1) pulled away from the fifth-seeded Hawkeyes (2010) late. The game featured a matchup of 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 (27.4 points per game). They didn’t disappoint. Bueckers also had nine rebounds and eight assists for UConn, while Clark had 21 points for Iowa. The game marked the return of UConn coach Geno Auriemma, who missed the opening two rounds because he was recovering from the coronavirus. Next up for the Huskies is Baylor on Monday night. Baylor 78, Michigan 75: NaLyssa Smith (11-for-11 from the floor) scored 24 points and Queen Egbo made two big plays in the final seconds of overtime to lead the second-seeded Bears (28-2). Egbo gave Baylor a 76-73 lead with a foul shot with 19 seconds left. After Leigha Brown scored for Michigan, Egbo picked up an assist on Moon Ursin’s wide-open layup. Brown scored 23 for the Wolverines (16-6), who had never before advanced this far in the tournament.