Uconn rolls past Mercer

Uconn 83, Mercer 38: Paige Bueckers started and scored 12 points as host Uconn began its run toward a 12th NCAA Tournament title with a firstround rout of No. 15 seed Mercer on Saturday.

Last season's national player of the year played 25 minutes, the most in six games since coming back from a left knee injury that kept her out for more than two months. She also had five assists and four rebounds.

Christyn Williams had 13 points to lead the Huskies (26-5) who opened the tournament with a win for the 28th straight time. Dorka Juhasz added 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Shannon Titus had 12 points to lead Mercer (23-7), which was making its fourth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Southern Conference champion Bears have never won an NCAA Tournament game.

Indiana 81, Charlotte 51: Mackenzie Holmes scored 19 points to lead host Indiana to a win.

Serving as hosts for the first time in the women's tournament, the thirdseeded Hoosiers (23-8) used a 22-2 run across a nearly six-minute first-half stretch to blow the game open. Aleksa Gulbe scored the final five in the spurt to make it 33-13 with 6:44 remaining in the half.

The lead never dipped below 20 in the second half as Holmes scored 15 of her points after halftime.

The 6-foot-3 junior forward and second-team All-big Ten selection made 9-of-15 shots to help IU shoot 54.7%, the 10th time this season it shot better than 50%. She also grabbed eight rebounds.

North Carolina State 96, Longwood 68: Raina Perez scored 16 points to lead five North Carolina State players in double digits as the host Wolfpack pulled away from Longwood.

Perez made seven of her eight shots for N.C. State, which won a programrecord 30th game this season.

Kansas State 50, Washington State 40: Ayoka Lee had 20 points and 15 rebounds as Kansas State overcame a frustrating defensive scheme from Washington State in Raleigh, N.C.

Lee, a second-team AP All-america selection, made just one shot from the floor in the first half, but rallied in the second to lead the Wildcats (20-11) to their first tournament victory since 2017. Brylee Glenn added 14 points for Kansas State.

Villanova 61, BYU 57: Maddy Siegrist scored 25 points and 11th-seeded Villanova rallied to beat No. 6 seed BYU in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Kaitlyn Oriehl added 10 points and Lucy Olsen had nine for the Wildcats, who finished second in the Big East.