Jensen leads Creighton past Iowa
Creighton 64, Iowa 62: Lauren Jensen scored 19 points against her former team, including the go-ahead 3 with 12.9 seconds left that lifted No. 10 Creighton over Caitlin Clark and second-seeded Iowa 64-62 Sunday in the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament.
Iowa (24-8), which shared the Big Ten regular-season title and won the conference tournament, had two chances to tie the game in the closing three seconds. Monika Czinano missed a layup with three seconds left, then Kate Martin missed a putback as the buzzer sounded.
Jensen, who played at Iowa last season as a freshman before transferring, had nine of her points in the fourth quarter.
“I just wanted to go in and play my game and didn’t know what to expect with a sold out crowd,” she said. “Play my game and play with my teammates and hopefully come out with the win, which we did.”
She had a layup with 1:26 left to cut Iowa’s lead to 62-60, then her 3-pointer gave the Bluejays a lead.
After Clark missed a layup Emma Ronziek made the second of two free throws for the final margin.
Payton Brotzki added 13 points for the Bluejays (22-9), who advance to their first-ever Sweet 16. They were the seventh double-digit seed to win in the women’s NCAA Tournament so far, matching the record set in 1998.
Maryland 89, Florida Gulf Coast 65: Diamond Miller scored 24 points, and fourth-seeded Maryland used a 19-0 run spanning parts of both halves to pull away to a 89-65 win over 12thseeded Florida Gulf Coast on Sunday.
Angel Reese added 21 points and Ashley Osusu scored 20 for the Terrapins, who advanced to the Sweet 16 for the 10th time under coach Brenda Frese. Maryland (23-8) faces either Stanford or Kansas in the next round.
Kendall Spray scored 17 points in the first half but none in the second for FGCU, and the Eagles (30-3) couldn’t follow their first-round win over Virginia Tech with another victory.
South Carolina 49, Miami 33: Aliyah Boston scored 10 points and 16 rebounds as top-seeded South Carolina had to ride its strong defense to a 49-33 win over Miami on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Gamecocks (31-2) again held an opponent without a field goal in the second quarter and Miami (21-13) shot just 24% for the game as South Carolina coach Dawn Staley advanced to her eighth Sweet 16 in nine tournament appearances.
The Gamecocks led all the way through this ugly one, but shooting only 30%, they could never really pull away.