COLUMBIA, S.C. — Freshmen MiLaysia Fulwiley and Tessa Johnson aren’t waiting for their turn. They’re grabbing the opportunity to lead the way for undefeated South Carolina in the women’s NCAA Tournament.
Fulwiley scored 20 points, Johnson had 11 and the pair combined for seven of the top-seeded Gamecocks’ nine 3-pointers in an 88-41 win over No. 8 seed North Carolina on Sunday that sent South Carolina to its 10th straight Sweet 16.
“They see themselves as being integral parts of our success,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “And they didn’t back down from it.”
Kamilla Cardoso had 12 points and 10 rebounds in her return from a one-game suspension after she was ejected for fighting during the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game two weeks ago. The 6-foot-7 center missed her team’s March Madness opener against Presbyterian on Friday.
Fulwiley, the SEC Tournament MVP, and Johnson fueled a first-quarter surge for South Carolina (34-0) that quickly turned the game into a runaway. Fulwiley started it with a behind-the-back layup before Johnson made consecutive rainbow 3s. Fulwiley added another 3-pointer as part of a 43-11 run that gave the Gamecocks a 56-19 lead at the break.
Fulwiley knows she’s among the most promising young players in the game along with Southern California’s JuJu Watkins, Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo and Texas’ Madison Booker. But Fulwiley’s bigger priority is blending in with her talented Gamecocks teammates.
“I think this team, we do a great job of just playing for each other,” she said. “I think we don’t play for the fans and all the other extra stuff. I think everything we do out on the court is for each other.”
South Carolina will carry that bond into the Sweet 16 to face No. 4 seed Indiana or No. 5 seed Oklahoma on Friday in the Albany 1 Region.
(5) BAYLOR 75, (4) VIRGINIA TECH 72
BLACKSBURG, Va. — Jada Walker scored 26 of her career-high 28 points in the second half to lead Baylor to a 75-72 victory over Virginia Tech in the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament on Sunday.
Fifth-seeded Bears (26-7) advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2021. Playing in her home state, Walker connected on 9 of 16 from the floor and 9 of 10 from the foul line.
Matilda Ekh paced fourth-seeded Virginia Tech (25-8) with 19 points, while Georgia Amoore and Clara Strack each finished with 18. Strack was once again filling in for All-American Elizabeth Kitley, who tore her ACL in the regular season finale.
Walker made the big plays down the stretch for the Bears, who won for the eighth time in the past nine games. She scored the team’s final nine points, and none were bigger than her three-point play with 19.1 seconds left that gave Baylor a 73-69 lead.
Following a 3-pointer by Amoore with 16 seconds remaining, Virginia Tech fouled Walker, who hit two free throws with 5.9 seconds remaining that gave the Bears a 75-72 lead. Virginia Tech was unable to get a shot off in the final seconds.
Sarah Andrews added 16 points for the Bears, and Darianna Littlepage-Buggs finished with 10.
(7) DUKE 75, (2) OHIO STATE 63
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Reigan Richardson scored 28 points and added seven rebounds as No. 7 seed Duke rallied from a 16-point first-half deficit to beat No. 2 seed Ohio State 75-63 on Sunday and earn a spot in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2008.
Richardson hit a 3-pointer from the wing to put Duke up 59-57 with 5:21 left. That sparked a 13-2 run by the Blue Devils that began to put the game out of reach.
Ashlon Jackson scored 13 points and Taina Mair added 11 for the Blue Devils (22-11), who move on to Portland, Oregon to play next weekend against the winner of Syracuse and UConn.
Cotie McMahon paced the Buckeyes with 27 points. Most of those were in the paint. Ohio State attempted just nine 3-pointers in the game and didn’t make one until there were 12.2 seconds left in the game.
Celeste Taylor, who transferred to Ohio State from Duke before the season, scored just six points before fouling out with 6:38 left in the game.
Ohio State’s pressing defense caused problems for Duke early as the Buckeyes built a 16-point lead. But the Blue Devils came roaring back. A 12-2 run cut the Buckeyes lead to 36-32 at halftime.
In the first round on Friday, Ohio State routed No. 15 seed Maine 80-57. Duke rallied in the second half to beat No. 10 seed Richmond.
The season ends for Ohio State, which had advanced to the regional final last season.
(5) COLORADO 63, (4) KANSAS STATE 50
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Tameiya Sadler scored all 10 of her points in the second half to lead a balanced scoring attack, and No. 5 seed Colorado beat four-seed Kansas State 63-50 on Sunday to advance to the Sweet 16.
The Buffaloes (24-9) will face the winner of Monday’s game between No. 1 seed Iowa and No. 8 seed West Virginia on Saturday in Albany, N.Y.
This was the first home sellout for Kansas State since they hosted No. 1 UConn on Dec. 11, 2016.
Colorado, which had six players with nine or more points, used an 11-2 run in the third quarter to grab its largest lead of the game at 48-41. The Buffaloes outscored K-State 19-7 in the third quarter to take a 52-42 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Wildcats (26-8) had multiple chances to trim the deficit to three in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t get the shots to fall.
Gabby Gregory scored 12 points to lead Kansas State. Ayoka Lee added 10 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks.
(3) LSU 83, (11) MTSU 58
BATON ROUGE, La. — Angel Reese had 20 points and 11 rebounds and third-seeded LSU responded to a nine-point third-quarter deficit with a dominant finish to defeat upstart No. 11 seed Middle Tennessee 83-56 in the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament on Sunday.
Flau’Jae Johnson scored 21 for the Tigers (30-5) and played a central role in helping LSU surge to a comfortable second-half lead that ended the Blue Raiders’ 20-game winning streak.
The decisive victory came one day after LSU coach Kim Mulkey railed against the Washington Post — and threatened potential legal action — for what she described as an impending “hit piece” against her and promised that it would not derail her team’s preparation for NCAA Tournament games.
MTSU (30-5) led 41-32 and looked primed to widen the gap when Reese tripped over a fallen teammate on an attempted layup and crashed hard to the court, sending the Blue Raiders on a 5-on-4 fast break the other way.
But Jalynn Gregory’s open 3 bounced off the back rim to LSU guard Last-Tear Poa, who fired the ball down court, where Reese had just gotten to her feet and made an uncontested layup.
That play spawned a 10-0 run, fueled in part by Mikaylah Williams’ pull-up jumper in transition and her left corner 3, which put the Tigers back in front, 42-41.
Later in the quarter, Johnson forced a turnover by tying up MTSU’s Ta’Mia Scott, followed that up with a 3, and later hit a bail-out, fall-away jumper as the shot clock expired.
LSU wound up outscoring Middle Tennessee 27-8 during the final 8:22 of the third quarter to take a 59-49 lead on Reese’s layup and pulled away from there, going up by as many as 30 points.
MTSU 6-foot-6 starting center Anastasiia Boldyreva scored nine points and blocked three shots, but was challenged constantly by LSU’s physical play in the paint and fouled out just before the end of the third quarter. The Tigers turned the game into a rout after that.
Savannah Wheeler, the Conference USA Player of the Year, scored 21 and Scott scored 15 for Middle Tennessee, which lost for the first time since Dec. 30.
Aneesah Morrow scored 19 points and Williams added 16 for LSU, which jumped out to a 24-15 lead that got the Pete Maravich Assembly Center crowd roaring early.
(2) STANFORD 87, (7) IOWA STATE 81
STANFORD, Calif. — Brooke Demetre hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 18 seconds left in overtime and Kiki Iriafen scored 11 of her career-high 41 points in OT, securing No. 2 Stanford a place in the Portland Regional with a thrilling 87-81 win over seventh-seeded Iowa State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night.
Addy Brown knocked down a 3 from the top of the arc with 31 seconds left in OT to put Iowa State ahead, only for Demetre to answer from nearly the same spot moments later — and six of her eight total points came on timely 3s. She also hit two free throws with 11.7 seconds left to help seal it.
Iriafen converted a three-point play with 3:41 left in overtime after drawing the fifth foul on star Iowa State freshman Audi Crooks and also contributed 16 rebounds and three blocks. Talana Lepolo added a 3 in the extra period and Iriafen had a go-ahead baseline jumper with 1:59 to go before scoring again the next time down.
The Cyclones’ Emily Ryan hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 3:45 to play, another 3 in overtime, and tying free throws with 1:03 left in OT to finish with 36 points in her gutsy, spectacular finale.
Crooks had made 18 of 20 shots in her career-best 40-point performance to spark Friday’s comeback win over Maryland when the Cyclones trailed by 20.
On Sunday, Crooks missed her first three shots — more than she had the entire game Friday — and fouled out with 10 points, making just 3 of 21 shots.
(3) OREGON STATE 61, (6) NEBRASKA 51
CORVALLIS, Ore. — Talia von Oelhoffen had 19 points and eight assists to help third-seeded Oregon State advance to the Sweet 16 with a 61-51 second-round victory over No. 6 Nebraska on Sunday in the women’s NCAA Tournament.
Raegan Beers added 10 points for the Beavers, who will cross the country to Albany to face the winner of Monday’s second-round game between second-seeded Notre Dame and No. 7 Ole Miss in South Bend.
Jaz Shelley had 10 points and seven assists for the Huskers, who have not advanced to the Sweet 16 since 2013. She was the lone Nebraska player in double figures.
Alexis Markowski’s layup pulled the Huskers within 35-29 heading into the fourth quarter, but the Beavers responded with three straight 3-pointers to go up 44-29. Nebraska responded with a 6-0 run to get back within single digits.
Von Oelhoffen, who wore a sleeve on her arm with the word “heart” penned in magic marker, hit a 3-pointer that made it 49-35 for Oregon State with 3:46 left.
Natalie Potts’ layup got the Huskers as close at 59-51 in the final moments but ultimately Nebraska fell short.
The Beavers (26-7) beat No. 14 Eastern Washington in the opening round, 73-51. But the Huskers presented more of a challenge with 6-foot-3 Markowski and fifth-year senior Shelley. Markowski averaged 15.9 points and 10.6 rebounds heading into Sunday’s game.
Nebraska (23-13) advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2010 and 2013. The Huskers’ last tournament appearance came in 2022 when they lost in the first round to Gonzaga.
(1) TEXAS 65, (8) ALABAMA 54
AUSTIN, Texas — Aaliyah Moore matched her career best with 21 points, had 10 rebounds, and made a timely defensive play in the fourth quarter to help No. 1 seed Texas beat Alabama 65-54 on Sunday in a second-round women’s NCAA Tournament game.
Freshman Madison Booker also scored 21 for Texas, which will face the Utah-Gonzaga winner in the Sweet 16 on Friday in Portland, Oregon. Booker wears No. 35 in honor of Kevin Durant, who was at the game.
Texas (32-4) has its most victories since finishing 32-3 in 1987-88.
DeYona Gaston had seven of her nine points, and six of her seven rebounds, in the second half. Taylor Jones had four of the Longhorns’ 11 blocked shots.
Jones left the game midway through the first quarter after falling and hitting the back of her head on the court while contesting a rebound. She went to the locker room but returned in the second quarter.
Sarah Ashlee Barker scored 17 for Alabama (24-10), a No. 8 seed, and Aaliyah Nye added 14.
Moore, a starting forward, plays with tendinitis in her right knee, not the left one in which she suffered a season-ending torn anterior cruciate ligament early last season. She played 34 minutes after logging just one in the opening win over Drexel on Friday.
Moore, who isn’t known as a 3-point shooter, made one to beat the 30-second shot clock and give Texas a 45-32 lead with 3:39 left in the third quarter.
Early in the fourth quarter, she ran down Del’Janae Williams and blocked her fast-break layup attempt that could have cut the Texas lead to six.