Canadian Aaliyah Edwards scored a career-high 28 points, Dorka Juhasz added a double-double and No. 2 seed UConn defeated 15th seed Vermont 95-52 on Saturday to give the Huskies a 29th straight win in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
Juhasz scored 15 points and scored 10 rebounds, the Hungarian’s 13th double-double this season for the seventh-seeded Huskies.
Catherine Gilwee scored 14 points, while Emma Utterback and Maria Myklebust each had 13 for Vermont (25-7), which snapped its 17-game winning streak.
UConn will play number 7 seed Baylor on Monday. The Bears came from an 18-point deficit in the first quarter to beat Alabama 78-74 on Saturday night.
LOOK | Edwards on her Canadian support and inspiration:
Aaliyah Edwards thanked her Canada women’s national basketball teammates for helping her compete as a student-athlete for the UConn Huskies and compete for a U.S. collegiate championship.
This was the fourth game in a row that the Huskies had 10 available players, after spending much of the season with only seven players.
Azzi Fudd (five points), who missed 22 games, including the last 14 of the regular season with knee injuries, made her first start since December 4 and scored the first basket on a short jumper off court. That started with a 7-0 run and the Huskies never trailed.
Edwards, a 20-year-old from Kingston, Ont., had 12 of her runs in the first 10 minutes as the Huskies led 27-12 after a quarter.
“From the jump ball I knew personally, individually that I could dominate inside,” said Edwards. “And I think Dorka also held her own and I think we just flowed together as a team.”
UConn took its first 20-point lead at 32-12 and a quick breakup from Aubrey Griffin made it 48-18. The Huskies shot 67 percent over the first 20 minutes (62 percent for the game) and it was 53-20 at halftime.
The Huskies extended that to a whopping 46 in the second half.
Miami rally past the state of Oklahoma
Haley Cavinder scored 12 of her 16 points in the second half and made what turned out to be the decisive free throw with 8.9 seconds left to complete a 17-point rally in the second half on Saturday that gave ninth-seeded Miami a 62-61 victory over the eighth-delivered. seeded state of Oklahoma.
The comeback tied for the fifth-largest comeback in tournament history. But it wasn’t over until Naomie Alnatas’ 10-footer rolled off the edge at the buzzer after a 5-second call on the Hurricanes.
Miami (20-12) will play on its home field against top-seeded Indiana on Monday-evening with a ticket to the Sweet 16 at stake.
Anna Gret Asi led Oklahoma State with 16 points and four 3-pointers, including one with 5.3 seconds left, giving the Cowgirls a chance to win. Alnatas had 10 points and Taylen Collins had 16 rebounds for Oklahoma State (21-12).
It was a wild second half.
The Cowgirls appeared to be in complete control as Lior Garzon reeled in a buzzing three-pointer to end the half with a 37-20 lead.
But Miami scored its first 11 points of the third quarter and opened the fourth with seven consecutive points to take a 47-44 with 8:07 to play. Miami extended the lead to 53-46 but didn’t quite get out.
Oklahoma State used a 10-2 run to recapture a 56-55 lead with 3:22 left, but Cavinder and Harden scored on layuup and Ja’le Williams hit a short shot to make it 61-56 with 62 seconds left. in the hectic final seconds.
Canada’s Lashae Dwyer added two points for Miami.
Toledo disrupts the state of Iowa
Quinesha Lockett scored 24 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as 12th-seeded Toledo No. 5 seed Iowa State thrashed 80-73 for Saturday’s second major upset of the women’s NCAA tournament.
Toledo became the second 12 seed to win on Saturday, joining Florida Gulf Coast not long after the victory over Washington State. Toledo will now play No. 4 seed Tennessee, a 95-50 winner over 13th-seeded Saint Louis, on Monday night for a spot in the Sweet 16 in the Spokane 3 region.
The Rockets (29-4) tied the program record for most wins for a second straight season by winning a record 17th straight game, surpassing the 16-game streak from 2000–01. They also recorded their first NCAA win since 1996 in their ninth tournament appearance overall and first since 2017.
Jayda Jansen scored 17 points for Toledo, Sophia Wiard added 15 points and Nan Garcia added 12.
When Lexi Donarski’s 3 missed with 24 seconds left, Toledo got the rebound and Justina King held onto the ball just as the final seconds ticked away before the Rockets began to celebrate.
Iowa State (22-10) entered as the Big 12 Tournament champion for the first time since 2001 after stringing together upsets from a trio of NCAA Tournament teams in Baylor, Oklahoma and Texas. The Cyclones also had the Big 12 Player of the Year in Ashley Joens looking for a second consecutive Sweet 16 berth.
Instead, the Cyclones go home with their first opening-round loss since 2017.
Joens led Iowa State with 23 points and 13 rebounds, including a perfect 11-for-11 at the free throw line. Joens was 0-for-4 in the fourth quarter. Donarski finished with 13 and Fritz and Emily Ryan each had 11.
Iowa State took the biggest lead 23-18 and led 23-20 after the first quarter.
Garcia’s layup gave Toledo the lead and was left 7:52 in the second, as Toledo beat Iowa State 23-13 in the second for a 43-36 halftime lead. Toledo led 61-53 going into the fourth.
12th-ranked FGCU tops Washington State
Maddie Antenucci’s 3-pointer bounced four times before going through the net as part of her game-changing spree from outside the arc that sent twelfth-seeded Florida Gulf Coast into the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a 74-63 win Saturday at No Washington State with 5 seeds.
Sha Carter scored 24 points and Tishara Moorehouse had 16 for the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament champion Golden Eagles (33-3).
Canadian Tara Wallack led the Cougars with 16 points
FGCU will play the winner of Saturday’s late game between fourth-seeded Villanova and No. 13-seeded Cleveland State at the Wildcats’ on-campus arena, the Pavilion.
The Eagles sent Washington State’s Shania Twain Karaoke Club (23-11) home early after a surprise run to win the Pac-12 Tournament.
North Carolina holds back St. John’s
Deja Kelly had a go-ahead three-point play with 2 seconds left and No. 6 seeded North Carolina held on for a 61-59 victory over 11th seeded St. John’s in the first round of Saturday’s NCAA Tournament.
The Tar Heels faced their first deficit of the game when Danielle Patterson sunk a three-pointer with 6:39 left to play.
The Red Storm led for over four minutes for the next until Paulina Paris fouled the transition and made the ensuing free throw to tie the game at 54.
The score was tied twice in the final minute when Mimi Reid made a layup with 6 seconds left to level the game at 58.
Driving in the left lane, Kelly made the free throw to complete the game-winning score. Patterson was then fouled on a timeout shooting a 3-pointer with just over a second left, giving the Red Storm one last chance.
She missed the first two free throws and then inexplicably made the third, ending any chance the Red Storm had to tie the game.
Kelly led North Carolina with 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting, Kennedy Todd-Williams finished with 14 points and Alyssa Ustby with 13 total. The Tar Heels shot 42.1% from the field.
St. John’s started 1-of-14 from the field. The Red Storm trailed 12-3, but Jayla Everett scored five of her team-leading 17 points on a 7-0 run that brought them back late in the first quarter.
Patterson finished with 13 points and Reid had 10.
Ohio State defeats James Madison
Cotie McMahon scored 18 points to edge out No. 3 seed Ohio State for an 80-66 victory over No. 14 seed James Madison in the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament on Saturday.
McMahon made her team’s first three-pointer with 5:18 left in the third quarter to give Ohio State (26-7) a 44-43 lead, and the Buckeyes didn’t relinquish the advantage from then on. They trailed as much as 16 in the first half before starting 12-0.
Jacy Sheldon scored three of her 17 points on an 8-0 run early in the fourth quarter. Taylor Thierry shot 7 of 8 and was out with 15 points. Taylor Mikesell added 14 points.
James Madison (26-8) led 26-14 and made 50% of his shots at the end of the first quarter. The Dukes shot 37.9% in the second half and turned it over 21 times, the most in 10 games.
Kiki Jefferson led the Dukes with 17 points and Jamia Hazell added 10.
The Buckeyes trailed 37–34, shooting 31.3% at the half.
