Washington had the open shooter it wanted, and much like those fourth-quarter attempts, it was just a tad off line. Incredible game by the Huskies, pushing the No. 3 seed TCU to the very edge. Easily one of the best games of the tournament so far.
Minnesota
NCAA women’s tournament takeaways, Day 3: Minnesota drains buzzer-beater as LSU, Texas dominate again
The Sweet 16 field is halfway filled as the first weekend of the NCAA tournament starts to wrap up. There weren’t a ton of surprises on Sunday for the start of the second round, but we did get our first buzzer-beater.
Minnesota reaches Sweet 16 on buzzer-beater
After a buzzer-beater was called off on Saturday, we finally got one.
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Amaya Battle got her game-winner to fall on Sunday afternoon, which lifted Minnesota to what is its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2005. Battle, with less than a second left on the clock, drilled a contested jumper from the short corner to push the Gophers past Ole Miss 65-63. Naturally, that sparked a massive celebration on their home court.
Minnesota had trailed entering the fourth quarter but tied it back up with just 1:17 left to set up the eventual game-winner.
The shot came after what was almost an incredible buzzer-beater to lift Clemson past USC on Saturday. That shot, however, was called off just barely in brutal fashion. The Trojans eventually pushed past the Tigers in overtime.
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The Gophers will now advance to take on either No. 1 UCLA or No. 8 Oklahoma State in the Sweet 16 in Sacramento next weekend. If it’s UCLA, it’ll be a rematch between the Bruins and Gophers in Big Ten play, but the Bruins cruised to a dominant 76-58 win in Minneapolis. That was part of a 25-game win streak that gave UCLA both the regular season and conference tournament titles.
While that’s undoubtedly going to be a tough task, Battle has lifted the Gophers to a place they haven’t been in decades.
LSU keeps dominating
Flau’jae Johnson and the Tigers have had absolutely no issues so far this March. Sunday’s win over Texas Tech set a new NCAA record, too.
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The Tigers cruised to a blowout 101-47 win over the Red Raiders at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Johnson and Mikaylah Williams each dropped 24 points in the win, and the Tigers shot 56% from the field.
The win was LSU’s 16th game with at least 100 points this season. That set a new NCAA Division I record, snapping the mark that Long Beach State had during the 1986-87 campaign. LSU beat Jacksonville 116-58 in the opening round of the tournament, and entered the event averaging a nation-best 95.1 points per game.
LSU will now take on No. 3 Duke in the Sweet 16, which marks the program’s fifth straight trip to the second weekend of the tournament. The Blue Devils beat No. 6 Baylor 69-46 on Sunday to secure their spot in the Sacramento region.
While the Blue Devils are undoubtedly a very talented group — they ran the table and won both ACC titles, after all — stopping the Tigers has proven to be a nearly impossible task so far this season. It’s going to take a tremendous defensive effort, and likely then some, to pull off that upset win.
Madison Booker dropped a career-high 40 points on Sunday night. (AP/Eric Gay)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Madison Booker drops 40
Texas was never in any trouble on Sunday, thanks largely to a massive effort from Madison Booker.
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Booker dropped a career-high 40 points to lead the Longhorns to a 100-58 blowout win over No. 8 Oregon. She shot 14-of-21 from the field and had eight rebounds and five assists to go with her 40-piece. It marked the highest-scoring game from anyone in the NCAA tournament so far, men’s or women’s.
The Longhorns are now coming off of back-to-back blowout wins at home to reach what is now their third straight Sweet 16. They beat Missouri State by 42 points on Friday in their first-round matchup, too.
Texas was again the only No. 1 seed in action on Sunday. The other three schools will square off against their respective opponents on Monday to wrap up the first round.
The Longhorns will now await the winner of the matchup between Kentucky and West Virginia in the Sweet 16, which they’ll get to play in Fort Worth. That’s a little less than 200 miles from Austin, which should be a big advantage for them.
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TCU survives in OT
Perhaps the best game of the day came at the very end.
No. 6 Washington took TCU to the very end on Sunday night, and nearly knocked Olivia Miles and the Horned Frogs out of the tournament early. The Huskies forced overtime after Miles missed a potential game-winner, and then they rallied back within a single point after the Horned Frogs opened the extra period on a 7-0 burst.
But in the end, TCU held on and forced a late stop to secure the 62-59 win. That kept the Horned Frogs’ 44-game home win streak alive and sent them into a second straight Sweet 16. Miles had 18 points and 10 rebounds, and was just two assists shy from another triple-double. They’ll now get to take on either Iowa or Virginia in the Sweet 16 in Sacramento.
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Follow along with Yahoo Sports for the latest news, highlights and upsets from the women’s NCAA tournament:
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Cassandra Negley
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Phew, that one was close. Sayvia Sellers missed the 3-pointer with seconds to go, and the Horned Frogs hold on to extend their home win streak to 44 and go to their second straight Sweet 16.
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Cassandra Negley
Donovyn Hunter was largely a non-factor for TCU until that layup. Put the Horned Frogs up three. Taylor Bigby made a fastbreak layup on the Miles rebound that pushed it to 62-57.
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TCU is up five points, but the pace has been so quick in this overtime period, anything can happen here.
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Cassandra Negley
Thought Olivia Miles should have gotten to the rim on the final possession, instead of taking that deep of a 3 that early. She’s better when she draws attention and can use her shiftiness to cut through the lanes.
Seems like she knew it at the time, and is making up for it here with an assist and a tough bucket. TCU is in control on a 7-0 OT run.
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Olivia Miles’ passing has been incredible in the back half of this game. She’s got seven assists, and just threw up a layup to put TCU up by seven with 3:21 to play.
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Cassandra Negley
WE’RE IN TRUE PAC-12* AFTER DARK TERRITORY
*RIP
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Olivia Miles missed a step-back 3 as time ticked off the clock, and we’re headed to overtime in Fort Worth. Who will punch their ticket to the Sweet 16?
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Cassandra Negley
These Washington shots rimming in and out are heartbreaking. They’ve missed 7 of their last 8 in a one-possession game.
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Cassandra Negley
That is NASTY work by Olivia Miles. With two defenders on her, she hits the baseline flip-back pass to a wide-open Marta Suarez to tie the game. They last led in the first quarter. It’s the only tie of the game.
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OK, now Olivia Miles is doing Olivia Miles things. She’s got 16 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists.
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Cassandra Negley
Sayvia Sellers, my word! Back-to-back 3-pointers from the top keeps the cushion for Washington. Shoutout to Alaskan hoopers.
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They’re up seven with six minutes to go, and just keep hitting huge shots.
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Cassandra Negley
TCU is on pace for a season-low 48 points.
The Horned Frogs scored fewer than 60 only three times. All were against West Virginia: a 51-50 win in January, 62-53 loss in the Big 12 champ game; and a 59-50 win in February.
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This one’s getting chippy as TCU comes clawing back. Can the Horned Frogs keep up their streak of 43 straight wins at home?
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Cassandra Negley
There is a lot of emotion, a lot on the line and a lot falling on officials here. Everyone on both TCU and Washington needs to be careful given the close nature of this game they’re not drawing a technical in these final 10ish minutes.
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Here comes Olivia Miles. TCU pulls within four as Miles scored her 10th point. But Marta Suarez just picked up her fourth foul, which is bad news for the Horned Frogs.
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Halfway through the third period, Washington still leads, by eight points. Olivia Miles hasn’t been a huge factor yet, with just eight points on 4-of-14 shooting.
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It’s been a low-scoring affair in the first half of this one, and the Huskies are looking for the upset. But TCU seemed to find some momentum toward the end of the first half; can they carry it forward?