FORT WORTH, Texas — Avery Howell had 30 points and nine rebounds to lead Washington to its first women’s NCAA Tournament victory since 2017, beating South Dakota State 72-54 on Friday.

South Dakota State jumped out to a 13-3 lead in the first five minutes, but the game was tied at 15 when Howell made a 3-pointer with 50 seconds left in the first quarter. Howell made another 3 only 55 seconds into the second quarter to break that tie and put Washington (22-10) ahead to stay.

Howell, the transfer from Southern Cal who as a freshman last season was part of the Trojans’ run to the Elite Eight, finished with seven 3s.

“That allowed me to have some experience and just feel really comfortable in these type of high-pressure situations,” Howell said, referring to her previous NCAA tourney. “That just allows me to hopefully be a calming presence on the court and just be there for my teammates and for my coaches in any way that I can.”

Brooklyn Meyer had 29 points and seven rebounds for South Dakota State (27-7), which had its 10-game winning streak snapped. Emilee Fox had 14 points.

Brynn McGaughy added 14 points in 18 minutes for the sixth-seeded Huskies, whose last NCAA tourney win came on their way to the Sweet 16 nine years ago. They lost a First Four game to Columbia last season in what had been their only other appearance since then.

“Just really exciting because this is a program that has a lot of great history, a lot of great alumni, so many people that have poured into this university and this women’s basketball program,” coach Tina Langley said. “These young women, they’ve come in here and they’ve done something really hard and I think it says a lot about who they are.”

Quick start for Jackrabbits

Meyer had seven points as the Jackrabbits got out to that early 10-point advantage.

“Felt like we were just rebounding well and taking good looks on offense and just being aggressive on both sides,” Meyer said.

“Couldn’t have asked for a better way to get the game going. So you start having a sense that, OK, there’s some things that are working for us,” South Dakota State coach Aaron Johnston said. “You know, we just gave up offensive rebounds, way too many offensive rebounds that were not contested ones. … I think that got them going and then we just started turning it over too much.”

Washington finished with a 40-25 rebounding margin, including 14 offensive boards that led to 14 second-chance points.

Ending another 20-win season

The Jackrabbits ended their 15th consecutive 20-win season, matching schools like No. 1 overall seed UConn, Baylor, Louisville and South Carolina with that kind of active streak.

The 11th-seeded Jackrabbits from the Summit League have twice won as a double-digit seed, including over seventh-seeded Oklahoma State last March.

Up next

The Huskies on Sunday play host and third-seeded TCU (30-5), an Elite Eight team last season that has won 43 consecutive home games since February 2023. The Horned Frogs beat UC San Diego 86-40 in their first-round game earlier Friday.