LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Jessica Timmons scored 21 points and Essence Cody added 19 as Alabama beat Rhode Island 68-55 Saturday in the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament.

The Crimson Tide (24-10) won a first-round tournament game for the third straight year by shooting 53.2% (25 of 47) and dominating inside, outscoring the Rams (28-5) 42-12 in the paint.

Other than Brooklyn Gray’s 3-pointer on the Rams’ first possession, sixth-seeded Alabama led throughout. The Tide outscored Rhode Island 14-1 over the first 7:26 of the second quarter to build a 30-14 lead.

Defense played a big role in Alabama’s run as 11th-seeded Rhode Island went just 1 for 19 over an 11-minute stretch in the first half. That included missing eight 3-point attempts and committing a pair of shot-clock violations.

“We were just wanting to keep them in front and contest every shot,” Alabama coach Kristy Curry said. “So I thought our kids did a really nice job of staying consistent with the game plan. I thought that gave us a lot of energy when we started to see success with the tendencies and how we wanted to play.”

The Rams closed out the first half on a 9-1 run and cut Alabama’s lead to eight points at the break.

Cody drew her third foul just 72 seconds into the second half, sending the 6-foot-4 junior to the bench for nearly the remainder of the quarter. Rhode Island closed within four points three times in the third before the Crimson Tide used a 12-0 run to pull away.

Rams coach Tammi Reiss said point guard Sophia Vital picking up her third foul midway through the quarter hurt her team’s chances.

“What you’re hoping for is it’s a game in the fourth quarter,” she said. “You’re not playing catch-up.”

Timmons scored eight of her 11 third-quarter points during the run.

Diana Collins pitched in with 16 points, going 7 for 9 from the field, for Alabama

Palmire Mbu and Ines Debroise each scored 11 points for the Rams, who shot 32.8% (19 of 58).

Atypical Tide attack

Alabama entered Saturday averaging 22.7 3-point attempts per game. The Tide put up a season-low 10 on Saturday, but what that created was an opportunity to dominate inside.

“A lot of teams’ game plan is going to be to run us off the line, and if they do, we’re going to score in the paint,” Timmons said.

Alabama converted four of its 3-point attempts, including three by Cody, who made 10 of 30 heading into March Madness.

The three makes were a career high for the junior post player, who said they helped create chances for her teammates to attack the rim.

Rams set new standard

Rhode Island played in its second NCAA Tournament and first in 30 years Saturday, and Reiss hopes the Rams won’t have to wait that long for a third trip.

The seventh-year coach has led the program to four 20-win seasons out of the last five. She said she took inspiration from Danny Hurley, who had re-established the Rams men’s team before guiding UConn to back-to-back national titles.

“I was like, this is going to happen,” she said. “We promised Rhode Island this, and now we achieved it. Now can you sustain it? That’s the question, and that’s the next phase of Rhode Island basketball. … It’s been a process. A lot of ups, a lot of downs, but well worth the journey.”

Up next

Alabama will host Louisville in a second-round game on Monday, with the winner advancing to Fort Worth, Texas.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

The brother of University of Alabama student James Gracey posted a tearjerking tribute to his older sibling, whose body was found floating in the Mediterranean Sea outside a club in Barcelona.

“To my Beautiful Big Brother Jimmy,” younger bro Tommy Gracey penned in the touching Instagram post.

“I’m gonna miss all the texts and calls about hockey, school, and life in general. I’m not ready to say goodbye to that,” the grieving brother wrote Friday, adding elsewhere, “I would do anything to have just one more conversation with you.”

“When I visited you for the first time at bama [sic]  and I ran into your arms is a memory I will cherish forever, thank you for that.”

He included snaps of the two from hockey games, family photos from Christmas and vacations, and several images of the two loving brothers simply hugging.

“Thank you for everything. I just can’t believe that’s all over. I will do my best to pass on your legacy. What a ride dude. I can’t wait to see you again in eternal paradise. I love you and fly high, Jimmy,” the tribute concluded.

Here is the latest on missing University of Alabama student James Gracey

The 20-year-old Illinois-native spring breaker was last seen at 3 a.m. on March 17 after a night of partying at popular seaside nightclub Shoko Barcelona. 

Surveillance video showed Gracey stumbling near the shore and falling into the water. His body was found on March 19th, outlet El Pais reported, citing authorities.

The Alabama student was alone at the time he was taken by the tides, just a few feet from the Japanese-themed club in the popular nightlife area of Barcelona, the footage revealed.

Gracey’s wallet, with his cash and other belongings inside, was found floating near his body.

His cellphone was found in a different person’s possession. Family stated that they were not sure whether the phone was lost or stolen from Gracey before his death.

While his death is considered likely accidental, investigators privately suspect he was under the influence of drugs, alcohol or both when he went into the water, a source told Fox News Digital.

The results of Gracey’s autopsy and toxicology report were pending Saturday, according to local police.

Image credit:
Tyler Fay (Mike Janes/Four Seam Images)

There’s a sense of stability that comes with the second weekend of power conference league play. Plenty will change between now and Selection Monday, but the data is more meaningful now, and conversations about the NCAA Tournament picture begin to carry a different level of significance.

With that stability comes consequence. Lose an ugly series now, and it lingers in a way it didn’t in February, when results were still filtered through the volatility of non-conference play.

The protection of relative obscurity is gone. Getting your bearings is no longer an excuse. This is the point on the calendar when teams begin to build the resume the committee will eventually evaluate, for better or worse, and the moments that tend to stick.

Friday nights set the tone for all of it, not just in outcome but in perception, and Week 6 delivered.

Here are the most important storylines from Friday’s action, along with some early NCAA Tournament implications.

Alabama’s Tyler Fay No-Hits Florida

Tyler Fay needed 132 pitches to complete his outing Friday night against No. 17 Florida, but the Alabama junior righthander never lost control of it. He no-hit the Gators in what stands as the most dominant individual pitching performance of the season to date.

Fay struck out a career-high 13 and finished a game for the first time in his collegiate career. He also recorded just the ninth no-hitter in Alabama history and became the first Crimson Tide pitcher to throw a solo, nine-inning no-hitter since Eddie Owcar in 1942.

There was no denying Fay in Tuscaloosa. His fastball reached 96 mph, and his offspeed pitches played off it, allowing him to record at least one strikeout in seven of nine innings. Florida’s top three hitters—center fielder and top 100 draft prospect Kyle Jones, shortstop and top-ranked hitting prospect in the 2027 college class Brendan Lawson and early-round hopeful corner infielder Ethan Surowiec—combined to go 0-for-9 with five strikeouts. It marked the first time since 1963 that Florida had been no-hit.

“Obviously, (Fay) was locating all of his pitches, changing speeds, throwing the ball on both sides,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “Our guys kept complaining about the strike zone, but I think the umpire did a really good job behind the plate, to be quite honest with you. Certainly, we’ve got to learn from it. We can’t blame an umpire—I know that.”

The result serves as another reminder of Florida’s volatility. At their best, the Gators have looked like a legitimate title contender, pairing offensive firepower with quality starting pitching and bullpen depth. At their worst, they have struggled to resemble a tournament team, losing a series to High Point, dropping their season opener to UAB and now getting embarrassed by Fay.

“We’re going to have to regroup and get them ready to play tomorrow,” O’Sullivan said. “Obviously, it’s disappointing, but it’s one game. But the competitive spirit (left) a lot to be desired tonight.”

No. 13 Southern California, Mason Edwards Dominant Yet Again

An impressive group of scouts gathered behind the plate at the still under-construction Dedeaux Field on Friday night to watch USC ace Mason Edwards make his sixth start of the season.

One exchange stood out: A group of scouts, half-joking but also clearly serious, tried to estimate how many strikeouts the junior lefthander might accumulate this year given USC’s schedule. The number they landed on was, unsurprisingly, massive.

It might not take anything extraordinary for that projection to hold.

Edwards struck out a career-high 12 over six scoreless innings against Washington, his fifth consecutive start with double-digit strikeouts. He lowered his ERA to 0.25 and now has 63 strikeouts over 36 innings. He has allowed one run on seven hits all season.

Yes, all season.

Against the Huskies, Edwards generated 15 whiffs, including six with a fastball that sat 91-93 mph and touched 96, five on a low-80s changeup with notable fade and tumble, three on a low-80s slider and one on a spike curveball that dipped into the mid 70s.

After the game, Edwards told Baseball America he spent the offseason improving his conditioning to add strength and stamina while also refining his pitch design. The work produced what he called a “baby kick-change” and the spike curveball that has given him another look. He throws from an over-the-top slot that has gradually steepened, pairing it with a low leg kick and crossfire delivery that adds deception.

The outing powered USC to a 5-0 win, improving the Trojans to 22-1 overall and 6-1 in Big Ten play.

Level of competition aside, what USC is doing is difficult to ignore. The Trojans have recorded eight shutouts this season, one more than the previous three USC teams combined.

With 33 games remaining, it would take a significant collapse for USC to miss the NCAA Tournament. The more relevant question now is how high the Trojans can climb in the seeding.

No. 4 Auburn Bests No. 2 Texas Thanks To Wild Ninth Inning

Texas controlled 8.1 innings of its marquee matchup opener against No. 4 Auburn. After playing to a 1-1 tie through eight, the Longhorns pushed across two runs in the top of the ninth to take a 3-1 lead.

Then everything unraveled.

Lefty Hayden Leffew opened the inning with a double and a walk. Ethan Walker took over and allowed an infield single to load the bases, then recorded a strikeout to move within two outs of a win. A single to center followed and was not handled cleanly by center fielder Aiden Robbins, who had homered twice earlier in the night, and all three runners came around to score as Auburn walked it off.

It was a chaotic finish to what had been a tightly played, well-pitched game. Texas ace Ruger Riojas delivered 6.1 innings of one-run ball with six strikeouts, while Auburn’s Jake Marciano allowed one run over seven innings and struck out nine. Robbins’ two home runs pushed his season total to eight in just 83 at-bats after he hit six in 204 at-bats at Seton Hall in 2025.

The win puts Auburn in position to climb into the top three nationally. One more victory over the Longhorns would secure the most significant series win of its season to date. Combined with Tuesday’s win over No. 3 Georgia Tech, the Tigers are building one of the strongest weeks in the country.

Positive Performance For Pitt

It’s easiest to impress by winning. It’s still possible to do so without it.

Pitt managed that Friday.

The Panthers didn’t pull off the upset against No. 3 Georgia Tech, but the result was still telling. An 11-9 loss at home is not the ideal outcome, but it is the kind of performance that carries weight. If the rankings are functioning properly, Pitt isn’t expected to beat the third-best team in the country on a Friday. Staying within reach is really what matters here, especially against the best offense in college baseball.

The broader context remains difficult to ignore. Pitt last finished above .500 in conference play in 2021. Its most recent NCAA Tournament appearance came in 1996, when it was still a member of the Big East. In 62 years of Division I baseball, the program has reached the tournament just twice.

Is this the year that changes? It’s too early to say. But this looks like the most credible version of Pitt to make that push in a long time.

A Volunteer Issue

We’ve spent much of the first six weeks noting that one weekend doesn’t define a team in a 50-plus game season. One game certainly shouldn’t either. But some matchups carry more historical weight than others, and Missouri in SEC play has become one of them. 

Missouri has long occupied the bottom tier of the conference, often struggling to reach 10 league wins and, before the SEC Tournament expanded, even to qualify for the field. Since 2021, the Tigers have won just 11 SEC series.

That’s what makes Friday’s 8-4 win over No. 23 Tennessee stand out.

Losing to Missouri comes with context that’s difficult to ignore. Tennessee still has two games to recover and take the series, but failing to do so would carry real consequences. Of the 11 teams Missouri has beaten in a series since the start of the 2021 season, seven have gone on to miss the NCAA Tournament, a result that would mark a significant fall-off for the Volunteers under first-year coach Josh Elander.

Sun Belt Carnage

Friday offered a snapshot of just how unforgiving the Sun Belt can be.

Georgia State knocked off No. 22 Arkansas State, 5-2, in Atlanta, as Tysen Benford worked six innings of one-run ball. Troy followed with a 6-5 win at No. 12 Southern Miss behind a home run and three RBIs from catcher Jimmy Janicki. Texas State added to the chaos with a 4-1 win over surging Louisiana, riding Kyle Froehlich’s 10-strikeout, one-walk performance across seven innings.

The league has already shown itself to be as competitive as it has been in years. That’s a strength, but it also creates a familiar tension when it comes to postseason positioning. The depth is there for the Sun Belt to push beyond the two bids it received last year. The risk is that it turns inward.

Friday leaned toward the latter, even if it’s far too early for a definitive read.

Big West Blunders

It may be time to start worrying about the Big West’s NCAA Tournament outlook. A conference that has consistently produced multiple bids is trending toward a one-bid reality if current trends hold.

UC Santa Barbara, the league’s top contender, fell to 4-3 in conference play Friday after wasting a dominant outing from ace Jackson Flora, who tied a career high with 12 strikeouts over seven shutout innings in a 2-1 loss to Hawaii. UC Irvine, long a model of consistency, dropped a 5-1 decision to No. 15 Oregon State, falling to 9-12 overall.

At this rate, the league’s RPI is unlikely to support multiple bids.

Odds & Ends

• No. 7 Oklahoma evened its series against a scuffling LSU with a 4-2 win, avoiding a loss and setting up a decisive Saturday finale. For the Sooners, it’s a chance to remain in the top 10. For LSU, it’s an opportunity to begin climbing back toward the rankings after a difficult two-week stretch.

• No. 24 Arizona State opened its series at Kansas State with a win in what shapes as a critical Big 12 matchup between two of the league’s top contenders. Sophomore outfielder Landon Hairston continued his strong start, launching his ninth home run of the season.

• Notre Dame ace Jack Radel continued to elevate his draft stock, throwing the program’s first nine-inning shutout since 2021. Radel lowered his ERA to 2.06 over 35 innings while continuing to show intriguing release traits and a power fastball.