Vanderbilt basketball had an easy win over High Point, 102-61, in its first round of the Women’s NCAA Tournament, advancing to the second round for the first time under coach Shea Ralph.
Now, the No. 2 seed Commodores (28-4) will face No. 7 seed Illinois (22-11) in a matchup at Memorial Gymnasium on March 23 (6 p.m. CT, ESPN2) for a spot in the Sweet 16 in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Illini defeated Colorado, 66-57, in the first round to advance.
In Vanderbilt’s opening matchup, Mikayla Blakes scored 30 and Sacha Washington and Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda both had double-doubles.
Here is our prediction for the matchup:
Illinois claims to be the youngest team in this year’s NCAA Tournament. Of the eight Illini players who average at least 10 minutes per game, two are freshmen, four sophomores and two juniors. There is only one senior on Illinois’ roster and she plays just 2.8 minutes per game.
While Vanderbilt is also a relatively young team, led by freshman Aubrey Galvan and the sophomore Blakes, the other three members of the starting lineup are seniors.
Sophomore Berry Wallace has leveled up her game in her sophomore season and is the top player for the Illini. She averages 18.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per game with the ability to score from all three levels. A 6-1 wing, she’s not a natural defensive fit for Blakes or Galvan, but she compares to another Big Ten wing Vanderbilt has faced this season: Michigan’s Olivia Olson.
Freshman Cearah Parchment is Illinois’ second-leading scorer at 13.7 points with 8.4 rebounds per game. She’s a stretch-big at 6-foot-3 who is shooting 41% on 2.6 3-point attempts per game. Washington and Aiyana Mitchell have experience defending on the perimeter which should prove helpful in this case.
Not including the first-round matchup with Colorado, Illinois played 13 games against NCAA Tournament teams this season and went 3-10 against them. The Illini beat 5-seeds Michigan State and Maryland and 6-seed Washington. But Illinois was 0-5 against teams that hosted in the NCAA Tournament, losing twice to Iowa and also to Michigan, UCLA and Ohio State. However, all of those games were within 15 points.
Vanderbilt, for comparison, went 9-4 against tournament teams and 4-1 against host teams.
Vanderbilt has no known injuries other than Madison Greene, who will not play this season. Illinois’ Gretchen Dolan, who was its third-leading scorer at 12.9 points per game, suffered a season-ending injury in February.
Vanderbilt 85, Illinois 79
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X @aria_gerson.
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