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The second-to-last weekend of the women’s college basketball season is here.
Over the next two days, the Sweet 16 will be whittled down to the Elite Eight at NCAA Tournament regional sites in Fort Worth, Texas, and Sacramento, Calif.
Will the UConn Huskies continue their bid for another unbeaten national championship season? Are we primed for the same Final Four that battled it out in Amalie Arena last year in Tampa, Fla.?
Hannah Hidalgo and the sixth-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish got things started with a bang Friday afternoon, upsetting No. 2 seed Vanderbilt 67-64 in the opening game of Regional 1 in Fort Worth.
For four years in a row, the Sweet 16 was the wall Notre Dame couldn’t bust through. And with only three players returning from last year’s team, and a haul of graduate transfers, this certainly didn’t seem like the group that would do it. The fact that sixth-seeded Notre Dame even got to Fort Worth felt like a bit of a win.
“I was very emotional because I got a chance to get back here with this group that no one thought was going to be here,” coach Niele Ivey said Thursday. “It means more to me. It’s sweeter for me to get back here with this team.”
But when you’ve got Hidalgo, anything is possible. And with a 67-64 win over Vanderbilt, it’s going to get even sweeter.
Hidalgo set the tone from the jump for Notre Dame, stealing the ball on two of Vanderbilt’s first four possessions and making life hell for every player on the floor. The junior never slowed down. She finished with a triple-double – 31 points, 11 rebounds and 10 steals – and was just three assists shy of a quadruple-double in an all-time performance.
Hidalgo played all but 41 seconds of the game, and the Irish needed her on the floor for every bit of it as she created shots for teammates and made up for the team’s off night from deep (1 of 17 from beyond the 3-point line). She also led the defensive charge, which used a rotation of players on the nation’s leading scorer, Vanderbilt sophomore Mikayla Blakes, to hold her to her worst shooting performance of the season (27% from the floor). Blakes still led the Commodores with 26 points, but 12 of those came from the free-throw line.
Cassandre Prosper, one of the other three returners from last year’s Notre Dame team, finished with 15 points and five rebounds. – Chantel Jennings, women’s basketball writer
North Carolina is the best and most challenging defense UConn has played this season. And for two quarters, it looked that way. The Huskies appeared flustered and frustrated, shooting just 23 percent in the first quarter and missing shots they typically make. Sarah Strong, the nation’s best player, had just two first-quarter points, and Azzi Fudd, the nation’s best 3-point shooter, didn’t even attempt a triple in the first half.
Then, UConn regrouped at halftime and came out looking a bit more like itself. The shots started to fall a bit more (never from beyond the arc, though), and the ball rotation was crisper. The defense, already locked in, upped its intensity, and Geno Auriemma appeared slightly less upset on the sideline as UConn beat UNC by 21 to advance to the Elite Eight for a rematch with Notre Dame.
There will certainly be plenty to dissect on film after this win. The Huskies will want to find a way to get their two best players going earlier, as Strong and Fudd combined for just four points on 2-of-9 shooting in the first quarter. And, for the nation’s best 3-point shooting team, the Huskies will need to course correct from range after they had their second-worst 3-point shooting outing of the season (20 percent).
UConn and Notre Dame faced off in January, with the Huskies winning 85-47. Since then, however, KK Bransford has returned to the Fighting Irish’s lineup and has proven a vital catalyst. They’ve gone 11-2 since her return, and coming into March, there may be no team that’s playing with more momentum than the sixth-seeded Irish. – Chantel Jennings, women’s basketball writer
At halftime of UCLA versus Minnesota in Sacramento, the Golden Gophers – trailing by just five points – looked primed to give the Bruins a game. Maybe even put them on upset alert thanks to some effective 3-point shooting and a (surprising) rebound advantage over the Bruins.
But UCLA head coach Cori Close had just the halftime adjustments. And by the time the final buzzer rang, the Gophers looked outmatched as the Bruins cruised to a blowout win to punch their ticket to another Elite Eight.
Star guard Kiki Rice, who scored 25 points the last time these two teams played, had the Gophers’ number again and led the way with 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting. She attacked the rim, ran the floor and went a perfect 6-for-6 from the foul line. And Lauren Betts, well, she did Betts things.
The Bruins’ star center had a little bit of everything up her sleeve, finishing with 16 points, five rebounds, five blocks, three assists and a steal. She showed off her ball-handling and quick feet on a beautiful spin move in the first half, flashed her touch with turnaround jumpers over the Gophers’ post players on multiple occasions and again looked like the hardest player on the floor to guard.
Just as impressive? Her defense, especially those five blocks.
Beefing up the defensive effort was clearly a priority for all of the Bruins in the second half, as UCLA forced two Minnesota shot clock violations in the first three minutes of the third quarter alone. Shots became harder for the Gophers in the second half, and UCLA finished with 17 points off Minnesota turnovers. Next up, UCLA gets the winner of No. 2 seed LSU and No. 3 seed Duke. They’ll have to shoot better from 3, though, after shooting just 25% from deep (and 0% in the first half), and they’ve got to figure out how to hit some free throws on the heels of going 12-of-20 from the line. Clean up those things, and they’ll be a tough out for whoever they get. – Grace Raynor, women’s basketball writer
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