Women’s March Madness second-round takeaways: Can Minnesota keep its March magic going?
Teams started punching their tickets to the Sweet 16 on Sunday.
Here are some highlights from the second-round action in the women’s NCAA Tournament.
No. 3 TCU 62, No. 6 Washington 59 (OT)
It wasn’t Olivia Miles vs. Hannah Hidalgo, but there were fireworks in Fort Worth nonetheless as TCU needed 45 minutes to escape Washington’s upset bid and advance to the Sweet 16 for the second-straight season.
The Huskies flustered the Horned Frogs with a zone in the first half, limiting their dribble penetration off the pick-and-roll as TCU went into halftime with just 19 points. The Horned Frogs haven’t had much depth since they lost Maddie Scherr to a back injury and can’t play with much pace in the half court or in transition to preserve their tight rotation. That allowed Washington to control the tempo; the Huskies took the lead in the second quarter and held it until 2:37 to play in regulation.
That was when Miles took over. The veteran guard has been in the Sweet 16 every season of her college career, and she wasn’t about to end that streak on her way out. Miles scored or assisted on the last three field goals of the fourth quarter and then accounted for five quick points in the extra session as TCU went up seven, avoiding being the first home team to lose in the second round. The Horned Frogs have now won 44 home games in a row.
That stat won’t matter in the next round when they go on the road to Sacramento, but it’ll be a familiar site for much of the roster. Marta Suárez played at Cal, and Donovyn Hunter and Taylor Bigby both suited up in the Pac-12. Plus, Mark Campbell was the head coach at Sacramento State before moving to TCU.
The Horned Frogs will have to figure out how to avoid the offensive lulls that have plagued them over the last month, including in the last two rounds of the Big 12 tournament. They are overly dependent on Miles’ shot creation; though she’s capable of individual brilliance, TCU has been teetering on the edge of disaster when Miles isn’t at her peak. She had to play all 45 minutes Sunday, just the second time this season she hasn’t been able to take a rest.
If Miles has more left in the tank before she heads to the WNBA, this could be the first Elite Eight appearance of her career. Otherwise, the Horned Frogs will end their season one round earlier than their 2025 counterparts. — Sabreena Merchant
No. 4 Minnesota 65, No. 5 Ole Miss 63
Before Amaya Battle had knocked down that now-epic game-winner against Ole Miss in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, she had attempted 806 field goals at home while wearing a Minnesota uniform. That’s a lot of shots. And it’s impossible to know how many she can recall perfectly.
But it’s a fair bet to think that Battle will remember No. 807 forever. In her final field goal attempt at Williams Arena, Battle hit a historic bucket to send the Gophers to their first Sweet 16 since 2005.
Battle is a rare breed in today’s college hoops world – a former top-40 recruit who lived through three NCAA Tournament-less seasons and a coaching change … and decided to stay put. Now, she’s being rewarded for her loyalty.
“This whole season is a perfect way to wrap up the four years here,” Battle said. “We had a lot of ups and downs, but we all stuck together and the fans stuck with us. They filled it out today when we needed them. Today, it’s bittersweet. I’ll never play at The Barn ever again, but we’re leaving it – I’m leaving it – with a win.”
When Minnesota’s senior class arrived on campus in the fall of 2022, players – led by Battle and Mara Braun – had a goal to restore Minnesota women’s basketball to its prestige of yesteryear. Neither player remembers the Gophers’ run from 2003-05 when they made three consecutive Sweet 16 runs, including a 2005 Final Four appearance (as a No. 7 seed). Understandable since they were both still in diapers at the time. But the vaunted history is well-known around the state, and the player who led the first of those two runs – Lindsay Whalen – recruited Battle and Braun to Minnesota as the program’s former coach before Dawn Plitzuweit took over three seasons ago.
With a gutsy comeback finish down the stretch that required the Gophers to play with almost no margin for error, Minnesota has already made history.
Now, the Gophers have a chance to take it another step further, potentially against a familiar foe. If UCLA, the No. 1 seed in the Sacramento 2 Region, beats No. 8 seed Oklahoma State, then a Big Ten battle will be on the docket for this Sweet 16 matchup.
Since the Bruins joined the Big Ten last season, UCLA and Minnesota have met only twice. This year, UCLA won by 18 as senior guard Kiki Rice poured in 25 points while shooting 89 percent from the floor. Last season, the Bruins won by 26. However, the game had a four-point margin at the half before the Bruins outscored the Gophers 46-25 through the final two quarters. – Chantel Jennings
No. 1 Texas 100, No. 8 Oregon 58
If there were one critique about Madison Booker coming into this season, it was that she hadn’t been able to assert herself as an unstoppable scorer in some crucial moments during her Texas career.
But if there’s something to be taken from Sunday’s second-round, 42-point win over Oregon, perhaps it’s Booker’s performance and her absolute bonkers stat line: 40 points, eight rebounds, five assists, two steals. The junior set a career-high for scoring and a Texas record for single-game points.
It will take big scoring performances like this from Booker for the Longhorns to reach their goals this season – though slight, the Longhorns trail the other three No. 1 seeds in scoring. In Texas’ matchup against UCLA this season, the Bruins held Booker to 16 points on 35 % shooting, and in two games against South Carolina, Booker averaged 20 points on 44% shooting.
No. 2 LSU 101, No. 7 Texas Tech 47
LSU sent senior guard Flau’jae Johnson out in style on Sunday with another rout, this time a 101-47 win over No. 7 seed Texas Tech at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in the last home game of her illustrious college career.
Don’t look now, but the No. 2 seed Tigers’ offense, which had already entered the weekend as the nation’s highest scoring unit, has now put together consecutive 100-point tournament victories after also beating Jacksonville 116-58 on Friday. This was LSU’s 16th 100-point game of the season, breaking the Division I record previously held by Long Beach State in 1986-87. Now it’s up to Kara Lawson’s Duke defense to figure out how to contain them.
The Blue Devils and Tigers will meet in the Sweet 16 in Sacramento, where the Blue Devils will have one of their taller tasks of the season as they look to avenge a 93-77 loss to LSU in December. In that game, six LSU players finished with double-digit points, including three bench players (Grace Knox, Kate Koval and MiLaysia Fulwiley) as the Tigers flexed their depth.
Duke looked the part on Sunday against Baylor, holding the Bears to just 46 points in a 69-46 win. This, after falling to Baylor 58-52 in the regular-season opener. LSU’s guards will obviously be a main focal point for the Blue Devils, with Fulwiley and Johnson leading the Tigers in scoring. But it will take a complete effort to figure out how to slow down coach Kim Mulkey’s red-hot squad. – Grace Raynor
No. 2 Michigan 92, No. 7 NC State 63
With Michigan up 29 points and its Big Three – Syla Swords, Olivia Olson and Mila Holloway – having already subbed out for the final time in Ann Arbor this season, Swords wrapped coach Kim Barnes Arico in a bear hug on the sideline.
“She doesn’t like to take a lot of the credit,” Swords said, “but we committed to her at the end of the day. We committed to Michigan, and she’s a huge part of that. And we’re just excited to be able to continue what coach has already created as a legacy here.”
Michigan added to Barnes Aricos’ and the second-seeded Wolverines’ legacy on Sunday, punching its ticket to the Sweet 16 with a dominant 92-63 win over No. 7 seed NC State. It’s just the third Sweet 16 appearance in program history.
Despite the 29-point win on Wolverines’ home court as an NCAA Tournament hosting team, it wasn’t always easy sledding. The Wolfpack ended the first half on a 12-2 run, cutting Michigan’s 13-point lead down to a slim three-point margin heading into the half. Michigan’s leading scorer and rebounder, Olivia Olson, went 0 of 5 in the first half, and she found herself on the bench for much of the first two quarters after picking up two first-quarter fouls. NC State subsequently moved into a box-and-one, face guarding Swords and limiting her to nine first-half points.
Michigan ended last season with a lopsided second-round loss to Notre Dame. That memory has stuck with Michigan’s sophomore trio, and they were adamant about using this season to build on the foundation it laid last season. That meant ensuring the Wolverines made it further than they did.
Olson, who played one of the most disappointing halves of the season, came out and made sure of that. The All-American dropped 27 points. “For her to come back in the second half and do what she did is just phenomenal,” Barnes Arico said. Swords finished with 26. Holloway filled up the stat line with 13 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
The sideline during and after the game was enthusiastic, and Barnes Arico arrived to the postgame presser soaked from a locker room celebration. But the message moving forward is clear: The Wolverines can’t afford to have dry spells, or for any of its Big Three to not show up every minute they’re on the floor. Against a Zoe Brooks-less NC State team, Michigan could weather Olson’s first half, but that can’t be the status quo if the Wolverines want to continue to make history. – Sabreena Merchant
Brooks out for NC State
After suffering a foot injury halfway through the third quarter in NC State’s opening-round win, Zoe Brooks was ruled out for the second-round game against No. 2 seed Michigan. The junior guard missed the final 15 minutes against Tennessee on Friday, and she didn’t practice Saturday. She was on crutches while wearing a boot prior to Sunday’s contest. Brooks averages 16 points per game, second on the Wolfpack behind Khamil Pierre (16.8).
This was the first game Brooks will miss all season, and just the second miss of her college career. Destiny “Kyshe” Lunan made her first career start in place of Brooks. The freshman guard averaged 4.5 points on 35.4 percent shooting. – Sabreena Merchant