Women’s NCAA Tournament live updates: Virginia Tech, Ohio State look to join South Carolina in Final Four
Half of the women’s NCAA Tournament Final Four field is set. The other half will be settled Monday night.
Who will join Iowa and LSU in Dallas?
No. 1 South Carolina — the defending national champions — beat the second-seeded Maryland Terrapins. The Gamecocks are aiming to be the first repeat women’s basketball champion since Connecticut won four straight national titles from 2013-16.
Next up, No. 1 Virginia Tech faces No. 3 Ohio State (9 p.m. ET on ESPN). The Hokies have never reached the Final Four. The Buckeyes, meanwhile, last made the Final Four in 1993 when three-time Olympic gold medalist, WNBA champin and future Hall of Famer Katie Smith was a freshman.
Follow along for updates on all the action from Monday’s Elite Eight matchups:
Follow the madness: Latest Women’s NCAA Tournament College Basketball Scores and Schedules
Beal said with a laugh. “So much of my career I feel like a lot of things went unnoticed, so to be able to close out my senior year, to see a lot of people putting me in mocks or just talking about me, it shows that I’m beginning to get noticed and how valuable I can be.”
Beal has never been a headliner for the No. 1 Gamecocks, but she has anchored the starting lineup from the moment she set foot on campus. Last year, she earned All-American honorable mention honors for the first time in her career from the Associated Press and was named a finalist for Naismith Defensive Player of the Year alongside her teammate Aliyah Boston, the reigning winner of the award.
Fletcher said. “I called her as soon as I got time, and we were just talking about how crazy it was that both of us won the conference tournament together.”For Ohio State, playing its game goes hand-in-hand with its full-court press. When the Buckeyes get their press set and start forcing turnover after turnover after turnover, as they did against the Huskies, they can be almost impossible to stop.
Now, No. 1 seed Virginia Tech will have to grapple with Ohio State’s press just as UConn did. During the Hokies’ Sweet 16 win over Tennessee, the Lady Vols used their own press to come back from an 18-point deficit early in the third quarter to get within one point.
Virginia Tech coach Kenny Brooks knows Ohio State will employ the full-court press Monday night and says his team will have to play smart but aggressive offense.
“We have to get downhill, break the pressure, and get some easy opportunities, and I think that that will kind of ease it up a little bit,” Brooks said. “But they have been doing it all year long. They’re really good at it.”
— Bailey Johnson, The Columbus Dispatch
a 54-42 win over Miami. “That’s nothing against who they play. I just know how good they are.”
South Carolina thumped LSU by 24 points, 88-64, in their one meeting in the regular season. If Mulkey’s team sees the Gamecocks again, a national title would be on the line.
“I’d sure love to be in that championship with them,” Mulkey said.
— Nancy Armour
pile up 41 points, hand out 12 assists and grab 10 rebounds — was scroll Twitter.
In the second half as her Hawkeyes pulled away from Louisville and everyone in Climate Pledge Arena went on triple-double watch, Clark became the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter. And as Clark led No. 2 seed Iowa to its first Final Four since 1993, it became clear: the junior guard is the superstar women’s basketball needs, right when the game needs it.
On Saturday, women’s basketball bid an early goodbye to UConn, the program that had made an NCAA-record 14 consecutive Final Fours but will be watching from home this April. On Sunday, it said hello to Clark, the most electrifying player in college basketball, men’s or women’s. Her passes in transition causes gasps, her tendency to pull up from the logo makes opponents shake their heads.
She’s a transcendent talent, a player of the year candidate who elevates everyone around her and loves the big stage. Sunday when Iowa built as much as a 22-point lead she played to the crowd, motioning to fans to cheer louder, cupping her ear to see if they complied. Asked afterward what it’s like to have an entire arena wrapped around your finger, Clark leaned into the mic and admitted sheepishly, “I feel kinda powerful.”
— Lindsay Schnell