Monday’s March Madness: No. 1 Seed Indiana Loses

In a physical game that repeatedly sent players scrambling to the floor for the ball, Connecticut beat Baylor, 77-58, to move on to the round of 16, its 30th such appearance in program history.

UConn quickly erased a 6-point first-quarter deficit as Nika Mühl regularly drove the floor to set up Azzi Fudd, who finished with 22 points, and Aaliyah Edwards, who scored 19.

UConn appeared to be in hot water in the third when the forward Edwards had to sit with her fourth foul. Jaden Owens, dancing nimbly from one side of the paint to the other, tied the game for Baylor with five minutes left in the quarter, and the Bears kept things close for a time, with Ja’Mee Asberry finding openings. Asberry would lead her team with 15 points.

But the Bears began to lose steam, and UConn’s confident core pounced to break away for a rout. The Huskies had built up their lead to 12 going into the fourth.

“If we could have ended the game at 25 minutes in, I think it was a really, really good battle,” Baylor Coach Nicki Collen said. “Obviously they won the battle of the paint.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/20/sports/ncaabasketball/march-madness-monday.html