NCAA Women's Tournament: Upsets, monster dunk on first weekend
By Laken Litman
FOX Sports Writer
If you don’t think there are any bracket-busters in women’s basketball, then you must have missed the opening weekend of this year’s NCAA Tournament.
No. 2 seeds Baylor and Iowa? They’re out. No. 10 seeds South Dakota and Creighton? They’re on to the Sweet 16. Kim Mulkey and her LSU team are out, too, after Ohio State pulled off the upset. Tennessee is still in, but only after a nail-biter finish against Belmont. And then UCF had UConn on the brink Monday night before the Huskies eked out an emotional victory.
While a lack of parity in women's college basketball was a legitimate concern and storyline years ago, that’s no longer the case.
Here’s a breakdown of what went down in the first and second rounds of the NCAA Women’s Tournament and what we can look forward to next.
1. Most surprising result: No. 10 South Dakota over No. 2 Baylor
The biggest stunner of the first weekend came from an unlikely place: No. 10 South Dakota dominated perennial power No. 2 Baylor on its home floor. The Coyotes beat the Bears 61-47 at the Ferrell Center in Waco, where Baylor had won 66 consecutive home games against nonconference opponents dating to 2014.
Baylor made the Sweet 16 in 12 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, and while the Bears were fresh off a Big 12 Tournament final loss to fellow No. 2 seed Texas, they were expected to make a deep run in the tournament under first-year head coach Nicki Collen.
NaLyssa Smith, Baylor’s leading scorer and a projected top WNBA Draft pick, matched her season low with 10 points on 4-for-11 shooting. She normally averages 22.1 points per game. Queen Egbo scored 13 points, but besides Smith and Egbo, no other Baylor player reached double digits.
Meanwhile, South Dakota seniors Liv Korngable, Chloe Lamb and Hannah Sjerven combined for 42 points to clinch the program’s first Sweet 16 berth.
2. Best finish: No. 10 Creighton beats No. 2 Iowa
It was the perfect NCAA tournament moment: Creighton’s Lauren Jensen, who transferred from Iowa a year ago, scored 19 points, including the game-winning 3-pointer with 12 seconds left, to beat her former team, knock out Iowa star Caitlin Clark and clinch a spot in the Sweet 16.
Legendary.
3. Best moment: Fran Belibi’s dunk
We need to talk more about Stanford junior Fran Belibi’s dunk.
The defending national champion Cardinal pummeled Montana State 78-37 in the first round, which was not a surprising result. The notable part of this game came in the second quarter, when the 6-foot-1 Belibi blocked a shot, raced down the floor and threw down a monster dunk.
The Stanford bench reacted accordingly.
It was Belibi’s third career dunk. It was also just the third dunk in NCAA Women’s Tournament history. The other two came from Candace Parker (2006) and Brittney Griner (2013).
4. Player to watch: Notre Dame freshman Olivia Miles
Fighting Irish guard Olivia Miles became the first freshman in NCAA Tournament history to record a triple-double. She had 12 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in Notre Dame’s 89-78 first-round win over UMass.
Miles, who is only the second player in program history to record a triple-double in the NCAA Tournament (Skylar Diggins-Smith in 2012), had nine points, seven rebounds and 12 assists in the team’s second-round game against Oklahoma.
5. Most disappointing team: Iowa
March Madness was supposed to be the Caitlin Clark show. Iowa was coming off a Big Ten tournament title, with the most exciting player in the sport lighting up the scoreboard. But then the Hawkeyes were shocked by No. 10 Creighton at home in the second round.
Now we will have to wait until the fall to watch Clark again. The good news is she is just a sophomore and will return next year with some kind of vengeance, which is always fun. She still has time to make a Final Four run and win a national championship before becoming a top WNBA Draft pick.
6. Best Sweet 16 matchup: No. 1 NC State vs. No. 5 Notre Dame
Notre Dame obliterated Oklahoma in the second round 108-64. The Fighting Irish had 60 points by halftime, with a 35-point lead. Four players were in double digits, and Dara Mabrey led all scorers with 29.
Next the Irish will face NC State, whom they beat 69-66 in the regular season. The Wolfpack are a seasoned team led by graduate-student forward Kayla Jones, who had 18 points on 8-for-9 shooting with five rebounds and three assists in NC State's 89-57 victory over Kansas State in the second round.
The NC State-ND winner could face UConn in the Elite Eight, if the Huskies can take down Indiana.
7. The most vulnerable remaining No. 1 seed: South Carolina
Yes, Aliyah Boston has recorded 26 straight double-doubles after South Carolina’s 49-33 win over Miami in the second round. But the front-runner for national player of the year had an uncharacteristic shooting night against the Hurricanes, going 4-for-15 from the field with just 10 points (she averages 16.4).
The No. 1 overall seed Gamecocks have the nation’s best defense — they held their first two tournament opponents, Howard and Miami, to a combined 54 points. But they’ll need a better scoring effort to keep advancing. Sophomore Kamilla Cardoso came off the bench to lead the team against the Hurricanes with 11 points, joining Boston as the only players to reach double digits.
The Gamecocks shot below 30% from the field and under 23% from 3. They also had 16 turnovers.
Miami was a solid defensive team, but if South Carolina remains inconsistent offensively down the road, especially in a Sweet 16 matchup against North Carolina, Dawn Staley’s team could find itself in some trouble.
8. Best conference: Big Ten
Sure, the conference’s best team is out, but the Big Ten is still going strong. Michigan took care of Villanova, Ohio State topped higher-seeded LSU, Maryland had no issues with Florida Gulf Coast, and Indiana beat a red-hot Princeton team by one point to advance.
While the Hawkeyes were a trendy national title pick, their absence doesn’t take away from the fact that the conference still has four teams in the Sweet 16.
9. Sweet 16 upset alert: Creighton over Iowa State
Ashley Joens is killing it for the Cyclones, scoring 36 of her team’s 78 points in a first-round win against UT-Arlington and 12 in the next game against Georgia.
But don’t underestimate an underdog fresh off a historic win: Jensen and the Bluejays could be ready to pull off another upset. After Creighton’s performance against Iowa, this is a Cinderella team that could keep crushing top seeds’ dreams.
10. The favorite: Still South Carolina
As mentioned, the Gamecocks are a vulnerable No. 1 seed because their offense has looked shaky. But this is still powerhouse South Carolina. We are talking about a team with 10 high school All-Americans, the best player in the country in Boston, the nation’s top defense and Dawn Staley as coach.
Plus, the path to Final Four weekend looks much clearer with No. 2 Iowa out of the Greensboro Region picture.
Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously covered college football, college basketball, the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team and the Olympics at Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. Her first book, written in partnership with Rizzoli and Sports Illustrated and titled "Strong Like a Woman," will be published this spring marking the 50th anniversary of Title IX.
