Madison Conner scored 23 points as TCU, the second seed in the Birmingham 3 regional of the NCAA Women’s Championship, shrugged off a slow start to beat No. 15 Fairleigh Dickinson 73-51 on Friday afternoon in a first-round clash in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Horned Frogs (32-3), who reached the second round for the first time since 2006, will play either seventh-seeded Louisville or 10th-seeded Nebraska in the Round of 32 on Sunday in Fort Worth.
TCU trailed by three after the first period but rallied to carry a 35-27 lead into the break despite three key players shackled with foul trouble. The Horned Frogs stretched their advantage to 52-35 and were up by 15 heading to the final 10 minutes of play.
Sedona Prince added 16 points and 10 rebounds for TCU, while Hailey Van Lith amassed 13 points and seven assists and Agnes Emma-Nnopu scored 10 points.
Teneisia Brown’s 18 points paced Fairleigh Dickinson (29-4), the Northeast Conference champion. Ava Renninger added 12 points for the Knights, who finished just 1 of 11 from beyond the arc.
No. 3 Notre Dame 106, No. 14 Stephen F. Austin 54
Hannah Hidalgo and Sonia Citron scored 24 points apiece as the Fighting Irish easily dispatched the ? in South Bend, Ind.
Lisa Karlen added 13 points for Notre Dame (27-5), with Maddy Westbeld scoring 12 and Liatu King hitting for 10 points. The Fighting Irish outshot Stephen F. Austin 56.3 percent to 32.8 percent from the floor, forced 28 turnovers that they converted into 38 points and forged a 44-30 rebounding edge in the easy win.
Notre Dame shrugged off a slow start to tie the game at 8-8 on Hidalgo’s layup at the 6:43 mark of the opening quarter. The Fighting Irish eventually led 26-13 after one period and had a 37-point advantage heading into the fourth. Trinity Moore’s 14 points led Stephen F. Austin (29-6), while Avery VanSickle and Ashlyn Traylor-Walker finished with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
No. 4 Ohio State 71, Montana State 51
Taylor Thierry’s 16 points led a balanced attack as the Buckeyes turned it on in the second half to beat the Bobcats in Columbus, Ohio.
Chance Gray scored all 15 of her points from behind the 3-point line for Ohio State (26-6), which led by just five at halftime. Cotie McMahon also had 15 points, Jaloni Cambridge added 12 and Ajae Petty hit for 11.
Montana State’s Esmeralda Morales led all players with 20 points, while Natalie Picton added 12 for the Bobcats (30-4).
No. 5 Tennessee 101, No. 12 South Florida 66
Talaysia Cooper finished with 20 points, six rebounds and four assists to lead the Lady Volunteers over the Bulls and into a second-round matchup with host Ohio State on Sunday.
Tennessee (23-9) hit 16 3-pointers, including three each from Cooper, Zee Spearman and Samara Spencer. The Lady Volunteers were 16 of 37 from beyond the arc and 39 of 78 (50 percent) from the field.
Tennessee, which trailed 25-24 with 31 seconds left in the first quarter, took the lead on a layup by Kaniya Boyd with seven seconds left in the period and led the rest of the way.
South Florida (23-11) committed 24 turnovers, which Tennessee converted into 36 points. The Lady Volunteers turned the ball over only six times and recorded 19 assists, led by Spencer’s five.
Tennessee’s bench also outscored South Florida’s 54-3 and the Lady Volunteers had the edge in paint points 44-30.
No. 6 Michigan 80, No. 11 Iowa State 75
Michigan got past Iowa State behind 28 points from Jordan Hobbs and 16 from Olivia Olson in South Bend, Ind. Hobbs canned five 3-pointers in the victory and nine of Olson’s points came in the fourth quarter, including a jumper with 20 seconds remaining that pushed the Wolverines’ lead to five points.
Michigan trailed by five at halftime and by three heading to the final period before an Olson three-point play to begin the quarter tied the game at 56-56. The Wolverines never trailed again as Greta Kampschroeder added 13 points, Mila Holloway scored 12 and Syla Swords hit for 11. All of Michigan’s points were scored by its starting five.
Audi Crooks led Iowa State (23-12) with 28 points while Arianna Jackson added 12 for the Cyclones, who beat Princeton in a First Four game on Wednesday to earn a spot in the 64-team Tournament field.
No. 7 Louisville 63, No. 10 Nebraska 58
Tajianna Roberts scored 16 points and Olivia Cochrane added 14, including a free throw with 10 seconds left to make it a two-possession game, pushing the Cardinals past the Cornhuskers and into the second round against TCU on Sunday.
Louisville (22-10) improved to 15-1 in Women’s NCAA Tournament first-round games under coach Jeff Walz.
The Cardinals pulled away from a tie game with 59 seconds left. Cochrane made one of two free throws with 30 seconds left to give Louisville a 59-58 lead. After Nebraska’s Britt Prince was called for an offensive foul, Jada Curry (13 points) made two free throws with 21 seconds left to put Louisville ahead by three.
Nebraska’s Logan Nissley missed a 3-pointer, and Cochrane made one of two free throws to ice the win. Louisville scored 27 points off 24 turnovers by Nebraska (21-12). The Cardinals also outscored Nebraska 32-20 in the paint.
–Field Level Media
