Sarah Strong scored a game-high 18 points Saturday and top-seeded Connecticut cruised to a 90-52 rout of 16th-seeded UTSA in the first round of the Fort Worth Region 1 in Storrs, Conn.
Three other players finished in double figures for the defending NCAA champion Huskies (35-0), who advanced to a second-round matchup Monday against No. 9 seed Syracuse. Blanca Quinonez came off the bench for 15, Ashlynn Shade added 14 points and Kayleigh Heckel chipped in 11 points plus five assists.
Ereauna Hardaway, Damara Allen and Cheyenne Rowe each scored 11 points for the Roadrunners (18-16). UTSA struggled to hit shots and take care of the ball against UConn’s tough defense, hitting only 20 of 49 from the field and coughing up 27 turnovers that were cashed in for 35 points.
The Huskies opened up a 19-6 lead after one quarter that turned into a 48-14 advantage by halftime. They led by as many as 47 points in the fourth quarter.
No. 2 Vanderbilt 102, No. 15 High Point 61
Mikayla Blakes, the nation’s leading scorer, racked up 30 points and the Commodores crushed the Panthers in Nashville.
Aubrey Galvan scored 17 points while Sacha Washington (10 points, 17 rebounds) and Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda (10 points, 11 boards) each had double-doubles for Vanderbilt (28-4), which led by double digits 2:28 into the game and by 17 after one quarter.
The second-seeded Commodores shot 48.7% from the floor and outrebounded 15th seed High Point 56-26 to win its first NCAA Tournament game since 2013. Vanderbilt will play seventh-seeded Illinois on Monday.
The Panthers (27-6) were led by Macy Spencer, who scored 27 points and accounted for seven of the team’s eight made 3-pointers. High Point was held to 36.5% shooting and 33.3% from outside the arc.
No. 3 Ohio State 75, No. 14 Howard 54
Jaloni Cambridge scored 21 points and sister Kennedy Cambridge added 11 points with seven rebounds as the Buckeyes rolled to victory over the Bison in Columbus, Ohio.
Chance Gray and Ava Watson also scored 11 points each and Elsa Lemmila added 11 rebounds as the Buckeyes (27-7) advanced to face sixth-seeded Notre Dame on Monday.
Zennia Thomas scored 15 points and Ariella Henigan added 14 points with 10 rebounds as the Bison (26-8) saw their 14-game winning streak come to an end.
Ohio State shot 45.0% from the floor while holding Howard to 33.9% overall and 0 of 9 from 3-point range.
The Bison led 14-12 with less than two minutes remaining in the first quarter before the Buckeyes went on a 12-0 run between the first and second quarters. Ohio State added a 13-0 run just before halftime to lead 43-19 at the break and Howard never threatened in the second half.
No. 6 Notre Dame 79, No. 11 Fairfield 60
Hannah Hidalgo flirted with a quadruple-double as the Fighting Irish pulled away from the Stags for the win in the first-round game in Columbus, Ohio.
Hidalgo scored a game-high 23 points while adding nine rebounds, eight steals and six assists as the Fighting Irish (23-10) advanced to a second-round game against Ohio State on Monday.
Iyana Moore added 18 points and Cassandre Prosper chipped in 17 points and eight rebounds for Notre Dame. The Irish sank 46.9% of their field-goal attempts and earned a 43-31 rebounding advantage. They also dominated paint points, doubling up the Stags 44-22.
Meghan Andersen scored 21 points for Fairfield (28-5). Jillian Huerter added 12 and Janelle Brown came off the bench for 10 points but it wasn’t enough. The Stags hit only 38.3 % of their field-goal attempts and committed 19 turnovers that led to 22 points.
Notre Dame never trailed and led for all but 15 seconds of the game. It led by as many as 23 points in the third quarter.
No. 7 Illinois 66, No. 10 Colorado 57
Cearah Parchment, Berry Wallace and Destiny Jackson combined for 55 points to lead the Fighting Illini to a win over the Buffaloes in Nashville.
Parchment led the way with 21 points, buoyed by 18 from Wallace and 16 points with 11 rebounds from Jackson. Illinois (22-11) used an 8-1 run in the final 97 seconds to finally separate from Colorado, scoring 14 points off 14 turnovers. Illinois will take on No. 2 seed Vanderbilt on Monday.
Desiree Wooten led Colorado (22-12) with 17 points and a team-high seven boards, supplemented by Jade Masogayo’s 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting. The Buffaloes held a 34-32 rebounding edge but made just 1 of 9 3-pointers.
No. 9 Syracuse 72, No. 8 Iowa State 63
A humongous second quarter helped the Orange take down the Cyclones in Storrs, Conn., despite a remarkable individual effort from Audi Crooks.
Led by Uche Izoje’s 23 points and seven rebounds, Syracuse (24-8) — which will face top seed UConn on Monday — pulled away after facing an early deficit with a 30-point second quarter that included a 13-0 run. Olivia Schmitt hit three of her five 3s during this stretch, finishing with 15 points, while Laila Phelia chipped in 18 and Sophie Burrows paired 14 points with nine rebounds.
Crooks racked up 37 points on 17-of-25 shooting, but Iowa State (22-10) still lost its NCAA Tournament opener for the third time in the last four years after starting this season 14-0 and reaching 10th in the AP poll. The Cyclones held a sizable 42-10 edge in paint points but were 3-of-22 (13.6%) from outside the arc.
–Field Level Media
