If people were waiting for the women’s tournament to heat up, the elite matchups finally arrived during the Sweet 16 of March Madness.
The weekend opened with gritty games, including a popcorn-worthy head-to-head between No. 4 seed Maryland and No. 1 seed South Carolina, requiring a magical performance from the Gamecocks to escape. LSU and Aneesah Morrow catapulted their way into the Elite Eight with an emphatic upset win over No. 2 seed NC State. Then, several women’s basketball storylines added new chapters.
Hailey Van Lith and TCU made history with a sensational win over the No. 3 seed Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and Paige Bueckers wrote new pages ― pun intended ― in her women’s NCAA tournament book. Also, despite an at times dreadful offense, the USC Trojans rallied without superstar JuJu Watkins to skate into the next round. The Sweet 16 is finished. Let’s discuss which teams added to their case for a national championship and which programs have work to do.
Here are the winners and losers from the Sweet 16 during March Madness:
Winner: TCU and Hailey Van Lith
Van Lith’s best shot of the day was a timely 3-point basket in the middle of the floor with four minutes remaining in regulation, stretching the lead to 8 points. The Fighting Irish couldn’t overcome the deficit and fell 71-62. Van Lith had 26 points during the Sweet 16 matchup, including 18 in the second half. TCU’s win was a fitting chapter to Van Lith’s story, one of the best in women’s basketball.
Loser: USC’s offense without JuJu Watkins
The looming question for the USC Trojans has been: what will the team look like without its leading scorer, Juju Watkins? The answer is very underwhelming. Watkins understandably elevated everyone around her and kept the ball moving. There wasn’t much of that to start the matchup against No. 5 Kansas State and, predictably, the Trojans struggled. Forward Kiki Iriafen started Saturday evening a putrid 1-for-7 from the field, which forced the Trojans to get created with offensive production.
Freshman Kennedy Smith led the charge with 19 points, and Avery Howell and Rayah Marshall added 18 and 10 points, respectively. Smith also had a standout night defensively, with three steals, that helped spur some much-needed runs and get the rest of the team involved. The Trojans had 10 total steals and 18 points off turnovers as they squeaked by Kansas State with a 67-61 win to get to the Elite Eight. A matchup with Paige Bueckers and the UConn Huskies in consecutive years awaits.
Winner: UConn’s Paige Bueckers and her career night
What is the NCAA tournament without a vintage Paige Bueckers performance? Bueckers has had a phenomenal string of recent games, which continued against the No. 3 seed Oklahoma Sooners. The Sooners were on the wrong side of history as ‘Paige Buckets’ delivered an awe-inspiring performance.
After going scoreless in the second quarter, Bueckers hit another gear in the second half with a trip to the Elite Eight on the line. She scored 29 points, including five 3-point baskets, as the Huskies rolled. The senior guard rode off into the proverbial sunset with 40 points (a new career-high), six rebounds, two blocks and an 82-59 win.
Loser: Notre Dame Fighting Irish and their inconsistency
There were a lot of questions about Notre Dame before March Madness. From game to game ― sometimes quarter to quarter ― people wonder which version of Niele Ivey’s team will show up. The Fighting Irish lost three out of five games before the NCAA tournament and had seemingly turned it around until they played No. 2 TCU during the Sweet 16.
Notre Dame was up 52-51 at the start of the fourth quarter, but a flurry of turnovers and missed shots doomed the team. When Ivey and the Fighting Irish turn the film on, they might feel sick. Notre Dame missed a mystifying 10 shots right under the basket and 12 total baskets in the paint. Also, stars Hannah Hildago and Olivia Miles were scoreless the entire quarter. The Horned Frogs, who beat Notre Dame in November, won again, sending them to the first Elite Eight in program history.
Winner: South Carolina’s show-stopping guard Milaysia Fulwiley
No. 1 seed South Carolina might have added a few extra grays to head coach Dawn Staley’s hair as they battled in Birmingham with No. 4 Maryland. The Gamecocks never quite found their footing during the first half, often rushing shots and playing sloppy and out of position defensively. Like their second-round matchup against Indiana, South Carolina trailed at halftime. (A potential blueprint for beating South Carolina could be making the rounds.) However, a second-half burst helped Staley’s team regain its identity.
Midway through the third, the Gamecocks turned up their defense, handling the Terrapins’ suffocating offense much better. That eventually freed up several players to score, like human highlight reel and sophomore sensation MiLaysia Fulwiley. Fulwiley scored 16 of her 23 points in the second half, including a layup with under three minutes remaining that spurred a spectacular 7-0 Gamecocks run. South Carolina shut the door on its 71-67 win as Marland coughed up the basketball a gut-wrenching five times within the closing minutes. The Gamecocks make their fifth straight Elite Eight appearance on Sunday.
Loser: LSU and Flau’jae Johnson’s eye injury
LSU guard Flau’jae Johnson already had shin inflammation ahead of the NCAA tournament, and now there’s an eye injury for Kim Mulkey to worry about. During the Tigers’ Sweet 16 matchup against No. 2 seed NC State, Johnson collided with guard Zoe Brooks during the fourth quarter, falling to the floor. She was down for several moments before popping back up and heading to the bench, where she was attended to by nearby medical staff.
ESPN’s Holly Rowe later shared that Johnson reportedly scraped her eye and asked, ‘Don’t you just have some tape? I can just tape my eye open’ so that she could return to action. However, once LSU sealed its 80-73 win against the Wolfpack with an immaculate defensive sequence, Johnson did not return to the matchup. Per Mulkey, Johnson was ‘seeing double,’ and team medics said no to going back in. It’s unclear if Johnson will play in Sunday’s Elite Eight matchup, though Mulkey anticipated she would be ‘good to go.’
Winner: LSU forward Aneesah Morrow and her WNBA draft stock
Before the LSU Tigers played NC State on Friday during the Sweet 16, Tigers forward Aneesah Morrow had already made her case to be a top-ten WNBA draft pick. Morrow is a force on the glass as the country’s top rebounder, but her unrelenting motor could also elevate her into the top five selections on April 14. Against the Wolfpack, Morrow put the team on her back after a rough scoring night for teammate Flau’jae Johnson. Johnson was shockingly scoreless in the first half and finished her evening a brutal 1-for-8. Morrow understood the assignment ― putting on a clinic ― and turned in an astounding 30 points and 19 rebounds performance, her best outing of the season, to propel LSU into the Elite Eight.
‘Morrow, she’s killing us,’ NC State coach Wes Moore told ESPN during a mid-game interview. Moore was right. The wolfpack had no answer for Morrow all night long. Ahead of the fourth quarter, the 6-foot-1 forward already had 24 points and 12 rebounds, including 11 points and five rebounds in the third. If Morrow continues on this trajectory, she could shake up the top five picks in the draft. WNBA general managers now have the impossible task of deciding which top post player to take first: French center Dominique Malonga, USC’s Kiki Iriafen or Morrow? (May the odds be in their favor.)
Loser: Anyone watching North Carolina and Duke’s horrid matchup
If people watching the No. 3 seed North Carolina Tarheels and No. 2 seed Duke Blue Devils were hoping for a matchup worthy of Sweet 16 drama, it didn’t happen. North Carolina shot an abysmal 28.3%, and Duke wasn’t much better. The Blue Devils were 31% from the field. Those are real numbers. There were 78 missed shots on Friday.
As ugly as the game was, there was a bright spot: Duke’s Oluchi Okananwa had a double-double off the bench. Duke rolled to the Elite Eight, a horrid 47-38 final score in tow. Thank goodness for the final buzzer.
Winner: Kim Mulkey’s swanky Sweet 16 denim outfit vs. NC State
Thankfully, LSU won, and now her Sweet 16 outfit will likely go into the Hall of Fame of top Mulkey ensembles during the NCAA tournament. (The bell bottom jeans and gold heels certainly deserve some acknowledgment, too.) Also, the internet did not disappoint with its glorious jokes, and now Mulkey’s Elite Eight outfit has to reach new heights, or the levels of disappointment will be immense.