The second day of the women’s NCAA tournament went much like the first: very few upsets, very large wins for contenders.
Paige Bueckers and the UConn Huskies got things started off early in the day, and looked like a vintage Geno Auriemma team in the process. JuJu Watkins and USC followed suit with a blowout win later in the day, but there may be cause for concern ahead after the star forward left at various points due to injuries.
No. 1 USC and No. 3 LSU wrapped up the night hitting the 100-point mark as the round of 32 was filled out. Will we see more upsets in the second round? Action resumes early Sunday with Duke-Oregon and Notre Dame-Michigan.
Here’s how everything shook out on Saturday:
No. 6 Iowa 92, No. 11 Murray State 57
No. 2 UConn 103, No. 15 Arkansas State 34
No. 5 Alabama 81, No. 12 Green Bay 67
No. 2 NC State 75, No. 15 Vermont 55
No. 6 West Virginia 78, No. 11 Columbia 59
No. 3 Oklahoma 81, No. 14 Florida Gulf Coast 58
No. 1 USC 71, No. 16 UNC Greensboro 25
No. 10 South Dakota State 74, No. 7 Oklahoma State 68
No. 4 Maryland 82, No. 13 Norfolk State 69
No. 3 North Carolina 70, No. 14 Oregon State 49
No. 7 Michigan State 64, No. 10 Harvard 50
No. 9 Mississippi State 59, No. 8 Cal 46
No. 8 Illinois 66, No. 9 Creighton 57
No. 6 Florida State 94, No. 11 George Mason 59
No. 1 Texas 105, No. 16 William & Mary 61
No. 3 LSU 103, No. 14 San Diego State 48
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Sat, March 22, 2025 at 9:18 PM PDT
Final: LSU 103, SDSU 48
That’ll do it for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. There were a grand total of four upsets in 32 games: two 8 vs. 9 games and two 7 vs. 10 games. Every No. 6 seed or better won, most of them by a lot.
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Sat, March 22, 2025 at 9:15 PM PDT
Another one
LSU hits 100 exactly and is now the sixth team to break the century mark. It’s the first time in NCAA Tournament history five programs have broken the 100-point mark, per ESPN Stats and Information.
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Sat, March 22, 2025 at 9:03 PM PDT
Day-Wilson’s 3-point turnaround
Shayeann Day-Wilson is 3-for-3 from 3-point range after shooting 17.9% from 3 this season. Those three makes are nearly one-third of her total makes on the season (10) and she takes more than half of her field goal attempts beyond the arc. That will be major for LSU if Day-Wilson can do it regularly through a tournament run.
One thing running through minds tonight: Kim Mulkey reminded everyone on Selection Sunday the No. 3 seed has been good to them.
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Sat, March 22, 2025 at 8:53 PM PDT
No. 3 LSU up huge after third quarter
The final game of the night is pretty much over. The Tigers lead SDSU 73-36 with 19 points from Flau-Jae Johnson in her return and are outrebounding the Aztecs 37-23. Their defense has forced 15 turnovers.
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Sat, March 22, 2025 at 8:50 PM PDT
Fifth 100-point performance
No. 1 seed Texas became the fifth team to break the century mark in the first round. It at least temporarily puts to bed concern around the Longhorns’ offense, which was shut down in the SEC Championship by South Carolina. Texas joins No. 1 seed South Carolina (108 points), No. 3 Notre Dame (106), No. 2 UConn (103 points) and No. 5 Tennessee (101).
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Sat, March 22, 2025 at 8:42 PM PDT
Final: Texas. 105, William and Mary 61
The Longhorns looked like a No. 1 seed, and they’ll face No. 8 Illinois in the second round. Madison Booker finished with 10 points, 14 rebounds and four assists.
Meanwhile, William and Mary head coach Eric Dickerson Davis was smiling and exchanging hugs with her seniors on the sideline as their first ever trip to the NCAA Tournament comes to an end.
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Sat, March 22, 2025 at 8:16 PM PDT
No. 1 Texas still cruising entering fourth quarter
Madison Booker has a robust 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting, 13 rebounds and three assists, with another 19 points from Taylor Jones. We probably won’t see much more of them tonight with the Longhorns up 77-44 on William & Mary.
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Sat, March 22, 2025 at 8:09 PM PDT
LSU leads SDSU 49-20 at the half
It hasn’t been the best week for the Aztecs athletic program. Their men’s basketball team lost to UNC by 27 in the First Four on Tuesday, and now their women’s team is down 29 to LSU at halftime of the first round.
Aneesah Morros has a game-high 12 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
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Sat, March 22, 2025 at 7:51 PM PDT
LSU on fire from 3
If LSU stays hot from 3 throughout the tournament, watch out. The Tigers average 4.8 made 3s per game, ranking near dead-last in percentage of points from the perimeter (17.1%). They thrive on making it to the free throw line and capitalizing on their inside presence.
LSU shot 5-of-6 from 3 in the first half taking advantage of San Diego State’s zone and are on pace to break their season-high 12 3s.
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Sat, March 22, 2025 at 7:42 PM PDT
No. 3 LSU up big vs. No. 14 SDSU
Every player in that LSU big 3 has at least six points as the Tigers lead 27-10 at the end of the first quarter. The Aztecs are shooting 4-of-12 with six turnovers.
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Sat, March 22, 2025 at 7:39 PM PDT
The second quarter didn’t go as well for No. 16 William & Mary
No. 1 Texas leads 50-33 at halftime, with 12 points, four rebounds and two assists from Madison Booker.
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Sat, March 22, 2025 at 7:26 PM PDT
LSU’s big 3 intact
Down in Baton Rouge, Aneesah Morrow and Flau’jae Johnson started for LSU. They appear to be healthy and ready to roll, completing a dangerous trio with Mikaylah Williams that could cause chaos further into the tournament.
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Sat, March 22, 2025 at 7:14 PM PDT
Taylor Jones big for Texas
Strong start by Taylor Jones with seven points for Texas. She and Kyla Oldacre each shoot 60% and tag-team big minutes in the paint for a squad that barely shoots 3s. Their success helped fuel the Longhorns down the back end of the SEC regular season schedule toward the AP No. 1 ranking.
Jones earned All-America honorable mentions this week with Rori Harmon, and Madison Booker earned first-team All-America honors.
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Sat, March 22, 2025 at 7:09 PM PDT
No. 16 William & Mary hanging in there vs. No. 1 Texas
The Longhorns lead only 23-18, and the Tribe kept it even closer for much of the first quarter. Given what we’ve seen from other No. 16 seeds this tournament, we might just have a game here.
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Sat, March 22, 2025 at 6:51 PM PDT
Chock full of chalk
We’ve seen good games and maybes, but it’s almost entirely chalk heading into the final two games of the first round. Only four lower seeded teams have advanced:
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No. 10 South Dakota State (Spokane 4)
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No. 10 Oregon (Birmingham 2)
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No. 9 Mississippi State (Spokane 4) (Does it even count?)
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No. 9 Indiana (Birmingham 2) (See above.)
Big 12 teams Utah (to Indiana) and Oklahoma State (to SDSU) lost two of those games. Should we be concerned for Big 12 leaders TCU and Baylor? Possibly.
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Sat, March 22, 2025 at 6:42 PM PDT
Final: Florida State 93, George Mason 57
A good offense beat a good defense, and the Seminoles are on to the second round. They’ll face the winner of No. 3 LSU and No. 14 San Diego State for their first trip to the Sweet Sixteen since 2017
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Sat, March 22, 2025 at 6:28 PM PDT
No. 6 Florida State opens fourth quarter on 12-0 run
Cancel that upset alert. The Seminoles are up 22, but Makayla Timpson might have rolled her ankle
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Sat, March 22, 2025 at 6:20 PM PDT
Illinois’s growth under Shauna Green
Illinois head coach Shauna Green has her first NCAA Tournament victory after taking over in 2022. She coached Dayton from 2016 to 2022, winning five regular season titles, two conference championship titles and four NCAA Tournament berths (including 2020, when the tournament was canceled).
The Fighting Illini have showed promise in her tenure — the win over Iowa during Green’s first season and a berth in the First Four make the list — but had yet to take the next step. They won the first Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament a season ago behind their trio of Makira Cook, Genesis Bryant and Kendall Bostic. Before Green, Illinois had not made the tournament since 2003 and hadn’t made it to the second round since 2000.
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Sat, March 22, 2025 at 6:16 PM PDT
No. 11 George Mason within 10 entering fourth quarter
The Patriots scored a quick five points in the final minute of the third quarter to pull within reasonable striking distance of No. 6 Florida State. In what has been an extremely chalky tournament so far, this counts as an upset alert.
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Sat, March 22, 2025 at 6:08 PM PDT
No magical run for Creighton
A tough ending for the Creighton trio of Lauren Jensen, Molly Mogensen and Morgan Maly. We’ll always have the memories of a historic Elite Eight run.
