Women’s March Madness first round takeaways: NC State staves off scare from No. 15 Vermont

By the end of the day, we’ll have our women’s NCAA Tournament second-round matchups. Saturday’s first-round action started with Iowa asserting itself with an easy victory against Murray State and UConn blowing away Arkansas State.

MatchupRegionalTime (ET)TVNo. 3 Oklahoma vs. No. 14 Florida Gulf Coast

No. 1 USC vs. No. 16 UNC Greensboro

No. 7 Oklahoma State vs. No. 10 South Dakota State

No. 4 Maryland vs. No. 13 Norfolk State

No. 3 North Carolina vs. No. 14 Oregon State

No. 7 Michigan State vs. No. 10 Harvard

No. 8 California vs. No. 9 Mississippi State

No. 8 Illinois vs. No. 9 Creighton

No. 6 Florida State vs. No. 11 George Mason

No. 1 Texas vs. No. 16 William & Mary

No. 3 LSU vs. No. 14 San Diego State

Results

Follow our The Athletic experts’ analysis and updates from Day 2 of the NCAA Tournament:

No. 6 West Virginia 78, No. 11 Columbia 59

West Virginia’s disruptive defense forces 25 turnovers

West Virginia has made a habit out of frustrating opponents. Eleventh-seeded Columbia knew that, and yet, it succumbed to the sixth-seeded Mountaineers’ press much like several others this season.

The Mountaineers forced 25 turnovers — a season-high in giveaways for the Lions — in their 78-59 win. Senior guard J.J. Quinerly, the back-to-back Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, had seven steals while junior guard Jordan Harrison had three steals. They combined for 50 points, as they sliced through the Lions’ defense on the other end.

The turnover margin was the difference. West Virginia scored 28 points off the Lions’ giveaways, compared to 10 points off turnovers for Columbia (even though the Lions forced 21 turnovers themselves).

It was a vintage defensive performance for the Mountaineers, who entered the tournament second nationally in defensive rating, second in steals per game, and second in points off turnovers per game. West Virginia will face either No. 3 North Carolina or No. 14 Oregon State in the second round. Neither will be an easy opponent. But the Mountaineers are experienced and their defense is disruptive. That’s why they have a realistic chance of reaching their first Sweet 16 since 1992.

— Ben Pickman

No. 2 NC State 75, No. 15 Vermont 55

Catamounts can’t mount an upset

A No. 15 seed has never upset a No. 2 seed in the women’s NCAA Tournament, a streak that is still intact as of Saturday afternoon. But through the first three quarters, NC State seemed like it was coming dangerously close to making history for all of the wrong reasons against Vermont in Raleigh, N.C.

The Wolfpack eventually pulled away to win 75-55, but only after they led by just two points at halftime (35-33) and finished the third quarter up just 52-46. Thanks to a fourth-quarter outburst, in which the Wolfpack outscored the Catamounts 23-9, NC State is onto Round 2 instead of watching Vermont compete for a spot in the Sweet 16 on their home floor. Coach Wes Moore will surely use this as a teaching moment.

NC State had no answers for guard Keira Hanson, who entered Saturday averaging 9.6 points per game and finished with a game-high 21 fueled by her five 3-pointers. With Wolfpack guard Zoe Brooks finishing with 19 points and Saniya Rivers and Aziaha James both finishing with 15, the Wolfpack had enough to get this one over the finish line, but they’ll surely have to be sharper moving forward. Vermont shot 42 percent from beyond the arc and had 21 bench points to NC State’s nine. Maybe this will be a wakeup call for the Wolfpack, who know it’s only going to get harder from here. NC State will play the winner of No. 7 seed Michigan State-No. 10 seed Harvard in the second round.

— Grace Raynor

No. 2 UConn 103, No. 15 Arkansas State 34

Fudd, Strong help UConn look like title teams of old

Fifteenth-seeded Arkansas State scored the first basket of its first-round game against No. 2 UConn. For 12 seconds, the Red Wolves held the lead. Then, UConn did what UConn does. The Huskies blitzed Arkansas State, scoring 22 consecutive points — with 11 of those coming from Azzi Fudd and 11 from Sarah Strong. UConn’s lead only grew from there.

The Huskies’ 50-point halftime cushion sent viewers back to the program’s record book. While impressive, UConn’s 66 first-half points were still well off from its NCAA-record 94-point first half against Saint Francis in 2018. Still, the opening 20 minutes on Saturday were reminiscent of UConn teams of old.

Fudd and Strong were instrumental in the Huskies’ first half. Fudd scored 21 points, one shy of her NCAA Tournament career-high, in 18 minutes. Strong had 15 points, six rebounds, three assists and three blocks in the first half.

Strong finished UConn’s 103-34 win with 20 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and five blocks, becoming the first player in the last 25 years with a 20-10-5-5 performance. Fudd added 27 points, seven assists and six steals. It’s hard to read too much into the blowout victory, but how both perform throughout the tournament will likely be the difference in whether UConn wins its first national title since 2016.

The 69-point win tied for the seventh-widest margin of victory in the NCAA Tournament (a list in which UConn owns four of the top-seven all-time blowouts).

RankMargin of victoryWinnerLoserYear

A second-round matchup with either Oklahoma State or South Dakota State awaits. Each will be a tougher test than the Red Wolves. But UConn made a strong first impression — that they can dominate like Huskies teams of the past.

— Ben Pickman

No. 6 Iowa 92, No. 11 Murray State 57

Iowa makes it look easy against Murray State

No Caitlin Clark, no problem for the No. 6 Hawkeyes, who in their first NCAA Tournament game since their superstar left for the WNBA made it look easy against No. 11 Murray State.

The Hawkeyes dismantled the Racers 92-57 in the first game of the day Saturday, with the 92 points marking their highest scoring output since they hung 94 on Toledo in November.

Five players scored in double figures, with freshman center Ava Heiden leading the way with 15 points while adding seven rebounds in 17 minutes of play. Fellow rookie Taylor Stremlow had a career-high 10 points.

The Hawkeyes shot 56 percent from the field and 47 percent from beyond the arc, while outrebounding the Racers 44-32. With 41 bench points and 62 points in the paint, the Hawkeyes leaned into their size and depth to dominate from start to finish in one of the more efficient performances we’ve seen so far.