Four women’s basketball teams advanced to the Elite Eight on Friday, and four more will look to punch their tickets on Saturday when teams in the Albany and Spokane regions square off.
Women’s NCAA Tournament 2015 schedule and bracket: The Elite Eight will be set on Saturday
Who will join South Carolina, Florida, Notre Dame and Baylor in the Elite Eight?
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The Connecticut Huskies are coming off two easy wins in the first two rounds, first destroying St. Francis and then dispatching Rutgers. The consensus favorite is playing like it, advancing without any problems despite foul trouble holding star Breanna Stewart to just 23 minutes in the Round of 32. Their Sweet 16 rivals, the Texas Longhorns, didn't have it so easy against California, but rode a dominant game from center Iman McGee-Stafford to a close win. Now they will try to pull off a huge upset by knocking off Connecticut.
Louisville-Dayton is the other game in the Albany region. The third-seeded Cardinals needed some late heroics from Jude Schimmel to get past South Florida, as the guard scored six consecutive points in the last minute and eight seconds to give Louisville room to breathe. Dayton, for its part, upset the second-seeded Kentucky Wildcats on a barn-burner to get to the Sweet 16 for the first time. Makayla Epps scored 29 points for Kentucky but Ally Malott answered with 28 of her own for the Lady Flyers.
In the Spokane region, No. 1 seed Maryland will battle fourth-seed Duke. The Terrapins ended Princeton’s unbeaten season with a convincing win fueled by a 17-2 run to start the second half. The Tigers had no answer to Laurin Mincy and Lexi Brown, who combined for 50 points and 11 assists. The Blue Devils, meanwhile, had to come back from behind to beat Mississippi State. Azura Stevens spearheaded the second half run and finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
Finally, Gonzaga will try to keep their surprising run going when they go against the No. 2 Tennessee. The Bulldogs upset sixth-seeded George Washington and third-seeded Oregon State already. Whether they can beat a traditional powerhouse like the Lady Vols remains to be seen. If Bashaara Graves can repeat the 21-point, 14-rebound performance she had against Pittsburg in the Round of 32, the Bulldogs’ chances don’t look great.
Here’s the full schedule for today (all times ET)
No. 1 Connecticut vs. No. 5 Texas, 12 p.m., ESPN
No. 3 Louisville vs. No. 7 Dayton, 2:30 p.m., ESPN
No. 1 No. Maryland vs. No. 4 Duke, 4:30 p.m., ESPN
No. 2 Tennessee vs. No. 11 Gonzaga, 7 p.m., ESPN
And here’s an updated bracket
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