Tracks are so overrated.
Day two of the NCAA Women’s Tournament was wild, with Baylor, Ohio State and Miami all coming back to win after dropping 16 or more points. That’s the most in a single day for the women’s tournament, and matches the record for the entire tournament set in 2017.
Coming from behind has become a hallmark of Ohio State, so it was almost to be expected that the Buckeyes would erase a 16-point lead against James Madison. Miami was no slouch, beating Oklahoma State 42-24 in the second half as the Hurricanes came back from a 17-point deficit.
And then came Baylor. He was held to a season-low four points in the first quarter by Alabama, and the game was so lopsided at one point that Alabama’s Brittany Davis single-handedly beat the Lady Bears.
But sticking to the theme of the day, Baylor beat Alabama 48-33 in the second half and made free throws down the stretch to clinch the 18-point comeback. It was the third-largest rally in NCAA tournament history.
Follow the madness: Latest NCAA College Basketball Women’s Tournament Scores and Schedules
“It’s March,” said Haley Cavinder of Miami. “It’s a 40-minute game, so we stuck to it. … It was nerve-wracking, but ended the game strong. It’s something I will remember forever.
We all will. Once our heart rates recover, ie.
Here’s a look at the other Day 2 winners and losers:
WINNERS
Jay Sheldon
It was as if Sheldon had never been absent.
In his 10th game of the season and first start since Feb. 5, the Ohio State senior guard earned an assist for his fifth career double-double. She had 17 points and nine assists, along with five rebounds and four steals in a team-high 36 minutes in the third-seeded Buckeyes’ comeback win over James Madison.
“Being there is awesome,” Sheldon said. “We have a great team, great chemistry, so playing with them is just fun.”
A foot injury has limited Sheldon, an honorable mention AP All-American last year, for much of the season. She appeared in a match between December 1 and the Big Ten tournament, and was on limited minutes during the tournament.
But healthy now, she could be a big factor for the Buckeyes.
“He’s the person on our team that makes everyone better,” Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said. “Everybody gets a little bit better when Jacy is on the pitch.”
Florida Gulf Coast
It’s probably time to stop ranking the Eagles in 12.
Washington State, the FGCU’s latest 5-seeded casualty, would certainly agree. A year after upsetting fifth-seeded Virginia Tech, FGCU beat the forks again with a 12-of-5 win, beating WSU 74-63 (it wasn’t as close as the scoreline suggests) . It was actually the third time FGCU had pulled off a 12-5 upset; the Eagles started this trend in 2018, with a win over Missouri.
What was impressive on Saturday was how the FGCU won: the Eagles lead the nation in 3 points per game, averaging nearly 12 per game. On Saturday, they dominated the paint instead, scoring 50 inside to Washington State’s 26. They only hit five 3s, which means they will be due in the second round against Villanova. The FGCU has never won a second round match. Will that change this year?
Maddy Siegrist
When you have Siegrist, you don’t need much else.
The nation’s leading scorer collected nearly half of Villanova’s first-half points – she had 22, ‘Nova had 42 – and finished with 35 as the fourth-seeded Wildcats won a 76-59 win over Cleveland State.
Siegrist’s prolific scoring comes as no surprise. She entered the tournament averaging 28.9 points per game, more than a point more than anyone, and lost a career-high 50 to Seton Hall last month.
Colorado
The Buffaloes advance to the second round for the first time since 2003.
There was a time, back in the 1990s and early 2000s, when Colorado was a team to be reckoned with in March. The Buffaloes made the tournament 10 times in 13 years from 1992 to 2004, reaching the Elite Eight in 1993, 1995 and 2002.
But after losing in the first round in 2004, Colorado would only make one appearance until last year. Now he’s building on that resurgence by winning his first game in 20 years.
LOSERS
washington state
Talk about Coug’ing it.
Thirteen days after winning the school’s first-ever Pac-12 championship in any sport, Washington State was toppled by the No. 12 seed FGCU, 74-63. The Eagles used a 30-point third quarter to get a split and shot 56% from the field in the victory. Meanwhile, WSU star Charlisse Leger-Walker, who averaged 18.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.4 steals, wasn’t a factor. The junior guard was a miserable 2 of 10 from the field, finishing with just five points before committing a foul with 5:25 left.
There’s an argument to be made that the Cougars were seeded like a 5 — they finished seventh in the Pac-12 regular season — but still, what a bummer.
Joe Tartamelle
The St. John’s coach, in his 11th season with the Red Storm, had a terrific year, finishing 23-9 and picking up two wins against ranked teams. St. John’s won a qualifying match against Purdue earlier this week and then led sixth-seeded North Carolina to the brink before losing 61-59 in a thrilling first-round match.
With 1.5 seconds left, St. John’s senior Danielle Patterson went to the line for 3 points, which would have tied the game (at the time, St. John’s trailed 61-58). Patterson, an 81 percent free throw shooter, missed the first two attempts before making the third.
But in the timeout that followed, Tartamella chastised her for not purposely missing the third. Why didn’t he coach her before she shot?
At a time when we have national conversations about what’s appropriate and what’s not in coaching, how bullying and teaching aren’t nearly the same thing, and the difference between the unhealthy and uncomfortable environments, picking on a kid on national TV – who’s probably already fighting – is pretty tone deaf.
Follow Nancy Armor on Twitter @nrarmour and Lindsay Schnell @Lindsay_Quick
