Saturday’s March Madness: South Carolina Stays Perfect

SEATTLE — Third-seeded Ohio State romped previous second-seeded Connecticut to advance to the spherical of 8, grabbing maintain of the sport early and unceremoniously ending UConn’s lengthy streak of reaching the ultimate weekend of the N.C.A.A. ladies’s match.

Ohio State received, 73-61, stopping the Huskies from reaching the spherical of 8 for the primary time since 2005 and the Final Four for the primary time since 2007, a streak that features six nationwide championships, together with 4 straight from 2013 to 2016.

The Buckeyes took management within the second quarter with a game-defining run that began once they was 8 factors down late within the first.

They discovered their movement with a swarming press protection that compelled a flurry of turnovers and sparked a 17-point run. Perhaps extra jarring than Ohio State’s scoring in that stretch was its means to carry the Huskies with out even a field-goal try for almost 5 minutes to start out the second quarter.

“We lost our balance and we lost our equilibrium a bit, and I don’t think we ever got it back,” Geno Auriemma, UConn’s longtime coach, mentioned after the sport.

UConn turned the ball over on eight straight possessions initially of the second quarter, and watched one in all its most necessary gamers get harm.

Lou Lopez Sénéchal, a switch pupil who took on a management position when Paige Bueckers was misplaced for the season with a knee damage, left the courtroom limping after crumbling to the ground with ache in her proper knee as she tried to arrange a play. She returned within the second half and led the Huskies with 25 factors.

UConn ahead Aaliyah Edwards, the crew’s main scorer this season, additionally hit the bench for key stretches due to foul bother. She was held to only 4 factors — and 4 photographs.

Ohio State, led by 23 factors from Cotie McMahon, was in a position to stem a number of pushes by UConn within the second half, largely by maintaining its aggressive protection.

Anxiety on the UConn bench constructed within the fourth as Ohio State gamers tried to maintain their cool. The Buckeyes performed with the arrogance of a crew that knew its strengths, and with the starvation of an underdog going through a program that has been a dynasty.

With 90 seconds remaining, Ohio State slowed the tempo as some gamers on the UConn bench struggled to look at the sport come to a detailed.

Ohio State has appeared within the N.C.A.A. match’s spherical of 16 twice in a row. This was UConn’s twenty ninth consecutive look. The final time Ohio State superior to the spherical of 8 was in 1993, when it made it to the championship recreation and misplaced to Texas Tech.

Last season, UConn misplaced the championship recreation to South Carolina. The Huskies haven’t received the title since 2016.

Ohio State will face Tennessee or Virginia Tech within the spherical of 8 on Monday night. — Talya Minsberg

GREENVILLE, S.C. — U.C.L.A. started its ladies’s regional semifinal towards South Carolina with the defensive technique that almost each crew this season has tried towards the undefeated Gamecocks. The Bruins sat in a zone protection, dropping their guards beneath the free-throw line to assist defend towards South Carolina’s towering forwards.

South Carolina struggled, capturing simply 38 % from the sector and 25 % from 3-point vary, however U.C.L.A. couldn’t flip the reigning champion’s mishaps into factors, falling 59-43 to ship the Gamecocks to the spherical of 8.

South Carolina capitalized on second-chance alternatives and smothered the Bruins’ offense, and its star ahead, Aliyah Boston, led the best way with 8 factors, 14 rebounds and a couple of blocks.

The Gamecocks’ dimension distinction was evident all through, as South Carolina bullied the smaller Bruins within the paint, typically knocking them down. One of probably the most notable performs of the sport got here when 6-foot-7 middle Kamilla Cardoso chased down and swatted a layup try by U.C.L.A. guard Londynn Jones, which despatched Jones flying to the ground.

“We always talk about like we don’t want to get punked, like don’t step out on the floor and let any team punk us,” Boston mentioned. “So I don’t think we look at ourselves as the bully, I think we just play our game and that’s just being dominant.”

South Carolina guard Zia Cooke added that the crew had too many nice gamers to be thought of bullies.

“We have a lot of cheat codes on our team,” she mentioned. After itemizing off the specialties of every participant on the roster, she added: “Everybody’s got a superpower. It’s a blessing to have.”

During the primary three video games of this mixed regional at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, on Friday and Saturday, a smattering of followers had crammed in solely the sections close to midcourt, with a lot of the enviornment remaining empty. That modified on Saturday afternoon. Just as Maryland and Notre Dame’s recreation was ending up and South Carolina’s recreation was set to start, followers carrying garnet T-shirts packed the sector. They roared with their crew’s each rating and booed something in favor of fourth-seeded U.C.L.A.

The enviornment is taken into account a impartial regional web site by the N.C.A.A., however it serves successfully as a house recreation for South Carolina, the match’s No. 1 total seed. Cori Close, U.C.L.A.’s coach, acknowledged the drawback earlier than the sport however mentioned that the regional websites had been “important to keep growing our sport.”

“Look how many upsets we had on home courts in the first two rounds,” she mentioned. “So bottom line is you’ve got to play your best basketball, and you’ve got to be a tough team, you’ve got to be a together team, and you’ve got to find ways to win.”

Cooke mentioned that she didn’t assume the regional format was unfair and that South Carolina deserved to play in entrance of the fan base that Coach Dawn Staley constructed.

U.C.L.A. appeared poised to threaten South Carolina’s quest for a second straight title. When the groups performed in November, the Gamecocks overcame a 10-point first-half deficit and ended up profitable by 9. After the sport, South Carolina Coach Dawn Staley instructed Close that they’d see one another once more.

Staley’s phrases had been prescient, however this matchup was by no means shut. South Carolina proved why it has been one of the best crew in Division I all season, with the peak and physicality to overwhelm U.C.L.A.

South Carolina will play Maryland on Monday. — Kris Rhim

Diamond Miller leads Maryland into the spherical of 8.

GREENVILLE, S.C. — When Notre Dame and Maryland matched up in December, the sport rapidly turned the Diamond Miller present. Miller, a 6-foot-3 guard, scored her thirty first level on a game-winning, one-legged fadeaway jumper. She ran round Notre Dame’s house courtroom together with her index finger on her lips to silence the gang.

On Saturday, within the spherical of 16 of the ladies’s N.C.A.A. match, Notre Dame appeared hellbent on stopping the Miller present. The Fighting Irish doubled-teamed — and typically triple-teamed — Miller when she obtained the ball within the publish.

But Notre Dame’s stop-Miller-at-all-costs technique left room for different gamers, who capitalized on open appears and saved the sport shut whereas Miller struggled. In the second half, Miller ultimately obtained right into a groove, and second-seeded Maryland beat No. 3 seed Notre Dame, 76-59. Maryland will advance to its first round-of-8 recreation since 2015. Miller and guard Shyanne Sellers led all scorers with 18 factors apiece.

“I felt like they were daring me to shoot,” mentioned Maryland guard Lavender Briggs, who scored 12 factors.

Notre Dame threw the primary figurative punch of the sport. Down by 5, the Fighting Irish scored 13 straight factors within the second quarter, neutralizing Miller and main Maryland’s half-court offense into compelled photographs and errant passes that resulted in turnovers.

But within the second half, Miller obtained unfastened. And Maryland responded with an enormous third quarter, anchored by Miller and Sellers. Maryland cruised within the fourth.

Despite the eight-year drought, the spherical of 8 is acquainted to Maryland and its coach, Brenda Frese. Since she began in 2002, Maryland has been among the many greatest groups in faculty basketball. The Terrapins have made the spherical of 8 six occasions and received this system’s solely nationwide title in 2006. — Kris Rhim