IOWA CITY, Iowa
Lauren Jensen scored 19 points against her former team, including the go-ahead 3 with 12.9 seconds left that lifted No. 10 Creighton over Caitlyn Clark and second-seeded Iowa 64-62 Sunday in the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament.
Iowa (24-8), which shared the Big Ten regular-season title and won the conference tournament, had two chances to tie the game in the closing three seconds. Monika Czinano missed a layup with three seconds left, then Kate Martin missed a putback as the buzzer sounded.
Jensen, who played at Iowa last season as a freshman before transferring, had nine of her points in the fourth quarter. She had a layup with 1:26 left to cut Iowa’s lead to 62-60, then her 3-pointer gave the Bluejays a lead. After Clark missed a layup, Emma Ronziek made the second of two free throws for the final margin.
Payton Brotzki added 13 points for the Bluejays (22-9), who advance to their first-ever Sweet 16. They were the seventh double-digit seed to win in the women’s NCAA Tournament so far, matching the record set in 1998.
Monika Czinano led Iowa with 27 points. Clark, who came into the game as the nation’s leading scorer at 27.4 points per game, finished with 15 on 4-for-19 shooting, missing all eight shots in the second half.
GREENSBORO REGION
SOUTH CAROLINA 49, MIAMI 33
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Aliyah Boston had 10 points and 16 rebounds for her 26th double-double in a row as top-seeded South Carolina used its strong defense to hold off Miami.
The Gamecocks (31-2) again held an opponent without a field goal in the second quarter and Miami (21-13) shot just 24% for the game as South Carolina coach Dawn Staley advanced to her eighth Sweet 16 in nine tournament appearances.
The Gamecocks led throughout despite shooting only 30%. Kamilla Cardoso led South Carolina with 11 points. Boston was 4-of-15 shooting, missing both her 3-pointers, and made just 2 of 6 free throws.
Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi of Miami, a former teammate of Cardoso at Syracuse, led all scorers with 15 points.
SPOKANE REGION
MARYLAND 89, FLORIDA GULF COAST 65
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Diamond Miller scored 24 points as fourth-seeded Maryland used a 19-0 run spanning parts of both halves to pull away from 12th-seeded Florida Gulf Coast.
Angel Reese added 21 points and Ashley Osusu scored 20 for the Terrapins (23-8), who advanced to the Sweet 16 for the 10th time under coach Brenda Frese.
Kendall Spray scored 17 points in the first half but none in the second for FGCU, and the Eagles (30-3) couldn’t follow their first-round win over Virginia Tech with another victory.
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