Womens Hoops

Takeaways from a historical Sweet 16

Takeaways from a historical Sweet 16

Shyanne Sellers reacts to scoring a bucket. NCAA photo.

The upsets, comebacks, great individual performances, shocking moments and late game drama of the last two days made the Sweet 16 perhaps the best one ever. Advancing to the Elite 8 are two teams who have never been before, some who haven’t advanced to this round in a very long time, and some familiar faces.

Two key points from each matchup:

  • Shooting percentages define Miami-Villanova: As a team, Miami shot 45.6 percent from the field and their leading scorer, Jasmyne Roberts, had 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting, or 62.5 percent. Meanwhile, Villanova was shooting 36.5 percent, and even though the nation’s leading scorer in all of college basketball, Maddy Siegrist, had 31 points, she shot 8-of-29, or 27.6 percent. Overall, Siegrist was responsible for 46 percent of her team’s field goal attempts and 68.2 percent of their attempted free throws.
  • Overcoming turnover deficit: Shooting that well in this game allowed for the Hurricanes to overcome a 21-11 turnover differential that allowed for the Wildcats to have 30 points off of turnovers, compared to just 9 points for Miami. The two leading scorers also played a major role in forcing turnovers as both Roberts and Siegrist had four and five steals, respectively.
  • It all came down to free throws: In the game’s final minutes, both teams were at the line for the lead, and LSU capitalized, while Utah didn’t. With less than two minutes to go, Gianna Kneepkins made two to tie the game at 61. Isabel Palmer then made two with almost a minute to go to put Utah ahead 63-61. National Player of the Year candidate Angel Reese was fouled with exactly 57 seconds left, and split at the free-throw line in order for the Tigers to just be down 63-62. Alexis Morris proceeded to be fouled with 10 seconds, and made both free throws to put the purple and gold up, 64-63. Jenna Johnson proceeded to be fouled with four seconds left, and airballed the first free throw while outright missing the second, and Morris made two more free throws to give LSU the 66-63 win.
  • Foul trouble ruled the day: The Tigers saw three foul out, including Reese, while the Utes had just one in Alissa Pili. Both teams had at least five players with two fouls each and that paid dividends at the end, as both LSU and Utah shot 23 and 24 free throws, respectively.
  • Clark and Czinano: Once again, Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano shined for Iowa with their inside-out game, as the former had 31 points and…

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