The opening round of the 2017 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament provided a wide array of blowouts and nail biters. Two No. 1 seeds (Connecticut and Baylor) scored over 115 points and won by more than 60. Two No. 2 seeds (Oregon State and Stanford) were pushed to the brink by No. 15 seeds.
Oregon State escaped with a 56-55 win over Long Beach State. The Beavers, who went to the Final Four last year, knocked down a pair of free throws with one minute remaining to take the lead for good.
Stanford came away with a 72-64 victory over New Mexico State. The Aggies led by as much as nine points in the third quarter before the Cardinal found its stride.
“You could tell we’ve been off for two weeks,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said, according to ESPN.com. “Hopefully we got the rust off, and we’ll be better on Monday.”
No rust was apparent for the four No. 1 seeds. The undefeated UConn Huskies topped Albany 116-55. The Baylor Bears demolished Texas Southern 119-30 in the biggest rout in NCAA Tournament history. Notre Dame defeated Robert Morris 79-49, and South Carolina beat UNC Ashville 90-40.
One of the most dramatic finishes came in the Texas A&M–Pennsylvania game. The 12th-seeded Quakers led 58-37 with less than nine minutes remaining. The fifth-seeded Aggies dominated from that point to pull out a 63-61 victory, which marks the largest comeback in tournament history.
While the Quakers failed to pull off the pull off the upset of a No. 5 seed, Quinnipiac was successful as the No. 12 Bobcats topped No. 5 Marquette 68-65.
Quinnipiac was one of two double-digit seeds to advance. No. 10 Oregon pulled out a narrow 71-70 victory over No. 7 Temple.
Looking ahead:
Oregon State and Stanford will look to return to form when they take the court in the second round. For Stanford, it will be difficult as it will be the only higher seed to play away from home. With the NCAA Gymnastic Championships at Stanford this weekend, the Cardinal is forced to travel to Kansas State. The Cardinal face the seventh-seeded host Wildcats Monday.
UConn will be facing a familiar foe in its second-round game as the Huskies will match up against No. 8 Syracuse. These two schools used to be rivals in the Big East and faced each other in the 2016 national championship game, which UConn won 82-51.