THE NCAA 2025 women’s tournament Friday suite with the first day of Sweet 16 Action.
[Read more: 2025 Women’s March Madness Schedule: Dates, locations, channels, how to watch]
Duke started the day with a vintage defensive performance, while the Blue Devils, the second seeded, smothered the third head of North Caroline.
Now, seeded n ° 1 in South Carolina continues its defense of the title while the Gamecocks display the Maryland of the fourth seeded.
Later, the state of Louisiana, third seeded, tries to make her third consecutive appearance Elite 8, but will have to go through the seeded n ° 2 of the North Carolina to get there.
The seeded of the NCAA female tournament, the UCLA, puts the night with its match against Ole Miss while the Bruins are trying to return to the Elite 8 for the first time since 2018.
Here are all the biggest moments of day 1 Sweet 16:
Oluchi Okananwa recorded his third double-double of the season to lead the champion of the ACC Duke tournament after the North Carolina 47-38 Friday and in elite 8 of the NCAA women’s tournament.
The Blue Devils will make their 12th appearance Elite 8 in the history of the program and will play the seeded n ° 1 and champion in defense of South Carolina or the fourth seeded of Maryland, which was to play Friday later in Birmingham.
Okananwa scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half with 10 rebounds on the bench for Duke, who obtained 26 points from his bench compared to the six in North Carolina. Ashlon Jackson finished with 10 points, and Toby Fournier, the top scorer in Duke this season which missed the second round with a disease, was held at three points.
Alyssa Ustby, a fifth year senior, has collected nine points out of 3 of the 10 shots for the Tar Heels, who have failed in their attempt to go to their first elite 8 since 2014.
Neither of the two teams fired the ball. Duke pulled 31% after missing his first nine goals on the ground. North Carolina went 28% on the ground.
Part of this could have been because of familiarity. The teams played for the second time this season less than a month ago. North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart said this week that there was an additional level of comfort against a team they had just played.
But these were also two of the country’s main defenses when they go, forcing turnover, stray fire and desperate uprisings at the end of the shooting chronometer at the start of the match.
It was the very first meeting of the NCAA tournament between the two teams, which have played 111 times. North Carolina still has a slight edge of 56-55.
Report by the Associated Press
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