Liam Koch, Contributing Writer
The NCAA Women’s basketball tournament is in full swing as the first round began on Wednesday the 19th. The destruction began on Friday however, when three teams dominated their opponents, each one scoring over one hundred points. One of those teams is South Carolina, a number one seed and a favorite to win the tournament.
South Carolina shined in the first round, taking home a 108 – 48 win over Tennessee Tech. Joyce Edwards shined for them, scoring 22 points on nine field goals. The team as a whole had a field goal and three-point percentage above 60%, as opposed to their opponents, who failed to have anything higher than 32.2% for field goals. The biggest question remaining for South Carolina is whether they will be able to top UConn if they meet in the finals.
UConn destroyed its first-round opponent, Arkansas State. The team won 103 – 34 and saw fantastic showings from Sarah Strong, Azzi Fudd, and Ashlynn Shade. All three of these players scored twenty or more points, while Sarah Strong had 12 rebounds to add to her dominant night. Surprisingly, Paige Buekers did not have an outstanding performance, she had 11 points. The only team that, barring an upset, could stop UConn from reaching the semifinals is USC.
Unlike the other top seeds in the tournament, USC had a quieter performance in the first round. While they held their opponent, UNC, to just 25 points, USC scored 71. They did not provide the high points that a lot of other teams did, and their three-point percentage was lower than their opponent’s, at just 21.4%. However, their star player, JuJu Watkins, had a decent showing, scoring 22 points for the team. Their offense may not have put up a massive amount of points, but their defense did a good job of containing the ball and recovering rebounds. As a team, they got 23 turnovers and secured 36 defensive rebounds for a total of 60 rebounds.
All of the top seeds are looking strong in the tournament. So far, there have only been a handful of upsets, and of those upsets, the highest seed was only a 7th. Upsets have long been one of the most exciting parts of March Madness; however, the first round’s lack of them, and the top seeds all dominating their opponents has created a lack of competition. However, this first round, while lacking upsets, has not lacked high-point games.
The first round had a total of six teams score over 100 points in their games, mostly coming from the top seeds. However, one of those teams is the number five seed, Tennessee, which put up 101 against South Florida. In this game, Tennessee dominated thanks to their incredible ball security, only having 6 total turnovers throughout the entire game as opposed to their opponent’s 24.
So far, the tournament has had a lack of memorable upsets, however that does not mean there was nothing fun to watch. There were numerous games which showed a masterclass in offense and games which had incredible defensive plays. The goal of the early rounds is more to give a hint of what is to come, and with how these teams are playing, it will become an incredibly memorable tournament.
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