No. 10 South Dakota knocks out Baylor
One other Last 4 favourite is out of the NCAA girls’s event discipline earlier than the second weekend.
No. 10 South Dakota knocked out No. 2 Baylor, 61-47, on the Bears’ house court docket to advance to the Wichita area semifinal. It is the Coyotes first Candy 16 berth and was barely doubtful after a 16-4 lead by means of one quarter.
The Coyotes (29-5), which took down No. 7 Ole Miss within the first spherical, haven’t trailed within the event. They be part of Creighton, the ten seed within the Greensboro area, in upending No. 2 seeds. Creighton additionally used 3-pointers and stiff protection to defeat No. 2 Iowa earlier Sunday.
No. 2 Texas dominated in a win in opposition to seventh-seeded Utah to achieve the Spokane regional semifinal and UConn will play No. 7 seed UCF on Monday night time within the Bridgeport area.
Baylor (28-7) trailed by double digits for a lot of the competition and lacked urgency within the ultimate three minutes after they got here inside seven. The streak consecutive Candy 16 berths ends at 12 for the Bears. It is their first season below head coach Nicki Collen, who took over for legendary Bears chief Kim Mulkey.
South Dakota controls from tip
South Dakota stormed out to an 11-0 lead hitting all 4 of its first photographs — three from behind the arc — whereas the Bears turned it over 10 instances. Baylor might by no means catch again up and scored a season-low 4 factors within the first quarter. South Dakota led by 12 on the break and saved the identical distance at half, 34-23.
The Coyotes offense hit half of their 16 3-pointers and never even a chilly stretch by means of the fourth might finish their March. The Summit League champions have been led by a balanced assault from their “tremendous” senior starters.
Heart Hannah Sjerven scored a team-high 16 factors and 4 of South Dakota’s 10 steals. She added 4 rebounds and a block. Chloe Lamb added 15 factors and was 3-of-6 from behind the arc. She added 4 rebounds, two assists and two steals. And Liv Korngable had 11 with a team-high 5 assists, two rebounds and a steal.
Baylor received the battle on the boards, 40-32, nevertheless it was the important thing defensive rebounds within the backend of the fourth quarter that helped South Dakota stand up to the offensive draught. That they had 10 steals to Baylor’s 4 and had 5 fewer turnovers.
Baylor’s offense struggles
Baylor ahead NaLyssa Smith, the projected No. 1 WNBA choose by many, neared a double-double, however was not as efficient as typical. She had 10 factors (4-of-10) with eight rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block. She averaged 22.4 factors and 11.6 rebounds and heated up within the backend of the season as she labored her method into the nationwide participant of the yr dialogue.
Queen Egbo led the Bears with 13 factors and was essentially the most environment friendly (6-of-7). Baylor was 17-of-54 (31.5%), a mark that dropped to 23% when Egbo’s stats are taken out. Nobody outdoors of Egbo and Smith shot higher than 30% and solely Sarah Andrews hit greater than two 3-pointers. They have been 5-of-26 (19.2%).
From the tip, Baylor regarded out of kinds and could not discover any reply. It was a five-point sport halfway by means of the second quarter. Level guard Jordan Lewis hit a 3 that minimize it the deficit to 4 at 2:45 of the second solely to have Sjerven reply along with her personal on an help by Korngable.
