NCAA Women’s Tournament 2025: Top moments from Day 4

The 2025 NCAA Women’s Tournament continued Monday with the final slate of second-round action.

[Read more: 2025 Women’s March Madness Schedule: Dates, locations, channels, how to watch]

On Sunday, eight teams moved on to the Sweet 16, including No. 1 seeds UCLA and South Carolina. The other half of the field was finalized Monday. No. 1 seed Texas skated into the next round, while No. 3 LSU is headed to its third Sweet 16 in a row. No. 3 seed North Carolina also knocked off No. 6 seed West Virginia to set up a rubber match with Duke in the Sweet 16.

Paige Bueckers, in her final home game, carried No. 2 seed UConn to its 31st straight Sweet 16 in a win over No. 10 seed South Dakota State. 

In the game of the tournament to this point, No. 4 seed Maryland came back from a 17-point deficit to beat No. 5 seed Alabama in a double-overtime thriller.  

Unfortunately, it wasn’t all good news: USC superstar JuJu Watkins was injured as the No. 1-seeded Trojans rolled over No. 9 seed Mississippi State.

Here are all the biggest moments from Day 2 of the Round of 32: 

JuJu Watkins leaves with injury as USC buries Mississippi State

JuJu Watkins went down with a gruesome-looking knee injury five minutes into Monday night’s game. Top-seeded Southern California kept going without its star player, pummeling Mississippi State 96-59 to reach the Sweet 16 for the second straight year.

Watkins scored three points on free throws before injuring her right knee. The crowd went silent as she writhed in pain and clutched her knee while her teammates looked on helplessly and coach Lindsay Gottlieb rushed to her side. Watkins was carried off the floor by multiple people.

“She’s being seen by our great medical team,” Gottlieb told ESPN at halftime. “JuJu is the toughest kid I know and she’s gonna be good one way or another.”

Her teammates were terrific in her absence. They kept their poise while building leads of 28-8 after one quarter, 50-27 at halftime and 75-42 after three.

Kiki Iriafen, a Stanford graduate transfer, scored a season-high 36 points on 16-of-22 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds. She left with 6:29 remaining and the crowd chanting, “Kiki! Kiki!” Freshman Avery Howell added 18 points, hitting four 3-pointers.

The Bulldogs were led by Jerkaila Jordan with 17 points.

The Trojans (30-3) were up 34 points in the third. Their fans loved it, getting on their feet and roaring, especially when Iriafen waved both arms in the air, urging them on.

Mississippi State couldn’t handle the bigger Trojans, who instead of being deflated without Watkins seemed hell-bent on punishing their opponent.

The Bulldogs (22-12) had more than just the Trojans to contend with. The home crowd, angered by the loss of one of the game’s biggest stars, booed every time MSU touched the ball and their cheerleaders heard it, too, getting jeered during a halftime routine.

The victory keeps the Trojans on a potential collision course with Paige Bueckers and UConn in the regional final in Spokane, Washington. They got knocked out by the Huskies in last year’s Elite Eight.

Losing Watkins early in the game gave the Trojans a chance to showcase their depth. They had five players in double figures, including three of their seven freshmen.

The Bulldogs are known for their defensive prowess, but USC forced them into 20 turnovers that led to 27 points for the Trojans.

The Trojans play fifth-seeded Kansas State (28-7) in the Spokane 4 regional semifinals on Saturday.

Paige Bueckers scores 34 in last home game as UConn dominates South Dakota State

Paige Bueckers matched her career high with 34 points in her home finale, and second-seeded UConn reached its 31st straight Sweet 16 in the women’s NCAA Tournament, beating No. 10 seed South Dakota State 91-57 on Monday night.

Having said goodbye to her adoring fans at Gampel Pavilion, Bueckers, a senior who is expected to be the top overall pick in the WNBA Draft, turns her attention toward trying to bring UConn its 12th national title and first since 2016.

Azzi Fudd scored 17 points and Sarah Strong finished with 15 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks for the Huskies (33-3), who will face Oklahoma in a regional semifinal in Spokane, Washington.

Paige Meyer had 16 points for South Dakota State (30-4).

Brooklyn Meyer, the Jackrabbits’ leading scorer who is not related to Paige Meyer, went down with an ankle injury with 30.9 seconds left in the first half and had to be helped to the locker room. She returned for the second half and finished with four points in 28 minutes.

The Jackrabbits led by six points twice in the first quarter behind the strong play of Paige Meyer, the program’s single-season leader in assists. UConn responded by bringing in sophomore guard KK Arnold, whose ball pressure helped stifle the South Dakota State offense.

With Arnold getting the job done on defense, Bueckers took care of the rest. The All-America guard scored UConn’s last 10 points of the first quarter, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

Bueckers had seven points in a 16-2 run in the second quarter to push the lead to 21. UConn made 10 shots in a row at one point in the second quarter and eight in a row in the third quarter.

North Carolina takes down West Virginia to set up Sweet 16 date with Duke

Alyssa Ustby scored 16 of her 21 points after halftime to help North Carolina beat West Virginia 58-47 on Monday night in the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament.

The fifth-year senior’s big night included 10 third-quarter points for the third-seeded Tar Heels (29-7), who reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2022. North Carolina will face Duke in a regional semifinal in Birmingham, Alabama — the first meeting between the rivals in the women’s March Madness bracket. The Atlantic Coast Conference rivals split their regular-season meetings.

Lexi Donarski and Reniya Kelly each scored 11 points for UNC, which shot just 37.9% but locked down defensively while scoring 23 points off turnovers.

Jordan Harrison scored 10 points to lead the sixth-seeded Mountaineers (25-8), who fell short in their latest attempt to make the Sweet 16 for the first time since the tournament’s expansion to 64 teams in 1994.

West Virginia shot just 24.1% for the game, including 1-for-14 in the final quarter. That ultimately ended West Virginia’s chance to push back as the Tar Heels started to stretch out a lead to end the third quarter, beginning with a 9-0 run.

Kelly struck with a tying jumper near the right elbow, followed by Indya Nivar pushing a rebound in transition to set up Donarski for a right-wing 3 on the catch that put UNC ahead for good.

Ustby followed by driving on sagging defender Jordan Thomas for a reverse layup, then got to the line for two free throws that capped the run and pushed UNC to a 42-35 lead with 1:38 left in the third.

West Virginia never got closer than five again, with none of its shots finding the net as the game hung in the balance and Ustby staying on the attack — at one point drawing three fouls on one possession early in the fourth.

West Virginia missed its first 11 shots of the fourth quarter before Sydney Shaw hit a 3-pointer with 37.8 seconds left.

LSU cruises past Florida State to advance to third straight Sweet 16

Mikaylah Williams scored 28 points and Aneesah Morrow added 26 points and 11 rebounds, leading Flau’Jae Johnson and LSU to a runaway 101-71 victory over Florida State in the second round.

Sa’Myah Smith had a season-high 20 points and 12 rebounds for LSU (30-5), which blew open what had been a 50-49 game at halftime by outscoring the Seminoles 31-6 in the third quarter.

Johnson, who played just seven minutes in the first half after apparently aggravating a right shin injury, returned to start the second half and stirred the home crowd into a frenzy with a series of electrifying plays.

She began by dribbling across the paint in transition and hitting a right-handed hook off the glass while being fouled — a three-point play that gave LSU a 59-51 lead.

Soon after came her layup on a driving right-handed scoop, and then a driving, no-look, underhanded flip to Morrow in the paint for an easy layup.

After that, Johnson blocked O’Mariah Gordon’s perimeter shot, drew a foul on the other end and hit two free throws to make it 78-55.

She scored nine of her 13 points in the period and her energy was contagious. Williams scored 12 during the quarter while the third-seeded Tigers suffocated a Seminoles offense that had led the nation in scoring this season with 87.4 points per game.

Ta’Niya Latson scored a game-high 30 points, but just seven after halftime. Makayla Timpson scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the sixth-seeded Seminoles (24-9).

LSU advances to the third round of the NCAA Tournament for a third straight season, a streak that began during its 2023 national title run. Last season, the Tigers advanced to the Elite 8 before losing to Iowa.

Maryland stages comeback, then outlasts Alabama in a 2OT instant classic 

Sarah Te-Biasu made a tying 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter, then scored eight of her 26 points in the second overtime to help fourth-seeded Maryland outlast fifth-seeded Alabama 111-108 on Monday.

The Terrapins (25-7) advance to play top-seeded South Carolina in the Sweet 16, but to get there they had to overcome a career-high 45 points by Alabama’s Sarah Ashlee Barker — and a 17-point Crimson Tide lead in the third quarter.

After Te-Biasu forced the first overtime with her 3-pointer, Barker was fouled shooting a 3 with 0.7 seconds left in OT. She calmly swished all three attempts to tie it at 96 and send the game to a second extra session.

It was surely the game of the tournament so far, and the only time in four second-round matchups that a No. 4 seed was able to take advantage of home court and beat the No. 5 seed. There has never been a Sweet 16 in the women’s NCAA Tournament without at least one No. 4 seed.

It almost happened this year, but with Maryland up three, Diana Collins missed a 3-pointer for the Crimson Tide (24-9). The ball went out of bounds to Alabama with 1.8 seconds left, but Te-Biasu broke up the inbound pass — which was headed in Barker’s direction — to seal the game.

Only three players in tournament history have scored more points than Barker’s 45: Drake’s Lorri Bauman had 50 against Maryland in a 1982 regional final, Texas Tech’s Sheryl Swoopes scored 47 in the 1993 title game against Ohio State, and Stanford’s Jayne Appel had 46 in a 2009 regional final against Iowa State.

After coming alive offensively in the fourth, the Terps finally tied it at 80 on two free throws by Shyanne Sellers with 1:01 to play. Barker put Alabama back ahead with a 3-pointer with 38.6 seconds left, and then Barker blocked a 3 by Kaylene Smikle at the other end.

But the Terps came up with the ball, and Te-Biasu’s 3 tied it with 12 seconds left. Karly Weathers missed a midrange shot for Alabama, and the Crimson Tide had to go to overtime with two of their top players — Zaay Green and Aaliyah Nye — having already fouled out.

Skylar Vann and No. 3 seed Oklahoma easily dispatch No. 6 seed Iowa

Vann scored 17 points, Payton Verhulst added 16 and No. 3 seed Oklahoma cruised into the Sweet 16 of the women’s NCAA Tournament, dispatching No. 6 seed Iowa on Monday, 96-62.

Raegan Beers had 11 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks in just 18 minutes for the Sooners.

Oklahoma coach Jennie Baranczyk beat her alma mater and advanced past the second round for the first time in her four years with the Sooners. Oklahoma (27-7) will play UConn or South Dakota State on Saturday in Spokane, Washington.

Caitlin Clark had led Iowa to the previous two national championship games before she became the No. 1 overall pick in last year’s WNBA Draft. Without her, the Hawkeyes shot 36.4% from the field. Lucy Olsen scored 20 points and Kylie Feuerbach added 14 for Iowa (23-11).

Iowa ran out to a 10-4 lead, but the Sooners closed the first quarter on a 16-1 run. The Sooners led 38-27 at halftime, despite Beers sitting out most of the half with two fouls.

Oklahoma, which went 2-for-17 on 3-pointers in the first half, hit three in a 55-second span early in the second half to go up 49-32. The Sooners pushed the lead to 68-43 by the end of the third quarter.

No. 1 seed Texas handles No. 8 seed Illinois to advance to Sweet 16

Madison Booker scored 20 points and No. 1-seed Texas used a smothering defense to earn a 65-48 victory over No. 8 Illinois on Monday, sending the Longhorns to the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in the last five seasons.

Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda added 19 points for Texas (33-3), which will meet SEC rival No. 5 Tennessee (24-9) in Birmingham, Alabama, on Saturday.

Texas outscored Illinois 18-6 in the second quarter, then broke the game open at the start of the third when the Longhorns stretched the lead to 24 after steals by Booker and Rori Harmon led to quick baskets.

Texas’ relentless ball pressure harassed Illinois (22-10) the entire game, and the Longhorns scored 23 points off 20 Illini turnovers.

Mwenentanda had started 12 of the Longhorns’ previous 14 games but was on the bench for tipoff again as Texas inserted freshman guard Jordan Lee in her place. She responded by scoring a career high in points on 7-of-10 shooting and also grabbed six rebounds.

No. 2 seed NC State’s 3-point splurge caps rout of No. 7 seed Michigan State

Aziaha James scored 26 points and second-seeded NC State made an NCAA Tournament program-record 15 shots from 3-point range in an 83-49 victory over seventh-seeded Michigan State in the women’s second round on Monday.

James connected for six 3s and Madison Hayes, who had 17 points, drilled five 3-pointers. Saniya Rivers added 17 points and 11 assists and Zamareya Jones had 12 points for the Wolfpack (28-6).

NC State will meet either Florida State or LSU in a Sweet 16 matchup on Friday in Spokane, Washington. The Wolfpack will be in the Sweet 16 for the sixth time in coach Wes Moore’s 12 seasons.

NC State began 5-for-6 on 3-pointers and 10-for-13 overall from the field to lead 25-9. The Wolfpack reached a season-high for 3-point baskets with 12 less than five minutes into the third quarter and kept going.

James and Hayes, both seniors in their final home game, combined for 32 points as the Wolfpack built a 47-23 halftime lead on the way to their 18th home win without a loss this season.

The Wolfpack’s five first-quarter 3s matched their most in any quarter this season. Then they did it again in the second quarter. NC State has won 20 consecutive home NCAA Tournament games. The Wolfpack hasn’t lost in the tournament in Raleigh in 42 years.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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