Virginia is marching on.
No. 10 Virginia stunned No. 2 Iowa, 83-75, in double extra time, changing into the lone double-digit seed to win in the first spherical AND advance to the Sweet 16. It marks Virginia’s first Sweet 16 look since 2000. The Cavaliers are additionally the first group in women’s tournament historical past to go from the First Four to the Sweet 16. Only 2.19 p.c of Women’s Bracket Challenge Game entries had the Cavaliers in the Sweet 16.
It was an up-and-down day for each squads. Virginia led by as many as seven in the first half to take a 28-23 halftime lead. Then Iowa settled in, outscoring Virginia 25-11 in the third quarter and going up 9 coming into the remaining body. But Virginia wouldn’t go down simply, outscoring Iowa 19-8 in the fourth quarter and tying the game at 57 with simply over two minutes to go.
The first extra time had unobserved fouls on each side, noticed the lead change palms, Virginia tie the game on a seven-foot floater from Virginia’s Kymora Johnson and a possible game-winning 3-pointer from Iowa’s Taylor Stremlow go in-and-out in the remaining seconds. But the end result was the similar — one other extra time.
If we realized one factor this tournament, Virginia is snug in shut video games. Virginia beat Arizona State in the First Four by two after which beat No. 7 Georgia in extra time in the first spherical.
The Cavaliers jumped forward in the second extra time and by no means appeared again. The two-headed assault of Paris Clark and Kymora Johnson pulled Virginia forward. Clark hit an and-one to present Virginia a 70-67 lead and Johnson was fouled on a 3-point try, going 2 of three to place the Cavaliers up 5, a lead Iowa would see develop to 9 and solely be capable to reduce down to 6 down the remaining stretch.
The Cavaliers had 4 double-digit scorers. Johnson, who by no means left the courtroom, led the approach with 28 factors and 4 assists. Clark and Romi Levy completed with 20 and 13 factors, respectively, whereas senior Caitlin Weimar completed with 12 coming off the bench.
Iowa was led by Ava Heiden, who went 11 for 22 for 26 factors, adopted by Chazadi Wright (21 factors) and a double-double from senior Hannah Stuelke (15 factors, 19 rebounds and 6 assists).
- Perfect Bracket Tracker: With Virginia’s gorgeous win, there are actually simply seven excellent brackets remaining throughout main on-line video games: 5 on ESPN and one in each the Women’s Bracket Challenge Game and Yahoo.
