Sweet 16 regulars UConn and Notre Dame join UNC and Vanderbilt in women’s regional semifinals

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — UConn and Notre Dame are common contributors in the Sweet 16 of the women’s NCAA Tournament. North Carolina and Vanderbilt have additionally been there fairly a bit, simply not on the identical constant foundation.

Those 4 groups, all amongst solely 15 which have made the second weekend of the event 15 instances, play in the Fort Worth Regional 1 semifinals on Friday. The defending nationwide champion and top-seeded Huskies tackle No. 4 seed North Carolina, after No. 2 seed Vanderbilt performs No. 6 seed Notre Dame in a matchup of two of the nation’s three prime scorers.

“You play, what, 36 games, and you try to put yourself in this situation as often as you can,” stated Geno Auriemma, UConn’s 12-time nationwide champion coach. “I think every team that’s here knows that this weekend is probably the biggest weekend of the year. I know everybody talks about the Final Four and all that, but getting there is a lot harder than what happens after you get there, I think.”

The Huskies (36-0), with AP All-America teammates Azzi Fudd and North Carolina native Sarah Strong, took a 52-game profitable streak into their report thirty second consecutive Sweet 16 look and thirty third total. The Tar Heels (28-7) are making their twentieth look, however earlier than final 12 months they’d been solely as soon as in 9 seasons.

“It means a lot. … We had a lot of milestones every year that we wanted to accomplish. Each year we keep growing and taking that extra step,” third-year UNC guard Indya Nivar stated. “We want to keep growing it.”

Vanderbilt (29-4) is in its fifteenth Sweet 16 however first since 2009. And it comes with graduate switch guard Iyana Moore now beginning for the Fighting Irish (24-10) after averaging 13.1 factors in 100 video games for the Commodores over three seasons.

“She was a big part of our rebuild at Vanderbilt, so I’m excited to see her and I’m just excited to play against her, see what she’s learned,” stated Commodores senior ahead Sacha Washington, who was Moore’s roommate and remains to be an in depth pal.

This is the fifteenth time in a row when making the NCAA Tournament that Notre Dame has gotten a minimum of to the Sweet 16 — the Irish missed the tourney in 2021, the one time since 1995 they weren’t in the sector. They gained the nationwide title in 2018 and misplaced in the title sport a 12 months later, however have not gotten previous the Sweet 16 since.

“I think it’s incredible what Vandy has done this year,” Moore stated. “They’ve been put in a great position just to go out there and be polished in March.”

Hannah Hidalgo, who leads the nation with 5.6 steals a sport and is third in scoring at 25.2 factors, was the one returning starter for the Irish. They misplaced eight gamers after final season, together with three now enjoying professionally and three others who transferred, amongst them Olivia Miles, who’s in the Sweet 16 with TCU.

“It speaks volumes. … The team that we have, they just are connected,” stated sixth-year Irish coach Niele Ivey, who was a part of each of Notre Dame’s nationwide titles, as a participant in 2001 and the opposite as an assistant coach. “The last several weeks we’ve done a great job of really peaking at the right time, and our chemistry is clicking at the right time.”

Notre Dame’s solely loss its final 10 video games was to Duke in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament semifinals.

Vanderbilt guard Mikayla Blakes, the Southeastern Conference participant of the 12 months, leads the nation in scoring at 27 factors per sport. That’s 1.8 factors higher than Hidalgo, the ACC participant of the 12 months who was additionally named the league’s prime defensive participant.

The participant ranked second amongst them is Audi Crooks at 25.8 factors per sport, however her Iowa State workforce misplaced in the primary spherical.

UConn’s Strong is from Durham, North Carolina, not removed from Chapel Hill and the UNC campus. The sophomore was closely recruited by the Tar Heels earlier than selecting the Huskies, for whom she has averaged 17.4 factors over 75 video games thus far.

“She’s a special kid. It’s a kid I’ve loved for a long time. I think she’s a generational talent,” UNC coach Courtney Banghart stated. “It’s been fun to support her. I’ve watched a lot of their games because I’m a Sarah Strong fan. You know, you never want to let a kid like that out of your state. I thought we were really close to getting her, but obviously she made a good decision as well. There’s no bad decision for a kid that talented.”

Banghart stated his younger youngsters ran up and hugged Strong when the groups performed early final season. The Tar Heels lostgiving Auriemma his 1,216th profession victory to match the Division I males’s or women’s report. Her youngsters are enthusiastic about attending to see Strong once more this week.

“It was definitely a tough decision. I love Courtney. I love UNC. Just, yeah, every time I visited, she’s made me feel so welcome,” Strong stated. “I think she’s a great coach. I have a lot of respect for her and very excited to be playing against them.”

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and protection: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness