Washington 72-54 South Dakota State (Mar 20, 2026) Game Recap
FORT WORTH, Texas — — Avery Howell had 30 factors and 9 rebounds to steer Washington to its first ladies’s NCAA Tournament victory since 2017, beating South Dakota State 72-54 on Friday.
South Dakota State jumped out to a 13-3 lead within the first 5 minutes, however the recreation was tied at 15 when Howell made a 3-pointer with 50 seconds left within the first quarter. Howell made one other 3 solely 55 seconds into the second quarter to interrupt that tie and put Washington (22-10) forward to remain.
Howell, the switch from Southern Cal who as a freshman final season was a part of the Trojans’ run to the Elite Eight, completed with seven 3s.
“That allowed me to have some experience and just feel really comfortable in these types of high-pressure situations,” Howell stated, referring to her earlier NCAA tourney. “That just allows me to hopefully be a calming presence on the court and just be there for my teammates and for my coaches in any way that I can.”
Brooklyn Meyer had 29 factors and 7 rebounds for South Dakota State (27-7), which had its 10-game successful streak snapped. Emilee Fox had 14 factors.
Brynn McGaughy added 14 factors in 18 minutes for the sixth-seeded Huskies, whose final NCAA tourney win got here on their method to the Sweet 16 9 years in the past. They lost a First Four game to Columbia final season in what had been their solely different look since then.
“Just really exciting because this is a program that has a lot of great history, a lot of great alumni, so many people that have poured into this university and this women’s basketball program,” coach Tina Langley stated. “These young women, they’ve come in here and they’ve done something really hard and I think it says a lot about who they are.”
Meyer had seven factors because the Jackrabbits acquired out to that early 10-point benefit.
“Felt like we were just rebounding well and taking good looks on offense and just being aggressive on both sides,” Meyer stated.
“Couldn’t have asked for a better way to get the game going. So you start having a sense that, OK, there’s some things that are working for us,” South Dakota State coach Aaron Johnston stated. “You know, we just gave up offensive rebounds, way too many offensive rebounds that were not contested ones. … I think that got them going and then we just started turning it over too much.”
Washington completed with a 40-25 rebounding margin, together with 14 offensive boards that led to 14 second-chance factors.
The Jackrabbits ended their fifteenth consecutive 20-win season, matching faculties like No. 1 total seed UConn, Baylor, Louisville and South Carolina with that sort of energetic streak.
The Eleventh-seeded Jackrabbits from the Summit League have twice gained as a double-digit seed, together with over seventh-seeded Oklahoma State last March.
The Huskies on Sunday play host and third-seeded TCU (30-5), an Elite Eight workforce final season that has gained 43 consecutive residence video games since February 2023. The Horned Frogs beat UC San Diego 86-40 of their first-round recreation earlier Friday.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and protection: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
