Aaliyah Edwards' double-double helps UConn survive Syracuse scare, advance to Sweet 16

UConn coach Geno Auriemma says his team will go as far in the NCAA Tournament as Paige Bueckers will take them.

It will also help if the Huskies freshmen continue playing the way they did Monday.

Bueckers tied her season high with 32 points, freshman Ashlynn Shade added 19 and No. 3 seed UConn held off Syracuse 72-64 to earn a 30th straight trip to the Sweet 16.

It was the All-American's fifth straight game with at least 25 points, and seventh in her last eight games.

"The stats will tell you one thing, you know? The 10 rebounds, six assists and the four steals," Auriemma said. "But it's like when they happen and how they impact the game that's so remarkable."

Aaliyah Edwards of Kingston, Ont., finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds and freshman KK Arnold had 10 points including a key 3-pointer late in the game to help seal the win for the Huskies (31-5).

Dyaisha Fair scored 18 of her 20 points in the second half, after hitting just one of seven shots in the first, and Syracuse (24-8) came back from a 12-point first half deficit to pull within two with just under two minutes left.

Freshman Sophie Burrows scored a season-high 18 points and Georgia Wooley had 13 of her 18 in the first half for the Orange.

UConn led by 11 points at halftime and Shade's 3-pointer from the right corner, her fourth of the night, gave the Huskies a 53-44 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

But after UConn pushed that lead to 10 points, Husky point guard Nika Muhl, who had been guarding Fair, picked up three fouls in 30 seconds and fouled out of the game with UConn up 63-55.

After Shade extended the lead back to 10 with a jumper, Fair and Burrows hit back-to-back 3-pointers and an elbow jumper from Alyssa Latham made it 65-63 with 1:53 left.

"We called a huddle and we were, like, all right, we've got to band together, we've really got to focus and lock in the same way we did when Aaliyah went out [with a broken nose] for the Big East Tournament," Bueckers said. "You just get hyper-focused, hyper locked-in and we just didn't want our season to end. I thought we responded much better, in a much better way."

Arnold made a clutch 3-pointer on a pass from Bueckers with 28 seconds left to push the lead back to six and Syracuse missed four contested 3-pointers down the stretch.

"We were prepared for situations like this and just stayed dialled in," Arnold said.

Clark sparks Iowa past West Virginia

Also, Caitlin Clark scored 32 points and No. 1 seed Iowa survived one of its worst offensive performances of the season to beat No. 8 seed West Virginia 64-54.

The Hawkeyes (31-4) advanced to play No. 5 seed Colorado in Saturday's Albany 2 Regional semifinal.

Sydney Affolter's three-point play with 2:03 to play, the Hawkeyes' lone field goal of the fourth quarter, gave Iowa a 55-52 lead. Clark and Hannah Stuelke closed the game with nine free throws to clinch the win.

As time ran out on the final home game of her career, Clark, who became the NCAA's Division I all-time scoring leader this season, circled the court, making a heart-shaped symbol with her hands as the sellout crowd cheered.

Iowa came into the game leading the nation in scoring at 92.8 points per game, but the Hawkeyes were held to their lowest single-game point total this season. Iowa shot just 36.4 per cent from the field.

Affolter had 13 points, while Stuelke added 12 points and 11 rebounds.

It was clear from the start that this was going to be a game of defence. Iowa led just 26-24 at halftime, with both teams going through scoring droughts.

The Hawkeyes led 26-19 before going the last 4:50 of the half without a point, shooting 27.3 percent in the second quarter. West Virginia went almost five minutes late in the first quarter and early in the second quarter without a point, and didn't score for the final 2:11 of the half. The two teams combined for just nine field goals in the second quarter.

NC State upends Tennessee

Meanwhile, Tennessee didn't wilt when North Carolina State built a 20-point lead. Just as importantly, the Wolfpack didn't either after Lady Vols climbed all the way back within a single bucket.

And that sent Wes Moore's squad on to the Sweet 16 of March Madness again.

Aziaha James scored 22 points and had two critical late buckets as the third-seeded Wolfpack held off the sixth-seeded Volunteers 79-72 in Monday's second round of the NCAA Tournament, a win that came after N.C. State had squandered nearly all of that huge third-quarter lead.

It helped to have the backing of a boisterous home crowd at the venerable Reynolds Coliseum on campus, as well as James stepping up in the clutch for the Wolfpack (29-6) to hold on despite a huge game from Tennessee star Rickea Jackson.

Indiana downs Oklahoma

Approaching the end of her stellar playing career at Indiana, Mackenzie Holmes put together an appropriate finish to her final game at Assembly Hall.

In the waning minutes Monday night, Holmes demanded the ball. And the two-time All-American delivered.

She scored 29 points, including six straight during a crucial stretch late in the game, and No. 4 seed Indiana topped fifth-seeded Oklahoma 75-68.

Moments after the Hoosiers improved to 17-0 at home this season, Holmes ran into the stands to celebrate with the fans.

"I did that a couple years back when we beat Princeton to get to the Sweet 16," she said, beaming with a smile. "This is my last game in Assembly Hall, I just really wanted to take it all in, so I asked coach [Teri Moren] if it was OK, and she gave me the go ahead. So we just went for it."

Now, instead of bemoaning a surprising exit from March Madness, Holmes and her teammates advanced to a matchup with undefeated South Carolina in Albany, New York.

USC downs Kansas

JuJu Watkins had 28 points, 11 rebounds and five assists and top-seeded Southern California led all the way in defeating Kansas 73-55 on Monday night to reach the Sweet 16 of the women's NCAA Tournament.

McKenzie Forbes hit a career-high six 3-pointers and scored 20 points for the Trojans (28-5), who will face fifth-seeded Baylor (26-7) in the Portland Region 3 in Oregon on Saturday.