NCAA women’s tournament: A’ja Wilson leads South Carolina past upset-minded Arizona State

A’ja Wilson scored 21 points, including a putback that gave South Carolina the lead for good and the free throws that sealed it, to help the top-seeded Gamecocks beat eighth-seeded Arizona State, 71-68, on Sunday night in the second round of the NCAA tournament at Columbia, S.C.

The Sun Devils (20-13) scored 11 consecutive points to lead, 68-67, with two minutes to go, but Wilson put back her own miss with 46.8 seconds to play to give the Gamecocks (29-4) a 69-68 advantage.

Wilson had 11 rebounds and Kaela Davis had 20 points for South Carolina, which advanced to the round of 16 for the fourth year in a row.

Sophie Brunner led Arizona State with 20 points and nine rebounds.

Notre Dame 88, Purdue 82: Marina Mabrey scored 21 points and the No. 1-seeded Fighting Irish (32-3) survived playing the second half at South Bend, Ind., without leading scorer Brianna Turner, who suffered a knee injury late in the first half. The Boilermakers (23-13) narrowed the lead to 82-80 when Bridget Perry, who finished with 22 points, made two free throws with 34.2 seconds left.

Oregon State 64, Creighton 52: Sydney Wiese scored 13 points in her final career game at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, Ore., to lead the second-seeded Beavers (31-4). Sydney Lamberty had 19 points for Creighton (24-8).

Maryland 83, West Virginia 56: Destiny Slocum made a 70-foot shot to end a second quarter in which the third-seeded Terrapins (32-3) outscored the sixth-seeded Mountaineers, 26-8, at College Park, Md. Brionna Jones had 22 points and 11 rebounds for Maryland. Teana Muldrow led the Mountaineers (24-11) with 16 points.

Mississippi State 92, DePaul 71: Blair Schaefer scored 18 points and the second-seeded Bulldogs (31-4) cruised at Starkville, Miss. The seventh-seeded Blue Demons (27-8) got 18 points from Jessica January and 16 from Brooke Schulte.

Ohio State 82, Kentucky 68: Tori McCoy scored six points in a row midway through the fourth quarter to help the fifth-seeded Buckeyes (28-6) withstand a rally from a 19-point second-half deficit by the fourth-seeded Wildcats (22-11) at Lexington, Ky. The Wildcats cut the deficit to 65-64 with 6:04 remaining but the Buckeyes responded with eight consecutive points.

Texas 84, North Carolina State 80: Brooke McCarty scored 23 points and the third-seeded Longhorns (25-8), playing on their home court, got a putback basket from Joyner Holmes to clinch at spot in the round of 16 for the third year in a row. The sixth-seeded Wolfpack (23-9) were led by Miah Spencer’s 31 points.

Florida State 77, Missouri 55: Shakayla Thomas had 20 points and 11 rebounds at Tallahassee, Fla., and the third-seeded Seminoles (27-6) qualified for their third consecutive round of 16. The sixth-seeded Tigers (22-11) led briefly in the second quarter.