Friday kicked off the women's NCAA Tournament, and it was unfortunately a day that was not full of very many surprises.
Outside of a few games on the slate, everything pretty much went the way that it was expected to go. With that being said, here are three winners and three losers from Friday's game.
Winners
South Carolina Gamecocks
South Carolina kicked off its quest for back-to-back national championships in style. It played 16-seed Tennessee Tech, and it got out of hand rather quickly.
South Carolina scored 108 points, good for most of the day by any team that was in action, barely edging out Notre Dame's 106 points. The Gamecocks scored 60 of those in the first half and cruised to an easy first-round win.
Oregon Ducks
The first major upset of the tournament came from Oregon as the 10-seed Ducks knocked off seventh-seed Vanderbilt in an overtime nailbiter.
Oregon led by as many as 19 points before letting that lead slip away, but a big defensive performance in overtime helped the Ducks advance to the second round.
Michigan Wolverines
The Wolverines matched up with 11-seed Iowa State, and it was a back-and-forth battle throughout.
Michigan trailed by as many as 10 in the game but was able to outscore Iowa State 27-18 in the fourth quarter to secure an 80-74 win and move on to the second round for the second time in three seasons.
Court celly hits different after that one #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/T0HP0CoD7L
— Michigan Women’s Basketball (@umichwbball) March 21, 2025
Losers
Vanderbilt Commodores
Vanderbilt got an excellent performance from freshman Mikayla Blakes, as she was the game's leading scorer with 26 points.
The Commodores had the potential to win multiple games in the tournament with Blakes leading the charge, but they will now have to wait until next season.
Grand Canyon Antelopes
Not only did the Lopes lose their first game since November, but they also lost their head coach shortly after the game.
According to On3's Taila Goodman, Molly Miller has reached a deal with Arizona State to become the new Sun Devils head coach. It would not be shocking to see several of her players make the move with her.
BREAKING: Arizona State has agreed in principle to hire Grand Canyon’s Molly Miller as their next women’s basketball head coach, sources told @On3sports.
— Talia Goodman (@TaliaGoodmanWBB) March 21, 2025
READ: https://t.co/MXX2z3Jc1Y pic.twitter.com/NxyfEcEymk
9-16 Seeds
Besides Oregon (10-seed) and Indiana (9-seed) no other higher-number seed won a game on Friday.
Liberty (13-seed) played the closest game, as it lost by one to 4-seed Kentucky. Only Iowa State (11-seed, lost by six) and Nebraska (10-seed, lost by five) played games that were decided by single digits.
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