Saturday's women's NCAA Tournament winners, losers: Storied program finally healthy at the right time

A second-round meeting with the 2-seed UConn looms on Monday in the Spokane 4 regional. However, a rally from 11 down to the Cowgirls proved once again why you can never count South Dakota State out.

Losers

Oklahoma State Cowgirls

While South Dakota State was celebrating the upset win, the seventh-seeded Cowgirls were sent home early after the first-round exit. All five starters did their part by scoring in double figures, but only two bench points and a minus-18 differential in rebounding (47-29) were too much to overcome in the end.

Oklahoma State put together a solid season overall, but it ended prematurely in the first round at the hands of South Dakota State.

California Golden Bears

There have not been many upsets in the first round of the NCAA women's tournament. Only two double-digit seeds have advanced, as well as a pair of nine-seeds, including Mississippi State, who eliminated the eighth-seeded Golden Bears, 59-46.

California had an impressive debut season in the ACC, finishing in the top half of the league. The 46 points and poor shooting (25%) were a sloppy end to the season as California was unable to get enough offense going against the Bulldogs.

Close games

Much like the first round in the men's tournament on Thursday and Friday, there were not many close games in the women's tournament on Saturday. Although Friday featured one overtime game and five total games decided by single digits, Saturday's slate only produced two such outcomes.

The first-round games may have lacked the drama fans come to expect in March, but rest assured, the games will only get tighter as the higher seeds prevail and marquee matchups take place.