LSU Lady Tigers forward Aneesah Morrow (24) reacts after a play against the NC State Wolfpack during the second half of a Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament basketball game at Spokane Arena. James Snook-Imagn Images

Women's Sweet 16 winners, losers: Elite teams start rising to top

By Andrew Wright | Last updated Mar 29, 2025 12:26 AM ET

The first day of the women's Sweet 16 is complete and half of the field for the Elite Eight is set.

South Carolina, Duke, LSU and UCLA all punched their tickets on Friday, and we will get matchups of South Carolina-Duke and UCLA-LSU on Sunday. With the four games came winners and losers, so here they are.

Winners

South Carolina's bench scoring

The Gamecocks found themselves in a dog fight with No. 4 seeded Maryland as South Carolina trailed by two at the half.

Led by MiLaysia Fulwiley's 16 second-half points off the bench, South Carolina was able to come from behind and hang on for a 71-67 win. As a team, the Gamecocks bench outscored their starters 40-31. Without the bench scoring, the Gamecocks would've exited the tournament much earlier than expected.

Lauren Betts

The star player for UCLA did what she's been doing all season long and that is dominating a game on both ends of the floor.

Betts (31 points) finished with 25+ points for the second straight game in the NCAA Tournament. The matchup between her and LSU's Aneesah Morrow on Sunday will be extremely fun to watch

Aneesah Morrow

Speaking of Morrow, she collected the 103rd double-double of her career Friday night in LSU's 80-73 win against North Carolina State.

It was much needed for the Tigers, as she finished with 30 points and 19 rebounds, leading the game in both categories. If she is able to put up numbers like that for the remainder of the tournament, LSU will be a tough team to knock out.

Putback Queen

ESPN pic.twitter.com/aNlphb2vKt
— LSU Women's Basketball (@LSUwbkb) March 29, 2025

Losers

North Carolina vs. Duke game

If you're a fan of points, this game would've been one to avoid. The Tar Heels and Blue Devils combined for just 85 points total in the game, the least of any game by plenty.

Each team had two quarters in which they didn't eclipse 10 points. Duke's 19 points in the second was the most scored from any team in any quarter.

Three-point shooting

When the best three-point shooting performance of the night from any team was UCLA's 44.4%, which signals a bad night for shooting.

North Carolina State shot 32.1% in its loss to LSU. Maryland was the only other team to eclipse the 30% mark, and it barely did that with its 30.8% performance.

Madison Scott

The Ole Miss point guard is the team leader in points per game (12.7) but was completely shut down by UCLA on Friday night.

Scott was held to just four points on 2-of-11 shooting in the Ole Miss loss to UCLA. It was the first time Scott was held under 10 points since her two-point performance against LSU in the SEC Tournament.

Andrew Wright

Andrew "Dew" Wright graduated from Charleston Southern University with a degree in Communication Studies. He is a lifelong Chicago Cubs and Washington Commanders fan.

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