Women's NCAA Tournament winners, losers: Overtime games bring the excitement; mid-majors disappoint

For the most part, Friday's opening day of first-round action in the women's NCAA Tournament lacked the drama that fans typically expect this time of year. Saturday was a much different story with a pair of overtime games and some upsets.

Here are some winners and losers from the day.

Winner: Louisville forward Mackenly Randolph

In a game the three-seed Cardinals only led the 14-seed Vermont 32-28 at the half, they used a 40-point second half to put the game out of reach. The sophomore forward, who is only tied for sixth on the team in scoring, had a season-high 20 points and tacked on 11 rebounds to help Louisville advance to the second round.

Loser: Iowa's inability to put Fairleigh Dickinson away

The two-seed Hawkeyes are still dancing after a 58-48 win over 15-seed Fairleigh Dickinson, but it was not the most encouraging performance against a team they were expected to beat handily. Iowa only made one of its 13 three-point attempts, but thanks to sophomore center Ava Heiden (29 points, 11-of-16 FG), it lives to fight another day.

Winner: South Carolina Gamecocks

There was no reason to believe that the one-seed South Carolina would have any trouble with 16-seed Southern on Saturday, and that quickly proved to be the case in a 103-34 win. That 69-point margin of victory was the program's largest in NCAA Tournament history, while sophomore forward Joyce Edwards (27 points, 11-of-14 FG) became the first player in program history to score at least 25 points and shoot 70 percent or better from the floor in the Big Dance.

Loser: Iowa State Cyclones

The eight-seed Cyclones were on the wrong side of Saturday's eight-nine matchup in a 72-63 loss to Syracuse. Junior center Audi Crooks - whose play has been unprecedented throughout the season - had 37 points (17-of-25 FG) in the loss and simply did not have enough help around her.

Winner: Overtime games

It took a full day of action, but the 10-seed Virginia Cavaliers became the first lower-seeded team to win a game by taking down the seven-seed Georgia Bulldogs, 82-73, in overtime. Junior guard Kymora Johnson picked up where she left off in the First Four win over Arizona State with 28 points (8-of-19 FG) to help keep Virginia dancing into the round of 32.

Even with star JuJu Watkins missing the entire season due to a torn right ACL she suffered during last season's NCAA Tournament, the nine-seed USC Trojans keep marching on after Saturday's thrilling 71-67 overtime win over eight-seed Clemson. A huge part of that success came from freshman guard Jazzy Davidson, who had a team-high 31 points (13-of-28 FG) and hit back-to-back triples in the extra frame moments after the game-winning shot from Clemson at the end of regulation was overturned.