Adversity: Can You Win a National Championship with it?

Part Two of a Multi-Part Story; this second part looks into some of the teams in D1 women’s college basketball that made it to the NCAA Tournament who may not have had the same media attention but caused major upsets in the first round.

The 2022 NCAA Women’s Tournament is officially in its second round today. The top four seeds in every region have won their respective first-round games but there were a few tournament upsets early. Many brackets across the nation have been shattered by these six upsets. As the second round begins this afternoon, will those lower-seeded teams move on to the Sweet 16?

The first team to punch their way into the second round by an upset was the South Dakota Coyotes. The tenth seeded Coyotes pulled off quite the win over the seventh seed Ole Miss in the Wichita Region. The Coyotes played a tough defense grabbing a total of 28 defensive rebounds. They shot 55.8% from the floor, passed 19 assists, and snatched 9 steals off of the Rebel’s 11 turnovers. The Rebels were hot from the arch dropping 6 threes on 10 attempts. Senior Shakira Austin was tough to defend in her final college game with 9 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 blocks. The Coyotes beat the Rebels 75-61 and move on tonight to face the 2 seeded Baylor Bears.

Do not sleep on the Big East Conference! Two Big East teams caused upsets in their first-round games. The tenth seeded Creighton Bluejays, an unexpected placed team, upset the Colorado Buffaloes on Friday. Before the conference games portion of the regular season began, the Buffaloes were one of the last undefeated teams. The Bluejays played to the weak parts of Colorado’s defense earning multiple trips to the free-throw line. Lauren Jenson was on fire on the offensive end which got Creighton the 84-74 win over Colorado. They move along with the UConn Huskies as one of the only conferences to have all their teams move onto the second-round Creighton plays the second seed, Iowa, this afternoon.

The third upset on Friday afternoon came from the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles. A consistently AP ranked team this season, the Eagles were tasked with defending the fifth seed, Virginia Tech in the Spokane Region. The mighty Eagles once again proved they were a team to beat, taking down the Hokies 84-81. Elizabeth Kitley tried to get the win for the Hokies scoring 42 points playing all but 3 minutes. Tishara Morehouse and Kierstan Bell were unstoppable for the Eagles' offense. The Eagles also caused only 3 turnovers compared to the 10 for the Hokies. A tough matchup next for the Eagles as they face the fourth seed Maryland this afternoon.

The Bridgeport Region began their first-round yesterday and only saw one upset. The Princeton Tigers came out of the Ivy League without a season last year to take down the SEC Champs, the Kentucky Wildcats, yesterday. Abby Meyers scored 29 of the Tigers’ 69 points in the upset over Kentucky. The Tigers played tough but that did not stop Rhyne Howard and Dreuna Edwards for the Wildcats. They both combined for 33 of Kentucky’s 63 points. The fourth quarter was Princeton’s final victory lap outscoring the Wildcats 21-18.

The Big East came to win and I am not just talking about UConn. Not only did Creighton earn an upset win, so did the Villanova Wildcats. An eleventh seed Wildcats brought a strong defense against the BYU Cougars yesterday. The Big East Player of the Year, Maddy Siegrist, was playing against the West Coast Conference POY, Shaylee Gonzales in a tight game. The Cougars had one of their lowest scoring games of the season though they did earn 14 assists and 6 steals. Paisley Harding, in her last collegiate game, scored 21. Lauren Gustin also played hard for BYU with 13 rebounds and 8 points. Villanova has earned 3 ranked wins so far this season with their upset yesterday.

Saturday night brought the final first-round upset, by a team who pulled off the same upset last year. The twelfth seed, the Belmont Bruins, also earned a first-round upset last year. They took out the fifth seed Gonzaga in 2021 and beat Oregon last night. The Ducks did not go down without a fight. Nyara Sabally brought her A-game for the Ducks scoring 31 points with 12 rebounds. But it was Tuti Jones of Belmont who kept the Bruins in this game with 22 points. Two overtimes later, the Bruins earn a trip to the round of 32. They are hoping to make it to the Sweet 16 this year.

All six teams are hoping to advance to the Sweet 16 this year. There are three games today that will determine the faith of FGCU, Creighton, and South Dakota. Iowa, Maryland, and Baylor will not be easy to beat and these teams have to bring confidence and determination. Three more teams will learn their faith tomorrow night. Who will continue on to the National Championship? Hopefully one of these six fierce teams.

*This was written and published during the 10 Creighton, 2 Iowa game. Creighton led at end of the third quarter, 51-48, as during publication.