Highlights from the final night of second-round play in the women's NCAA tournament:
• No. 1 UConn 90 - No. 8 Temple 36
Let's get this out of the way right off the bat and admit what we all know in the marrow of our bones to be true: UConn is a machine. And it's getting smarter. Even their fans seem incredulous at this point, watching win after brutalizing win unfold. Temple scored twelve points in the first half. It took UConn 15 minutes to triple them up, 44-11. The Lady Huskies shot 78% from the floor in the first half, 62% overall, and 71% from beyond the arc. All but one player had at least one basket to her credit. Their lone double-double came from Kelly Faris, who didn't even start. I'm just listing facts here because I'm still a little agog at what just happened. Even by modern Auriemma-led standards, this was a gladiator show. Go ahead and start pitying their next opponent right now.
• No. 3 Xavier 63 - No. 6 Vanderbilt 62
Fully half of the SEC women's teams made the NCAA tournament; Vandy is the second squad to fall in the round of 32. After tying up the first half and trailing most of the second, Xavier escaped the evening's only remotely close game by the grace of a well-timed layup by Amber Harris with less than thirteen seconds on the clock. Harris led all scorers with 21 points and seven rebounds. The Musketeers will be joining the Xavier men in a Sweet 16 matchup of their own, facing Gonzaga this Saturday.
• No. 2 Notre Dame 84 - No. 10 Vermont 66
The Catamounts had a ten-point lead at one point in the first half ... a lead that quickly spiraled into a ten-point deficit before halftime, and from which they never recovered. Don't forget: before a nasty stretch at the end of the regular season that pitted Notre Dame against the rest of the loaded Big East field and left them with a 12-4 conference record, the Irish were projected as a top seed themselves, and it's performances like Skylar Diggins' tonight that recall that. The hometown pride of South Bend had 31 points and seven steals and barely left the court, logging 33 minutes of play.
• No. 7 Mississippi State 87 - No. 2 Ohio State 67
Now here? Is an upset with panache. Mississippi State has its first Sweet 16 berth in school history, and earned it hanging an extra 20 on a top-ten Ohio State team -- the same team that unceremoniously booted the Bulldogs from the tournament last year. Senior guard Alexis Rack scored a cool 30 points while leading the team in assists and blocks and generally making anyone in a Buckeye uniform look a little ridiculous trying to keep up.
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