NCAA Women's Tournament Day 1 Roundup

Game of the Day

Dayton made the first day of its first ever NCAA appearance memorable, erasing an 18-point deficit to nip TCU, 67-66.

Kendel Ross' 17 points and 11 rebounds capped an effort in which the Flyers (25-7), trailing 52-34 with 13:07 to go, came all the way back, scoring the game winner as redshirt freshman Brittany Wilson muscled up a put back with 1.1 seconds to go.

"We have a lot of character to be down 18 and come back like that. I'm very, very proud of our kids," Dayton coach Jim Jabir said.

For TCU (22-9), the Mountain West regular season champion, Saturday's loss marked the second straight year the Lady Frogs dropped the tournament opener to a school making its first tournament appearance, as South Dakota State knocked them out last year.

"If you're going to lose a basketball game, you want to lose a basketball game that while it hurts a lot more you can look in the mirror and know you threw everything at them ...," TCU coach Jeff Mittie said. "They hit some huge shots and credit goes to them for hitting those."

As a reward, Dayton, the eight seed in the Memphis Region, earned a Monday night second-round meeting with top seed Tennessee in Knoxville. The Lady Vols, the region's top seed, beat Austin Peay 75-42 in the opener.


Upset/Close Call of the Day

Oklahoma State (24-10) got the No.4 seed in the Sacramento region, but with a giant proviso: Leading scorer Andrea Riley had to sit out a one-game NCAA mandated suspension. Seems the statute of limitations hadn't run out from her taking a swipe at Erica White of LSU in a regional semifinal two years ago.

For the longest time in their meeting with 13th seed Chattanooga (24-9), the Cowgirls appeared lost without Riley, trailing by as much as 19. But Oklahoma State stormed out of the locker room at the half, outscoring the Lady Mocs 51-25 after the break to win 70-63 In Tempe, Ariz.

Tegan Cunningham had 19 of her 25 points in the second half, while Toni Young pitched in 16 of a career-high 22 points after halftime to pace the Cowgirls, who will meet the winner of the Georgia-Tulane game Monday night.

Performance of the Day

Kentucky's A'dia Mathies (pictured right) scored 32 points in the Wildcats' 83-77 win over Liberty in the Kansas City regional.

Mathies shot nine of 15 from the floor and hit 12 of 17 free throws to move fourth-seeded Kentucky into the second round to meet Michigan State Monday night.

He Said What?

"I called Katherine Graham over and said you have been everything I want on the floor but you just turned the ball over and gave up a four-point play. You owe me six points. Can you get me some points back?" -- LSU coach Van Chancellor after Hartford's Ilicia Mathis completed a four-point play early in the second half of the Tigers' 60-39 win.

Up Next

Connecticut opens defense of its national title and looks for its 73rd consecutive win in its tournament opener against Southern in Norfolk, Va., Sunday, while UCLA coach Nikki Caldwell matches wits against Kellie Harper of North Carolina State in an 8 vs. 9 meeting in Minneapolis. Both Harper and Caldwell played for Tennessee's Pat Summitt.