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No. 5 seed Tennessee rolls to a 101-66 victory over No. 12 South Florida in women’s NCAA Tournament

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NCAA South Florida Tennessee Basketball
© Joe Maiorana

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Talaysia Cooper had 20 points, six rebounds and four assists, Samara Spencer scored 15 points and fifth-seeded Tennessee routed 12th-seeded South Florida 101-66 on Friday night in a women’s NCAA Tournament first-round game.

Zee Spearman added 13 points and Jewel Spear had 11 for Tennessee (23-9), which advanced to play No. 4 seed Ohio State (26-6) on Sunday. The winner will move on to the Birmingham 3 Regional.

“Our team is at our best when we are playing as a team,” Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell said. “We were able to get something from everyone. I think we had fun. It was a really good stepping stone for us. We had been a little bit off track, and so we needed to kind of get our juice back.”NCAA South Florida Tennessee Basketball

NCAA South Florida Tennessee Basketball© Joe Maiorana

The Volunteers held a 26-25 lead after the first quarter, which included four ties and six lead changes. But Tennessee outscored South Florida 29-9 in the second quarter to grab control of the game. Spearman and Cooper each had 11 points, with Spearman going 3 for 3 on 3-pointers during the period.

“We just turned our pressure up,” Spencer said of the Vols’ second quarter success. “We knew coming into the game that they really only had one solid ballhandler who was comfortable handling the ball. So we made her turn the ball over some, and then we just made other people have to dribble the ball up the court. That was to our advantage.”NCAA South Florida Tennessee Basketball

NCAA South Florida Tennessee Basketball© Joe Maiorana

The Vols eventually built their lead as high as 35 points in the fourth quarter. They shot 50% from the floor and 43% on 3s (16 of 37). Eight Tennessee players made at least one 3.

“We’ve had to guard people who have multiple people who can shoot, and sometimes we have a hard time doing that,” Spencer said. “So I know for other people who have to play us, it’s really hard. And especially, we have a lot of people who shoot very high percentages.”

Sammie Puisis had 28 points and seven rebounds for South Florida (23-11). L’or Mputu scored 12 points.

“The first quarter was probably really fun to watch on TV, and then you’ve got to hand it to Tennessee,” South Florida coach Jose Fernandez said. “They shot the ball really well. We’re down one point after a quarter and we had 10 turnovers. When we go into halftime, it’s 16. That’s really tough. You’re giving a very good offensive team extra possessions.”NCAA South Florida Tennessee Basketball

NCAA South Florida Tennessee Basketball© Joe Maiorana

This was Tennessee’s 164th all-time NCAA Tournament game. The Vols set new school records for made 3s (16) and attempted 3s (37) in an NCAA Tournament game.NCAA South Florida Tennessee Basketball

NCAA South Florida Tennessee Basketball© Joe Maiorana

Tennessee’s season total of 328 made 3s is also a new Southeastern Conference single-season record.

Takeaways

South Florida: This was USF’s 10th NCAA berth and the program’s fourth in the last five years. The Bulls dropped to 5-10 all-time in NCAA action. They got into the field by winning the American Athletic Conference tournament championship. They had won 12 of their last 14 games.

Tennessee: The Vols, ranked 20th in the final AP poll, had lost three of their last four games coming into the NCAA Tournament. But their size, depth, athleticism and shot making were all too much for the Bulls.

Key stat

Tennessee forced 24 turnovers, while the Lady Vols committed just six turnovers themselves. Tennessee held a 36-10 edge in points off turnovers.

Caldwell’s milestone

First-year Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell won the 2022 Division II national championship at West Virginia’s Glenville State. Caldwell spent last season as the head coach at Marshall, going 0-1 in the NCAA Tournament with a loss at Virginia Tech. This is her first NCAA win at the Division I level.

“I think it definitely means a lot for our players,” Caldwell said. “It means a lot for our program. I think the way we did it probably means more than anything. We hadn’t been playing very well and we hadn’t really been having fun. To do it kind of as a polar opposite of how we’ve been playing the last two weeks of the regular season was important.”

Tennessee, which has appeared in all 43 NCAA tournaments since the event’s inception in 1982, will be going for its 37th Sweet 16 berth and first since 2023 on Sunday.

___

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.





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No. 1 ranked and defending World Series Champs University of Tampa faces St. Leo tonight.

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7 hours ago

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March 25, 2025

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 The #1 University of Tampa Spartans sweep the Embry-Riddle Eagles in a double-header and the weekend series.

Final (Game 1 – 10 Innings): #1 Tampa 4, Embry-Riddle 3

Final (Game 2 – 7 Innings *Run Rule): #1 Tampa 10, Embry-Riddle 0

Records: #1 Tampa (23-4, 9-0 SSC), Embry-Riddle (16-10, 3-6 SSC)

Location: UTampa Baseball Field | Tampa, FL. 

All-Time Series: This was the 34th meeting between these two programs. The Spartans are 22-12 against the Eagles.

GAME ONE

HOW IT HAPPENED:

  • Brayden Woodburn led the inning off, beating out an infield single to second base. Jhoander Irigoyen would move Woodburn to second with a ground ball to the Eagle’s shortstop. Cole Russo followed with a single up the middle to bring home Woodburn for the game’s first run. Kevin Karstetter followed, reaching base on an error by the Eagle’s first baseman, and Russo would advance to third on the play. Maddox King followed with a fly ball to center field to bring Russo home. End 2 | 2-0 Tampa
  • With one out and down to their final two outs, Woodburn delivered, launching his second home run of the season. End 9 | 3-3 Tie
  • Karstetter led the inning off with a single through the left side. Karstetter advanced to second on a King ground out. Jordan Williams was intentionally walked, and Mike Valdez followed with a walk to load the bases up. On a 0-2 off-speed pitch, J.D. Urso delivered with a single over the shortstop’s head to bring home Karstetter to walk it off. Final | 4-3 Tampa

AT THE PLATE:

  • Woodburn: 2-4 (Game tying home-run), R, & RBI
  • Karstetter: 2-4 & R
  • Urso: 1-5 (Walk-off single) & RBI
  • J. Williams: 1-4, BB, & SB
  • Russo: 1-4, R, & RBI

ON THE MOUND:

  • Skylar Gonzalez started on the mound. He threw 6 innings while striking out 3 and giving up 1 run. Gonzalez ended with a no-decision on the afternoon.
  • Ryan Stefiuk came in relief for Gonzalez. He threw 2.1 innings while striking out 2 and giving up 2 earned runs.
  • Jacob Fletcher came in relief for Stefiuk. He got 2 outs in the ninth.
  • Michael Alfonso came in relief for Fletcher. He threw a scoreless tenth while striking out 1. Alfonso picked up the win and improved to 2-1 on the season.

GAME TWO

HOW IT HAPPENED:

  • With one out, Nico Saladino would double to right field. Urso followed with a single through the 5-6 hole to bring in Saladino for the game’s first run. Saladino would ground out to shortstop; however, Urso would advance to second on the play. Woodburn continued to swing a hot bat singling through the left side to bring home Urso. End 1 | 2-0 Tampa
  • Karstetter led off the inning, beating out an infield single that the Eagle’s shortstop through into the turf and passed the first baseman, advancing Karstetter to second. Santiago Garavito followed, launching his first home run of the season over the left-field wall. King then reached first on an error by the Eagle’s shortstop, who threw the ball away once again, giving King a free extra 90 feet. J. Williams then perfectly executed a bunt single to the pitcher to advance King to third. J. Williams then stole second base. Saladino then hit a fly ball to left field to bring home King. Bot 2 | 5-0 Tampa
  • Russo led off the inning with a walk. Karstetter followed with a single through the right side to set the Spartans up in business with first and second and nobody out. Russo and Karstetter would advance to second and third on a wild pitch, and King would walk to give the Spartans the bases loaded with nobody out. J. Williams doubled to the right field to bring Karstetter and Russo home and advance King to third. King would come into score, and J. Williams would advance to third on a wild pitch. Urso would bring in J. Williams, grounding out to second base. End 5 | 9-0 Tampa
  • Woodburn would lead off the inning with a walk and come around to score on a throwing error by the Eagle’s pitcher. End 6 | 10-0 Tampa

AT THE PLATE:

  • Saladino: 2-2, BB, R, & RBI
  • Woodburn: 2-3, BB, SB, R, & RBI
  • Williams: 2-4, SB, R, & 2 RBI’s
  • Karstetter: 2-4, 2 R’s, & RBI
  • Garavito: 1-4 (HR), R, & 2 RBI’s
  • Russo: 1-3, BB, & R
  • Urso: 1-4, R, & 2 RBI’s

ON THE MOUND:

  • Jake Stipp started on the mound. He threw 7 scoreless innings while striking out 4. Stipp picked up the win in his outing and improved to 5-0 on the season.

UP NEXT: The #1 Spartans will play a mid-week matchup with SSC opponent St. Leo on Tuesday, March 25th, at 6:00 PM.

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Power conferences fill this year’s Sweet 16 for the first time ever

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7 hours ago

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March 25, 2025

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Years of bracket chaos have given way to the year of the power conference.

Cinderella is staying home this time.

The Sweet 16, a popular destination for bracket-busting mid-majors, will be made up entirely of teams from power conferences, a first since the bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

Not a Saint Peter’s or Loyola Chicago in the bunch. Not even a Butler or Gonzaga.

The bracket was set up for this following a chalky first round, when the top four seeds went a combined 16-0 for the sixth time ever. Two No. 12 seeds got through to the second round and one 11.

They all lost.

Highest seed to reach the Sweet 16: No. 10 Arkansas. Everyone else is 6 or higher, with all four No. 1 seeds and three of the four 2s ( sorry St. John’s ).

There will be four conferences represented at regional sties in San Francisco, Newark, Indianapolis and Atlanta. That’s the fewest in NCAA Tournament history and a far cry from the record of 11 (three times)

Speaking of records, the SEC racked up a trio of ‘em.

First, 14 teams made it into the bracket. Record.

Then, six teams lost in the first round. Record.

Now, seven SEC teams are in the Sweet 16. Sweet record.

“We have worked hard as a league to get where we are this year and it’s always tough,”

Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. “But I would like to think even as fans that we would all have each other’s back this time of year and then we can go back to what we normally do.”

The other conferences — all three — fared fairly well as well.

The Big Ten was the early big bracket winner, becoming the first league to go 8-0 in the first round and stretched it to 10-0 until BYU knocked off Wisconsin. Four teams were bumped out in the second round, but Michigan State, Michigan, Purdue and Maryland are feeling sweet.

The newfangled Big 12 also represented itself well, matching a league record set in 2002 by landing four teams in the Sweet 16.

Arizona is new to the Big 12 while Houston and BYU joined last year, so there were better odds than just a few years ago. Even so, four teams — with Texas Tech — gives the league a chance at three national champions in the past five years.

The Atlantic Coast Conference, maligned by a rough early March start, has one Sweet 16er, and it’s a good one.

Duke and fabulous freshman Cooper Flagg were one of the favorites to win the national championship to open the season and still look that way after toying with its first two NCAA Tournament opponents.

“For us to win by this margin, I think this speaks to the level of killer instinct that our guys have, the competitiveness and the connectivity,” coach Jon Scheyer said after the Blue Devils’ 89-66 win over once-formidable Baylor.

One thing is for certain: There won’t be a three-peat.

The first repeat champion since Florida in 2006-07, UConn kept the dream alive with an opening win over Oklahoma. The bid to join John Wooden’s UCLA teams as college basketball’s only three-peaters came to an emotional end on Sunday with a 77-75 loss to top-seeded Florida.

“We’re a passionate program,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said, twice stopping to compose himself. “The players play with it. I coach with it. You’re always (expletive) drained when it’s over.”

The passion this year has been in the power — conferences.

___

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.





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Power conferences fill this year’s Sweet 16 for the first time ever

Published

8 hours ago

on

March 25, 2025

By


Years of bracket chaos have given way to the year of the power conference.

Cinderella is staying home this time.

The Sweet 16, a popular destination for bracket-busting mid-majors, will be made up entirely of teams from power conferences, a first since the bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

Not a Saint Peter’s or Loyola Chicago in the bunch. Not even a Butler or Gonzaga.

The bracket was set up for this following a chalky first round, when the top four seeds went a combined 16-0 for the sixth time ever. Two No. 12 seeds got through to the second round and one 11.

They all lost.

Highest seed to reach the Sweet 16: No. 10 Arkansas. Everyone else is 6 or higher, with all four No. 1 seeds and three of the four 2s ( sorry St. John’s ).

There will be four conferences represented at regional sties in San Francisco, Newark, Indianapolis and Atlanta. That’s the fewest in NCAA Tournament history and a far cry from the record of 11 (three times)

Speaking of records, the SEC racked up a trio of ‘em.

First, 14 teams made it into the bracket. Record.

Then, six teams lost in the first round. Record.

Now, seven SEC teams are in the Sweet 16. Sweet record.

“We have worked hard as a league to get where we are this year and it’s always tough,”

Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. “But I would like to think even as fans that we would all have each other’s back this time of year and then we can go back to what we normally do.”

The other conferences — all three — fared fairly well as well.

The Big Ten was the early big bracket winner, becoming the first league to go 8-0 in the first round and stretched it to 10-0 until BYU knocked off Wisconsin. Four teams were bumped out in the second round, but Michigan State, Michigan, Purdue and Maryland are feeling sweet.

The newfangled Big 12 also represented itself well, matching a league record set in 2002 by landing four teams in the Sweet 16.

Arizona is new to the Big 12 while Houston and BYU joined last year, so there were better odds than just a few years ago. Even so, four teams — with Texas Tech — gives the league a chance at three national champions in the past five years.

The Atlantic Coast Conference, maligned by a rough early March start, has one Sweet 16er, and it’s a good one.

Duke and fabulous freshman Cooper Flagg were one of the favorites to win the national championship to open the season and still look that way after toying with its first two NCAA Tournament opponents.

“For us to win by this margin, I think this speaks to the level of killer instinct that our guys have, the competitiveness and the connectivity,” coach Jon Scheyer said after the Blue Devils’ 89-66 win over once-formidable Baylor.

One thing is for certain: There won’t be a three-peat.

The first repeat champion since Florida in 2006-07, UConn kept the dream alive with an opening win over Oklahoma. The bid to join John Wooden’s UCLA teams as college basketball’s only three-peaters came to an emotional end on Sunday with a 77-75 loss to top-seeded Florida.

“We’re a passionate program,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said, twice stopping to compose himself. “The players play with it. I coach with it. You’re always (expletive) drained when it’s over.”

The passion this year has been in the power — conferences.

___

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.





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