NEW YORK (AP) – South Carolina and Notre Dame both survived upset bids in the second round of the women’s NCAA Tournament.
The two No. 1 seeds may have trouble advancing much further because of knee injuries to key players.
The Gamecocks rallied to beat Arizona State 71-68 without starting guard Allisha Gray. She was carried off the court after hurting her knee late in the game, and coach Dawn Staley said Gray was being evaluated by doctors after the game.
Notre Dame needed overtime to dispatch Purdue, doing so without star forward Brianna Turner. She went down with a left knee injury late in the first half. She walked off the court to the locker room, but didn’t play in the second half as Notre Dame won 88-82 in OT. Coach Muffet McGraw said postgame that Turner would have an MRI on her knee Monday.
These weren’t the first notable knee injuries in the tournament, either. A day earlier, Duke guard Kyra Lambert injured her left knee. Blue Devils coach Joanne P. McCallie said on Sunday that “Kyra is out for a long time.”