SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Ashlon Jackson’s first winning shot came on the biggest stage for women’s college basketball and carried Duke to the Elite Eight.
Jackson hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer that lifted third-seeded Duke to an 87-85 win over second-seeded LSU in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division I tournament Friday night at the Golden 1 Center.
“I feel like I’m on cloud nine right now,” Jackson said.
Her shot from the wing right in front of Duke’s bench rolled around the rim before dropping in, setting off a wild celebration by the Blue Devils. She caught the ball on the wing and after faking LSU defender Flau’Jae Johnson put up the shot.
“Never had a game-winner. Plenty of buzzer-beaters before,” Jackson said. “The way it went in, I felt like I was in a dream and it was playing back over and over again before the ball went in.”
Duke (27-8), the Atlantic Coast Conference champion, will face top-seeded UCLA, the Big Ten champion, in the Region 2 final Sunday.
LSU (29-6) had rallied from an 11-point deficit to go ahead on two free throws by Mikaylah Williams with 9.2 seconds left.
Taina Mair missed a 3-pointer from the corner with five seconds left. The ball went out of bounds off an LSU player with 2.6 seconds left, setting up the fantastic finish.
Mair and Toby Fournier each scored 22 points to lead Duke. Jackson finished with 19.
Duke took an 11-point lead early in the fourth quarter before LSU cut it to 84-83 with 19 seconds left. Jackson was fouled, and she missed both free throws.
“It’s basketball. I would have loved to made those free throws,” Jackson said. “Focus on the next play.”
The ball went out of bounds, and a review gave it to LSU. Johnson drove the lane and missed a shot but Williams got the rebound and was fouled. She made both free throws to give the Southeastern Conference’s Tigers the lead briefly before Jackson’s heroics.
“I’ve been doing this a long time. Lost a national championship with seven-tenths to go. Been in those situations before,” LSU coach Kim Mulkey said. “Heartbreaking for your team and your players and fans. Been around a long time and seen endings like that. Been a part of those endings. Takes a while to get over it.”
MiLaysia Fulwiley scored 28 for LSU, and Williams added 22. Johnson finished with 13 to end her illustrious college career.
Duke avenged a loss to the Tigers from early this season in the ACC-SEC challenge. Since that setback, which put the Blue Devils at 3-6, they have won 24 of 26 games. That propelled them to both the ACC regular-season and tournament titles.
LSU had been nearly unstoppable on offense, scoring more than 100 points in an NCAA-record 16 games this season. The Tigers were fine on that end, but they couldn’t stop the Blue Devils.
Duke got off to a fast start, hitting 55% of its shots in the first quarter to lead 24-19. The Blue Devils extended the advantage to 47-40 entering halftime. LSU struggled from the field except for Fulwiley, who had 18 points on 7-for-9 shooting.
UCLA 80, Minnesota 56
When the final buzzer sounded on UCLA’s regional semifinal win over Minnesota, the winner gathered on the court, put their hands in the air and broke the huddle without fanfare.
Calm, collected and not finished, these Bruins intend for March Madness to extend into April.
Led by Kiki Rice’s 21 points and a 16-point, five-block performance by star Lauren Betts, the Bruins advanced to the Elite Eight for the second year in a row.
Even winning the next one — a rematch with Duke, a team they beat 89-59 at the Players Era Championship in Las Vegas back in November — isn’t going to satisfy UCLA. The Bruins are playing for more, and on Friday night, they looked like it.
“We found another way to go 1-0,” coach Cori Close said.
Leading for more than 38 minutes of this game, UCLA (34-1) shook off an upstart bunch of Golden Gophers (24-9) who pulled within 30-27 in the closing minutes of the second quarter as they tried to slow the game down and limit Betts’ touches. The Bruins led 34-29 at halftime in the all-Big Ten matchup.
UCLA opened the second half with an 8-0 run, and Minnesota never got within single digits again.
The Gophers were in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2025. They were led by Grace Grocholski with 12 points, and Sophie Hart added 11.
Coach Dawn Plitzuweit said she was proud of a team that put the program back on the national map.
“It’s really cool to reach the Sweet 16, but I’m hoping this becomes the standard,” Minnesota senior Amaya Battle said. “It feels nice to do this, but we should be doing this every year.”
Friday’s game was a rematch of a regular-season matchup that UCLA won by 18 points. Rice scored 25 points in that game, and on Friday, she went 7-of-12 from the floor and hit all six of her free throws.
“I felt like we had good matchups and good looks,” Rice said. “When teams commit so much to our players inside, it opens up driving lanes. Teams are going to have to choose how they defend us.”
Indeed, the Bruins are creating trouble for their tournament foes, scoring at least 50 points in the paint in their three wins. It was an insurance policy against a less-than-stellar night from the perimeter, with UCLA 4-of-16 from beyond the arc.
“It wasn’t one of our best offensive games,” Close said. “We missed nine layups in a row at one point. But we didn’t let missed shots dictate our defensive intensity.”
The Bruins held Minnesota to 37.9% shooting, blocked nine shots and forced 15 turnovers to hold the Gophers to their third-lowest scoring total of the season.
“We just took care of the things that were under our control,” Close said. “and I think we can play better.”
Better will be indeed required for a team that reached its first Final Four a season ago, but the Bruins exited after a 34-point loss in the national semifinals to eventual champion UConn.
“It’s March, and we are really trying to focus on what’s next,” Betts said. “We have been approaching this very businesslike. We learned a lot from last year about not being happy with how far we get. We want to win it all. We will do our celebrating for this win, but we’ve got to focus on the next one.”