IOWA CITY, Iowa — Caitlin Clark is a self-admitted perfectionist.
So when things weren't going the senior guard's way early in Iowa's NCAA tournament opener, she got frustrated.
The unanimous All-American finished with 27 points and 10 assists despite an off day shooting as the host Hawkeyes, a No. 1 seed, defeated 16th-seeded Holy Cross 91-65 in a first-round game Saturday in front of a sellout crowd of 14,324 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The all-time leading scorer in Division I hoops history was just 8-of-19 from the field, including 3-of-9 on 3-point attempts, showing her frustration with missed shots multiple times during the game. She was constantly complaining to officials, and at one point, cameras caught her dad Brent telling her to stop.
Clark seemed to get the message.
"I should probably smile more. I'm a competitor," said Clark, who even head-butted the basketball in frustration during the game. "I love this game. I'm a perfectionist. But hey, I'm competitive. I want to win, and I want our team to play our best basketball."
Iowa (30-4) advanced to a Monday matchup at home versus West Virginia, with the winner securing a spot in the Sweet 16 next weekend in Albany, New York.
Against the Crusaders (21-13), Clark finished with her 65th career double-double and also grabbed eight rebounds, but she struggled early, not making her first field goal until 22 seconds were left in the first quarter. She committed five turnovers in the first eight minutes, and she also got popped in the nose on what was ruled an intentional foul on Bronagh Power-Cassidy.
"It was kind of just a stinger to the nose," Clark said. "Honestly, I'm totally OK."
Iowa had its own slow start. The Hawkeyes had a 10-0 run midway through the first quarter that didn't bother the Crusaders, who were within 23-21 at the end of the quarter.
Iowa hadn't played since winning the Big Ten tournament championship on March 10, and coach Lisa Bluder said the long layoff was apparent. Kate Martin also had a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds for the Hawkeyes.
"I think we had to knock some rust off," Martin said. "I think we knew what we needed to do, and that was defense."
The Hawkeyes outscored Holy Cross 25-9 in the second quarter, holding the Crusaders to just 1-of-12 shooting. Clark finally got her first 3-pointer with 3:26 left in the first half, shaking her head and rolling her eyes after making the shot.
Holy Cross made 12 3-pointers in Thursday's 72-45 First Four win over the University of Tennessee at Martin, but they shot just 7-for-34 behind the arc against Iowa. Power-Cassidy scored 19 points and Janelle Allen had 18 for the Crusaders.
AP photo by Matthew Putney / Holy Cross guard Simone Foreman, right, loses the ball as Iowa's Caitlin Clark comes away with a steal during an NCAA tournament first-round game Saturday in Iowa City.West Virginia 63, Princeton 53
IOWA CITY, Iowa — JJ Quinerly scored 29 points as the eighth-seeded Mountaineers (25-7) defeated No. 9 seed Princeton (23-5).
Quinerly, who was 10-of-19 from the field, scored West Virginia's first 12 points of the fourth quarter. The Mountaineers ended Princeton's five-game winning streak by rallying in the second half as its pressure defense disrupted the Tigers, the Ivy League champions who were making their fifth consecutive appearance in the NCAA tourney.
West Virginia led 42-35 early in the fourth quarter when Quinerly took over, hitting four shots from the field and going 4-for-4 at the foul line over a 6 1/2-minute stretch to keep Princeton from coming back.
Madison St. Rose had 22 points to pace the Tigers, who led the entire first half despite shooting 34.4% from the field. West Virginia got to within 26-24 at halftime on Jordan Harrison's buzzer-beating 3, which seemed to give the Mountaineers a spark.
Creighton 87, UNLV 73
LOS ANGELES — Lauren Jensen scored 25 points, Emma Ronsiek added 23, and the seventh-seeded Bluejays (26-5) sank 15 3-pointers en route to a double-digit victory over No. 10 seed UNLV (30-3), which lost despite 30 points from Desi-Rae Young.
Morgan Maly added 16 points for Creighton, which moves on to face site host UCLA on Monday.
Young became the second 2,000-point scorer in UNLV women's history early in the second half.
Kiara Jackson scored 16 for the Lady Rebels, who were bounced from the first round for the third straight year.
The Bluejays came into the game 13th in the nation with 8.8 made 3-pointers per game. It is the 14th time in women's tournament history a team has made at least 16 in a game during the first two rounds.
UCLA 84, Cal Baptist 55
LOS ANGELES — Kiki Rice scored 20 points, Gabriela Jaquez added 17, and second-seeded UCLA (26-6) cruised past 15th-seeded California Baptist (28-4).
Charisma Osbourne finished with 15 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists for the Bruins, just missing a triple-double for the winners.
Kinsley Barrington scored 16 points and Nae Nae Calhoun added 12 for the Lancers, who were making their first NCAA tournament appearance. They entered ranked 12th in the nation in scoring, averaging 81.1 points per game, but shot 28.8% from the field against UCLA.
ALBANY 1 REGION
Notre Dame 81, Kent State 67
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Sonia Citron scored 29 points and Hannah Hidalgo added a double-double with 14 points and 11 assists to help the second-seeded Fighting Irish (27-6) beat 15th-seeded Kent State (21-11).
Citron was 13-for-20 from the field, and Hidalgo added six steals for Notre Dame, which is at home again Monday to face Ole Miss in the second round.
Katie Shumate led Kent State with 20 points, while Janae Tyler scored 18.
A relentless defensive effort in the first quarter set a dominating tone for Notre Dame. The Irish used an 18-0 run on the way to building a 22-5 lead, harassing Kent State into a stretch of 0-for-13 shooting.
Ole Miss 67, Marquette 55
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Madison Scott scored 20 points, and the seventh-seeded Rebels (24-8) used a late run to beat 10th-seeded Marquette (23-9).
Kennedy Todd-Williams added 15 points and seven rebounds for Ole Miss, while Tyia Singleton had 12 points and Kharyssa Richardson scored 10.
Liza Karlen led Marquette with a double-double, scoring 19 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. Rose Nkumu scored 18 points, and Mackenzie Hare had 10.
Scott's drive to the hoop with 7:22 left in the game gave Ole Miss an eight-point lead at 55-47.
Indiana 89, Fairfield 56
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Sara Scalia scored 27 points to lead fourth-seeded Indiana (25-5) past 13th-seeded Fairfield (31-2), which had won 29 straight games entering Saturday.
Scalia sank five of the host Hoosiers' 10 3-pointers, and Indiana got 13 points apiece from Yarden Garzon, Mackenzie Holmes and Chloe Moore-McNeil to advance to a second-round matchup with Oklahoma on Monday.
Janelle Brown scored 19 points to lead the Stags, who earned the first AP Top 25 ranking in program history earlier this month.
Oklahoma 73, FGCU 70
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Skylar Vann scored 24 points as fifth-seeded Oklahoma (23-9) held off Florida Gulf Coast University (29-5), a No. 12 seed.
Payton Verhulst gave the Sooners a 72-70 lead on a turnaround jumper in the paint with 48 seconds left. After a turnover by the Eagles, Vann hit one of two free throws with 15 seconds left to push Oklahoma's lead to 73-70.
Dolly Cairns' 3-point shot was blocked by Vann with three seconds left. The Eagles got the rebound with a second left, and Uju Ezeudu missed a 3-point shot at the buzzer that would have tied it.
Sahara Williams scored 14 and Verhulst added 11 for the Sooners.
Emani Jefferson led FGCU with 22 points and 12 rebounds, while Brylee Bartram scored 14 points and Cairns added 10.
PORTLAND 3 REGION
USC 87, Texas A&M-CC 55
LOS ANGELES — University of Southern California freshman JuJu Watkins scored 23 points in her NCAA tourney debut, leading the Trojans (27-5), a No. 1 seed, to a blowout victory against 16th-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (23-9).
The Trojans also got 23 points from McKenzie Forbes in a first-round game they dominated from the opening tip to set up a second-round pairing with Kansas. The winner of Monday's game advances to the Sweet 16 next weekend in Portland, Oregon.
The Islanders scored the first basket, then the hosts took over. Watkins hit a 3-pointer for her first points to launch a 21-0 run in which five different Trojans scored.
The Islanders managed just one other basket in the first quarter, and it came as time expired. They scored 16 points in the second quarter and trailed 36-20 at halftime.
Mireia Aguado, one of six players from Spain on the roster for Texas A&M-CC, scored 15 points and Alecia Westbrook added 12 for the Islanders.
Kansas 81, Michigan 72 (OT)
LOS ANGELES — Zakiyah Franklin scored 22 points, including a tying 3-pointer that bounced on the rim and dropped with 12 seconds left in regulation, and eighth-seeded Kansas (20-12) beat ninth-seeded Michigan (20-14) in overtime.
Wyvette Mayberry and S'Mya Nichols added 15 points each, and Taiyanna Jackson had 14 points and eight rebounds for the victorious Jayhawks.
Kansas rallied in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Wolverines 23-14 in the frame. Then Kansas stepped up its defense and controlled the five-minute extra session, 14-5.
Lauren Hansen's 3-pointer pulled the Wolverines within 75-72. Franklin missed, but the 6-foot-6 Jackson grabbed the rebound. Nichols scored and drew the foul, extending the Jayhawks' lead to 78-72.
Franklin stole the ball with 22 seconds left, and Nichols got fouled and made both.
UConn 86, Jackson State 64
STORRS, Conn. — Paige Bueckers scored 28 points and freshman Ashlynn Shade added 26 as the University of Connecticut, a No. 3 seed, celebrated coach Geno Auriemma's 70th birthday with a win over Jackson State.
Aaliyah Edwards, wearing a mask after missing two games with a broken nose, had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Huskies (30-5), who won in the opening round of the tournament for a 30th straight time. Their 11 NCAA tournament titles, all under Auriemma, are more than any other Division I women's basketball program.
Next up is Monday's meeting with Syracuse.
Ti'Ian Boler scored 25 points and Angel Jackson had 13 for 14th-seeded Jackson State (26-7), which lost for the first time in 22 games.
The Tigers' Miya Crump opened the game with a jumper, and Jackson State led briefly at 4-2. Bueckers, though, sparked a 17-0 run for the Huskies by scoring eight of the team's first 10 points. She gave UConn its first lead at 5-4 on an up-and-under layup and a foul shot.
UConn led 22-8 after 10 minutes, then took its first 20-point lead at 39-19 on a 3-pointer from Bueckers, who also pulled down 11 rebounds and had seven assists in the game.
Syracuse 74, Arizona 69
STORRS, Conn. — Syracuse star Dyaisha Fair scored 32 points, including 13 after she returned from a second-half injury, to lead the sixth-seeded Orange (24-7) to a comeback win over No. 11 seed Arizona (18-16).
Fair, a third-team All-American, scored all of her team's points during the winning run that began with the Orange trailing 66-61 with 3:16 left. Alyssa Latham added 10 points for Syracuse.
Skyler Jones had 24 points, while Helena Pueyo and Jada Williams each added 14 for Arizona.
The Wildcats led by as many as nine points in the first half at 31-22 after a 3-pointer from Williams, but Fair scored five points in the final 41 seconds of the period to cut the deficit to 37-32 at the break.
PORTLAND 4 REGION
Gonzaga 75, UC Irvine 56
SPOKANE, Wash. — Yvonne Ejim had 25 points and 14 rebounds, and No. 4 seed Gonzaga (31-3) overcame a slow start to roll past the University of California Irvine (23-9).
Nevaeh Parkinson scored 18 points to lead UC Irvine. The Anteaters, seeded 13th, were in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1995 and raced to a 17-6 lead.
The Bulldogs rallied from an 11-point first-half deficit and led by as many as 26 points in the fourth quarter. Kayleigh Truong added 16 points, and Gonzaga shot 62% and scored 45 points in the second half.
The Bulldogs started 0-for-10 from the 3-point line and managed just 10 points in the first quarter, their lowest output in any quarter this season. Brynna Maxwell, their top outside shooter, shook off a slow start and sank two 3s and a long jumper to fuel a 21-2 run to end the first half and start the third quarter.
Kayleigh Truong and twin sister Kaylynne each had five assists for the Bulldogs, who are in their seventh straight NCAA tournament and are one win away from their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2015. They'll face Utah on Monday with the berth up for grabs.
Utah 68, South Dakota State 54
SPOKANE, Wash. — Alissa Pili scored 16 of her 26 points in the second half, Kennady McQueen added 17 points and No. 5 seed Utah (23-10) nearly let a 20-point lead evaporate before pulling away in the second half for a win over No. 12 seed South Dakota State (27-6).
Pili, a third-team All-American, was terrific again, hitting 11 of 20 shots and grabbing seven rebounds. With 2:49 to play and the shot clock expiring, she banked a 3-pointer that finally put away the Jackrabbits.
It was Utah's start that set the tone. The Utes outscored South Dakota State 20-3 in the first quarter and led 27-7 early in the second quarter. Utah gave away most of the lead and led just 27-24 at halftime, but the Utes outscored South Dakota State 26-17 in the third quarter to regain control.
Tori Nelson scored 14 points to lead South Dakota State, which was unable to add a second upset to the first round of the tounament.
The first round was close to a completely chalk bracket, with the higher seed winning 31 of 32 games. The only surprise in that regard came from Middle Tennessee, the No. 11 seed in the Albany 2 Region, taking down No. 6 seed Louisville by rallying from 18 points down.