ALBANY, N.Y. — Angel Reese said she and her LSU teammates are embracing the role of "good villains" as the Tigers make a run toward repeating as national champions.
Flau'jae Johnson had 24 points and 12 rebounds, and Reese put up her 26th double-double of the season Saturday as third-seeded LSU (31-5) beat second-seeded UCLA 78-69 in the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16.
Reese had 16 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out late in the game for coach Kim Mulkey's Tigers, who closed on a 14-2 run. Aneesah Morrow had 17 points and Mikaylah Williams added 12.
And all the while the Tigers did their usual trash-talking, screaming and waving goodbye to their opponent.
"We're the good villains," Reese said. "We're impacting the game so much, and all of us are supercompetitive and want to win and do whatever it takes to win. We're just changing the game."
LSU advanced to the Elite Eight, where it will face Iowa on Monday night in a rematch of last year's national championship game. The Hawkeyes beat Colorado in the day's second semifinal in the Albany 2 Region.
The Tigers, who beat Iowa 102-85 in the final a year ago, are trying to become the first repeat national champions since the University of Connecticut won its fourth straight NCAA title in 2016.
Lauren Betts had 14 points and 17 rebounds for UCLA (27-7). Gabriela Jaquez and Londynn Jones also put up 14 points each, and Kiki Rice scored 13 for the Bruins.
LSU led by seven points at halftime, but the Bruins, after making just two of their first 20 shots from 3-point range, hit four of their next five. Consecutive 3-pointers from Jones keyed an 11-2 run that gave UCLA the lead at 45-44, and the teams were tied at 48 headed into the fourth quarter.
Jaquez hit a jumper that gave the Bruins a 67-64 lead with 2:46 left. LSU responded with its run, sparked when Reese blocked a shot by Betts, leading to a drive by Johnson that fouled out Rice.
"I think that I wasn't scared of the moment," Johnson said of her game. "I really loved the delight. I love that underdog feeling. Coach Mulkey told me go do what you do, and I did."
Johnson had two early 3-pointers in the first half. Her spinning baseline drive and layup highlighted an 8-0 LSU spurt that put the Tigers up 25-18.
The Bruins made only one of 16 shots from behind the arc before Jones' 3 from the left wing just before the halftime buzzer. That ended an 8-0 LSU run and cut what had been a 10-point lead to 34-27.
"Credit to LSU," Bruins coach Cori Close said. "They got the shots that they wanted down the stretch, and we didn't get the shots that we wanted. We did not execute the way that we needed to, and that's one that's going to sting for a really long time for me."
The Bruins have made 19 NCAA tourney appearances and have been in the Sweet 16 nine times, including three of four dating to this season, but they have advanced to just two regional finals.
AP photo by Mary Altaffer / Iowa guard Kate Martin, left, and Colorado center Aaronette Vonleh reach for a loose ball during an NCAA tournament Sweet 16 game Saturday in Albany, N.Y.Iowa 89, Colorado 68
Let the hype begin!
Caitlin Clark had 29 points and 15 assists to lead top-seeded Iowa (32-4) past fifth-seeded Colorado (24-10), setting up the rematch with LSU.
"I think we're excited. Anytime you have a chance to go up against somebody you lost to, it brings a little more energy," Clark said. "I think overall it's just going to be a really great game for women's basketball. They're really solid one through five. We know we are going to have to rebound the basketball."
Said Iowa coach Lisa Bluder: "I think everyone's pretty excited for it. These are two really good basketball teams. Unfortunate they are meeting this early. Everyone that's left now is really good. LSU is certainly that. It's going to be highly emotional and highly competitive."
Clark got the Hawkeyes going early, driving to the basket for easy layups or throwing fantastic passes. About the only thing missing from Clark's day was one of her signature midcourt logo shots. She took a couple but missed.
The all-time NCAA Division I scoring leader has dazzled off the court as well. She's a transcendent player who has brought record ratings and attendance to women's college basketball. The sold-out arena was filled with girls and boys wearing No. 22 Iowa shirts who cheered at every play their favorite player made. Clark spent a few minutes after the game signing autographs before she went back to the locker room.
Clark threaded the needle with a beautiful bounce pass to Hannah Stuelke for a layup before the end of the first quarter that gave the Hawkeyes a 22-14 lead. Clark had six points, six assists and three rebounds in the opening 10 minutes.
She finished the first half with 15 points and eight assists as the Hawkeyes were up 48-35 at the break.
Iowa scored the first six points of the third quarter, and Colorado could not get within single digits the rest of the way.
"We had the punch to begin the third quarter," Bluder said. "Set the tone early in both the halves, which was really important."
The Buffaloes made their first back-to-back trips to the Sweet 16 since 2002-03. They also were knocked out last year by Iowa, falling 87-77 in the same round.
Aaronette Vonleh scored 13 points and Frida Formann had 12 for the Buffs.
"It is tough. Never want to go out like that," Colorado guard Jaylyn Sherrod said. "Some things we can all look back at and say we could have done better. Proud of this team."
Sydney Affolter scored 15 points for Iowa, making all six of her shots. Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall each added 14, combining to hit six 3-pointers.
Clark moved to sixth all-time in college basketball scoring with 3,859 points. She passed Miriam Walker-Samuels and Deb Remmerde, both of whom played in the NAIA. Walker-Samuels had 3,855 points and Remmerde was one behind her.
Clark will be hard-pressed to get into the top five as Grace Beyer is next at 3,961 points. The Hawkeyes have no more than three games remaining, and Clark has already said she won't use the final year of eligibility remaining for her, instead making herself available for next month's WNBA draft.
AP photo by Steve Dykes / Baylor guard Sarah Andrews, center, shoots as Southern California guards Kayla Padilla, left, and JuJu Watkins defend during an NCAA tournament Sweet 16 game Saturday in Portland, Ore.PORTLAND 3 REGION
USC 74, Baylor 70
PORTLAND, Ore. — All-America freshman JuJu Watkins drove the length of the floor for a go-ahead three-point play with 3:13 left and finished with 30 points, leading the University of Southern California past Baylor and into the Elite Eight for the first time since 1994.
Watkins scored nine straight points for the top-seeded Trojans in the closing minutes and powered a decisive 8-0 run. McKenzie Forbes added 14 points for USC (29-5), which will face UConn on Monday in the Portland 3 Region final for a spot in the Final Four. The Huskies beat Duke in the night's last regional semifinal.
"It was just a matter of turning the game around," Watkins said. "And I knew I had to do something."
Sarah Andrews scored 17 points for fifth-seeded Baylor (26-8), which was making its 20th straight March Madness appearance and was vying for its first Elite Eight spot since 2021, Kim Mulkey's final season as coach of the Bears before heading to LSU.
USC won back-to-back national titles in 1983-84, but the Trojans' deepest run in the tourney since was a regional final loss in 1994 under coach Cheryl Miller to Louisiana Tech.
Watkins surpassed Ohio State's Kelsey Mitchell (873 points in 2014-15) for second on the all-time freshman scoring list. The 18-year-old Los Angeles native has 891 points, seven shy of the record set by San Diego State's Tina Hutchinson in 1984.
"It really boils down to the trust that everybody has in me," Watkins said. "Despite me not shooting well tonight, I think that when the game is on the line, I think my teammates trust me to go get a bucket. Luckily we came out on top of that one."
The Bears used physicality to counter USC's size advantage and jumped to an early 7-2 lead. The Trojans, led by Watkins with eight points, had an 18-16 lead after the opening quarter.
USC stretched the lead to 24-19, but Edwards responded with a 3. The Trojans pulled ahead 35-24 late in the second period and led 37-31 at the half.
"I thought we made some mistakes, and there's always going to be slippage in a game this big," Bears coach Nicki Collen said. "They got a heavy dose of Baylor basketball in the second half."
AP photo by Howard Lao / Connecticut guard Paige Bueckers (5) and forward Aaliyah Edwards react during an NCAA tournament Sweet 16 game against Duke on Saturday in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Howard Lao)UConn 53, Duke 45
UConn is testing how much depth is needed to make a deep run in March Madness.
Having a healthy Paige Buckers certainly helps.
Bueckers scored 24 points as the third-seeded Huskies (32-5), injury-depleted roster and all, returned to the Elite Eight by getting past No. 7 seed Duke (22-12).
"The game was very physical on both ends of the floor. The pace was fast, both sides, trying to push it. So you feel it, but at this point of the season, you've got to be mentally tougher," Bueckers said. "Everybody's got aches and boo-boos during this time, and it's just about who powers through it better, who's mentally tougher."
A year after having to watch March Madness while sidelined by a knee injury, Bueckers was again the best player on the floor, lifting the Huskies into their 28th regional final. And this one will be among the more unlikely in coach Geno Auriemma's 39-year tenure.
UConn dressed eight players and played only six. But the 11-time national champs still have Bueckers, the 2021 national player of the year who has returned to that form after injuries limited or sidelined her for most of the past two seasons.
KK Arnold and Aaliyah Edwards each scored 12 points for the Huskies, who scored their second-fewest points in a March Madness victory.
"Scoring was not going to be easy tonight at both ends. They weren't going to have an easy time scoring against us, and we weren't going to have an easy time scoring against them," Auriemma said.
Oluchi Okananwa led Duke with 15 points and Reigan Richardson added 10, but after ousting No. 2 seed Ohio State in the second round, the Blue Devils disappeared at the offensive end. They scored 13 first-half points and had 27 going to the fourth quarter before a flurry that put a scare into the Huskies.
Bueckers had a role in causing the offensive frustration for Duke, but it was a collective effort that kept Richardson from getting hot like she did while scoring 28 points against Ohio State.
"UConn did a great job with disrupting us," Richardson said. "We did have a lot of turnovers. It's something that we've been trying to work on the whole season. At the end of the day, UConn executed their game plan very well."
The Blue Devils had 13 turnovers and shot 5-for-24 in the first half, and they had just 11 baskets through three quarters. Duke trailed by as many as 20 points late in the third but made a massive run in the closing minutes.
Okananwa's three-point play with 4:46 left cut the deficit to 10. She added a 3-pointer with 1:59 left to get Duke within five, but the Blue Devils got no closer despite a couple of UConn turnovers and a handful of good looks for Duke around the basket.
Bueckers' free throws with 19 seconds left put the final touch on a shaky victory for the Huskies.
"The fatigue factor became a big issue, because it forced us to change our game plan," Auriemma said. "We got up 20 because we just pushed it, pushed it, pushed it. And then I felt like, 'OK, we need a breather here, or we're not going to be able to finish the game.' And I think by doing that, we got a little bit — kind of took a deep breath.
"We were exercising, and then we decided to have a cigarette, and then we didn't feel like exercising anymore."