Baylor Falls To USC in NCAA Sweet 16 Thriller
The Baylor Bears were eliminated from the NCAA Women’s Tournament after a 74-70 loss to USC in the Sweet 16 in Portland, Ore., on Saturday.
Baylor (26-8) and USC (29-5) went down to the wire. Baylor was down two points with 29 seconds left after a long review of a play in which a USC player and Baylor player were fighting for the ball that went out of bounds.
Officials ultimately awarded USC the ball and the Trojans inbounded to freshman sensation JuJu Watkins.
Baylor fouled Watkins with 26 seconds left and she made both free throws to push the Trojans’ lead to four. But the Bears were not done. After a time out, Bears guard Sarah Andrews drained a 3-pointer with 22 seconds left to cut the lead to one point.
Baylor sent Watkins to the foul line again with 19 seconds left and she made both, but it was a 3-point game. Baylor took another time out and tried to set up Andrews for a game-tying 3-pointer. She had to take it from well behind the 3-point line. She had it lined up well but it was long and USC’s Rayah Marshall rebounded.
Marshall went to the line and made a free throw to ice the game for USC.
Baylor was making its first Sweet 16 appearance under coach Nicki Collen, who took over in 2021 for Kim Mulkey, who is now at LSU. But this was the program’s 16th Sweet 16 appearance and the Bears were looking for their first Elite Eight since 2021.
Andrews led the Bears with 17 points while Jada Walker and 15 points and Darianna Littlepage-Buggs added 12 points. She also had 11 rebounds.
Watkins scored 30 points for USC, which will make its first Elite Eight appearance since the Lisa Leslie era in the mid-1990s. Watkins only shot 8-for-28 from the floor but had an incredible run at the free throw line, going 12-for-13.
The only Big 12 team remaining in the tournament is the Texas Longhorns, who play the NC State Wolfpack at 2 p.m. Sunday in the Elite Eight of the Portland 4 Bracket.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
