03/21/26 10:51:00
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03/21 22:50 CDT Illinois beats Colorado for 1st round win as youngest team in
women's NCAA Tournament
Illinois beats Colorado for 1st round win as youngest team in women's NCAA
Tournament
By TERESA M. WALKER
AP Sports Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) --- Cearah Parchment scored 21 points as seventh-seeded
Illinois beat No. 10 seed Colorado 66-57 on Saturday night in the first round
of the women's NCAA Tournament.
The Fighting Illini (22-11) are the youngest team in this tournament after
replacing four starters, and they now have won a first-round game for a second
straight season. Illinois will play No. 2 seed Vanderbilt, a 102-61 winner over
No. 15 seed High Point, on Monday night for a berth in the Sweet 16 of the Fort
Worth 1 Region.
Berry Wallace added 18 points for Illinois, and Destiny Jackson grabbed 11
rebounds and scored 11 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter to help seal the
win.
Colorado (22-12) won four of the first seven games between these programs, but
this was the first for these programs to play since 2013 and first in the NCAA
Tournament. The Buffaloes missed their last five shots going scoreless from the
floor after Jade Masogayo's layup with 4:08 left.
Desiree Wooten led Colorado with 17 points, and Masogayo added 15.
Illinois outscored Colorado 20-18 to lead after the first quarter and used six
straight late in the second to help take a 34-29 lead into halftime.
Masogayo's layup pulled Colorado within 38-36 with 7:30 left in the third. Then
Illinois reeled off seven straight with Wallace's two free throws giving the
Fighting Illini their biggest lead at 45-36. Colorado wound up outscoring
Illinois 15-13 in the third, and Wooten's layup pulled the Buffaloes within
47-44 to start the fourth.
Then one of the Fighting Illini's freshman took over. Jackson scored seven of
the first nine points for Illinois, and her 3-pointer pushed the lead to 56-50.
Long time coming
Illinois improved to 10-10 in this tournament, and this was the Fighting
Illini's third berth in four years under coach Shauna Green and 11th all-time.
Now Illinois has NCAA wins in consecutive seasons for the first time since the
1998-99 and 1999-2000 seasons.
That's when the program had a four-season streak of winning at least once in
this tournament dating back to 1996-97.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and
coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
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