NCAA Women's Tournament 2025: Top moments from Day 2

We got our first upset of the day when No. 10 seed South Dakota State came back to beat No. 7 Oklahoma State. Later, No. 9 seed Mississippi State took down No. 8 seed California.

Here are all the top moments from Day 2 of the women’s tournament:

Illinois earns first NCAA Tournament win in 25 years

Madina Okot had 14 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out late and ninth-seeded Mississippi State beat California 59-46 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.

Eniya Russell added 14 points for the Bulldogs (22-11), who are back in March Madness for the first time in two years. They lost in the national title game in 2017 and 2018.

Ugonne Onyiah led the eighth-seeded Golden Bears with 17 points and 15 rebounds despite four fouls. Cal’s only lead was by one point in the first quarter, when the Bears managed just five points. They recovered to play the Bulldogs evenly in the second but trailed 26-19 at halftime.

The Bears (25-9) capped their first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference by making the NCAAs for the first time since 2019, when current USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb was in charge.

The Bears committed 24 turnovers and got outscored 32-18 in the paint and 15-0 in bench points.

Mississippi State will play JuJu Watkins and top-seeded USC in the second round on Monday at Galen Center. The Bulldogs last made the Sweet 16 in 2019.

JuJu Watkins fights through injuries in USC‘s 71-25 rout

Madison Mathiowetz scored all 15 of her points in the second half as 10th-seeded South Dakota State erased a double-digit deficit to top No. 7 seed Oklahoma State 74-68 on Saturday in the first round of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

Brooklyn Meyer had 19 points and eight rebounds, Paige Meyer had 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists and Haleigh Timmer added 11 points for South Dakota State (30-3).

Stailee Heard had 20 points and Anna Gret Asi had 16 points for Oklahoma State (25-7).

Oklahoma State took its first double-digit lead on a basket by Alexia Smith with 7:38 left in the third quarter. Paige Meyer scored nine points as the Jackrabbits scored 17 of the next 24 points.

A three-point play by Meyer gave South Dakota State the 44-43 lead with 2:57 left in the quarter. South Dakota State took a two-point advantage into the fourth quarter on a driving layup by Mathiowetz to beat the third-quarter buzzer.

South Dakota State will play UConn in the second round on Monday with a chance to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019.

No. 2 seed UConn dominates No. 15 seed Arkansas State by 69 points

Freshman Ava Heiden scored a career-high 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds, and sixth-seeded Iowa rolled past No. 11 seed Murray State, 92-57, on Saturday in the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament.

Lucy Olsen had 12 points and a career-high 12 assists for the Hawkeyes (23-10). They scored a season-high in points in the first tournament win for first-year Iowa coach Jan Jensen, a longtime assistant who was promoted after Lisa Bluder retired.

Murray State’s Katelyn Young, who averaged 22.2 points heading into the NCAA Tournament, left the game early in the third quarter with an ankle injury and did not return. She finished with six points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes.

The Racers, who entered the game averaging a nation-leading 87.8 points per game, shot just 30.6% from the field and posted their lowest point total of the season.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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