Dallas Region Sweet Sixteen Game Breakdowns
#1 Baylor vs. #5 Florida State
Baylor continued to dominate in the second round as they routed Auburn 84-52 to move on to another Sweet 16. The Bears will be making their eighth consecutive trip to the sweet 16 and their 11th in the past 13 seasons. One of the storylines coming into this game was how relentless the Tigers were defensively and well lets just say that was plenty of extra motivation for Baylor to get the job done defensively. Auburn was limited to just 20 points and the first half as the Bears stuck to some good old fashioned defense and it was more than enough to get the job done on Sunday. Nina Davis led the way offensively with 30 points as the Tigers did not have an answer for her all game long. Alexis Jones and Kalani Brown added 16 points apiece to balance out the offensive attack. Jones has been a key performer in both games so far in the NCAA Tournament as she also dished out six assists to go along with four rebounds. This balanced approach will serve Baylor well heading into this matchup with Florida State.
The Seminoles took advantage of Texas A&M missing two key players and blew out the Aggies by a score of 74-56. One of the keys to success for Florida State on Monday night was their ability to get out to a fast start as they scored 27 points in the first quarter and went into the locker room at halftime with a 47-26 lead. Leticia Romero Adut Bulgak posted her 19th career double-double as she scored 18 points and collected 13 rebounds. Leticia Romero took care of business like usual in the backcourt with 17 points and dished out six assists. Brittany Brown and Ivey Slaughter also combined for 26 points to propel the Seminoles to the Sweet 16 once again. For Florida State to be able to knock off Baylor they are going to have to get another big time performance out of Bulgak and try to get some of the post players for the Bears in foul trouble. Also, Romero is going to have to match Niya Johnson in the backcourt and take care of the basketball. This game could end up closer than the experts think if the Seminoles don’t get intimidated by Baylor.
#2 Oregon State vs. #6 DePaul
Oregon State is playing some of its best basketball of the season and they had little trouble with St. Bonaventure as they pounded the Bonnies 69-40. Oregon State was relentless defensively as they limited St. Bonaventure to just 25.4 percent shooting from the floor. This was the 31st time this season that an opposing team has failed to shoot at least 40 percent against the Beavers. Jamie Weisner was the key to success for Oregon State offensively as she scored 23 points thanks to 8 of 15 shooting from the floor. Ruth Hamblin controlled the rebounding battle with 16 rebounds as the Beavers outrebounded the Bonnies 48-33. The lockdown defense of Oregon State has been so good recently that the last time anyone has even scored over 60 points was Stanford down at Maples Pavilion back on February 26.
DePaul got a big time statement win in the second round by upsetting third seed Louisville 73-72 to move on to the Sweet 16. This will be the first trip to the Sweet 16 for the Blue Demons since 2014 and the fourth trip to the Sweet 16 overall. Jessica January scored a season high 25 points and her game winning free throw with 14.5 seconds left was the difference maker for DePaul. The Blue Demons also did a great job on the final possession for the Cardinals of collapsing on Myisha Hines-Allen making it very difficult for her to get a high quality shot off to try and win it for Louisville. With a contrast of styles in this game it will be fascinating to see if head coach Doug Bruno tries to force the Beavers into a track meet or will they be patient and play a half court style of game. Oregon State right is playing too well defensively to be slowed down but the Blue Demons are very dangerous and it won’t be a shock if they pull the upset.
