March has begun and so has the madness. Women’s basketball conference championships are well underway, which have resulted in many upsets, triumphs and defeats. The winners of each of the 31 NCAA women’s basketball conference tournaments automatically qualify for the March Madness tournament, making the stakes of the conference tournaments large in order to have a chance to win it all.
The Huskies have won their 30th conference tournament title, which is their 12th straight conference title and fifth straight in the Big East. Redshirt senior Paige Bueckers has never lost a Big East game in her career and was named Big East Tournament Most Outstanding Player for the third time. Bueckers led the Huskies in the conference championship game against No. 2 Creighton with 24 points, three assists and eight rebounds. Star freshman Sarah Strong also dominated with 13 points, four assists, and led with 11 rebounds. Strong has also been selected as the Big East freshman of the year. Graduate student Azzi Fudd was also part of the power trio contributing 13 points and two assists. Fudd has proven to be an asset to the Huskies as she has come back dominant after missing the conference and NCAA tournament due to injuries last season.
UCLA has been a formidable team throughout the season, rising to the top of the AP Top 25 ranking multiple weeks throughout the season; however, they suffered two losses to state rivals USC during the season, which were their only two losses of the season. The Bruins got a chance for redemption as the teams matched up during the Big Ten Conference championship game. The Bruins won the conference championship 72-67, which led to their return to the top of the AP Top 25 ranking with USC falling to a fourth-place ranking. The win gave the team an historic end to an historic season as they won their first conference tournament title since winning the Pac-10 in 2006. This is also the first season the program has accumulated over 30 wins.
Notre Dame has hit a late season slump, starting with losses to then No. 23 Florida State. They continued the slump into the ACC Tournament semifinals with a loss to Duke. The program had previously beat Duke earlier in the season 64-49 but fell short in the semifinals with a final score of 61-56. This loss led to the Irish falling two places in the AP Top 25 ranking with Duke rising four places. Duke went on to play NC State in the conference championship. The Blue Devil’s did not look like the clear winner in the first half trailing as many 14-points but rallied in the second half to secure the 76-62 victory. The team was led by junior Ashlon Jackson and sophomore Oluchi Okananwa, who each scored 22 points to secure the Blue Devil’s first ACC championship title since 2013.
Conference play is still underway with each team fighting for an automatic spot in the NCAA March Madness Tournament. The conference tournaments are also an important determiner for determining the brackets and seeds, which will be announced on Selection Sunday this Sunday. The madness has only just begun with many more upsets and triumphs sure to come this March.