And then there were eight.
The 2026 Women’s NCAA Tournament field was cut in half by Saturday evening following blowout losses, a buzzer-beating game-winner and many revenge matchups in the Sweet 16 round, which was held across two regionals in Fort Worth, Texas, and Sacramento, California. (Much to UConn coach Geno Auriemma’s chagrin. More on that later.)
No game was more thrilling than No. 3 Duke’s walk-off victory over No. 2 LSU on Friday. Despite having a rough night from beyond the arc (1-of-7), Duke head coach Kara Lawson called on Ashlon Jackson to take the last shot of the game and she didn’t miss.
Jackson tops USA TODAY Sports’ list of winners from the Sweet 16, while Auriemma’s rant about the setup for the Women’s NCAA Tournament regional games lands the NCAA on our list of losers.
Winners
Duke guard Ashlon Jackson
Ashlon Jackson got her March moment. The senior knocked down a buzzer-beating 3-pointer on No. 2 LSU to punch Duke’s ticket to the Elite Eight for the second consecutive season.
LSU had a 85-84 lead over Duke in the Sweet 16 round of the 2026 Women’s NCAA Tournament with nine seconds remaining in the game. Duke senior guard Taina Mair missed a go-ahead 3-pointer, but the Blue Devils came away with the offensive rebound with two seconds remaining to give Duke the final look at the basket.
Duke’ junior forward Jordan Wood inbounded the ball to senior guard Ashlon Jackson. She sidestepped an airborne Flau’Jae Johnson and launched a buzzer-beating 3-pointer in front of her own bench. The ball nearly rimmed out of the basket, before it twirled around the rim and ultimately dropped in to give Duke a 87-85 victory over LSU.
Jackson said Houston Rockets star Kevin Durant reached out following the shot.
Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey
Back in January, critics put Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey on the hot seat after the Fighting Irish lost six of nine games, including to Georgia Tech and Cal, and a blowout defeat dealt by UConn. They questioned her roster construction and coaching strategies and wondered whether Notre Dame would make the NCAA Tournament.
Notre Dame is 12-2 since that loss to Cal and will get a second crack at the Huskies on Sunday after pulling off an upset over No. 2 Vanderbilt. Powered by Hannah Hidalgo’s triple-double, the Irish are in the Elite Eight for the first time in Ivey’s six-season tenure. Many talented players, including TCU’s Olivia Miles, left Notre Dame last offseason. Ivey & Co. got over the Sweet 16 hump without them. Considering the circumstances, the Irish’s finish to this season is looking like her best coaching job ever.
Texas coach Vic Schaefer’s jacket
Texas coach Vic Schaefer nearly always has on a jacket when he’s coaching and more often than not, he sheds the coat during the game. Inevitably, Schaeffer will get hotter than the Texas sun about a call or something else he doesn’t like and off it goes.
Texas was up by more than 20 points in the first quarter during its Sweet 16 matchup against Kentucky, and Schaefer surprisingly kept it on. Not only did it stay on, he never reached to take it off despite his face turning red as he yelled from the sideline. By the time the fourth quarter arrived, and the Longhorns were up 63-42, the jacket appeared to be safe from removal.
As Schaefer would say, “Praise the Lord, and Hook ‘em, Horns.”
TCU’s dynamic duo
Olivia Miles and Marta Suarez combined for 61 of TCU’s 79 points in the Horned Frogs’ Sweet 16 win over Virginia on Saturday. Suarez’s 33 points marked a career-high and she finished with 10 rebounds. Miles 28 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in the win. It marked the fourth time this season both Suarez and Miles each recorded a double-double. Both Suarez and Miles advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in their respective careers.
“I’m finally out of the Sweet 16,” Miles said. “I’m so happy about that.”
Texas’ two step
Speaking of dynamic duos, Texas’ Madison Booker and Rori Harmon improved to 80-7 all-time in games they played together. Talk about a streak.
Losers
People who doubted Duke
A whole lot of folks counted Duke out in December when the Blue Devils lost to LSU by double figures at home, bringing their non-conference record to 3-6. Kara Lawson’s team didn’t look like the one that took South Carolina to the brink in last season’s Elite Eight, or the one that was voted as the preseason favorite to win the ACC.
But Lawson made a few tweaks and Duke broke off a 17-game winning streak, won the ACC’s regular season and tournament titles, and on Friday night avenged that loss to LSU thanks to Ashlon Jackson’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer in the Sweet 16. Now, Duke is in the Elite Eight for the second consecutive season and continues to carry the torch for the ACC.
The NCAA
The winningest coach in the history of women’s college basketball, UConn’s Geno Auriemma, took a flamethrower to the NCAA on Saturday morning on multiple fronts. He criticized the NCAA’s decision to install new rims and bring in new balls for the regionals, which he said led to poor 3-point shooting in the Sweet 16.
Auriemma has also been a vocal opponent of the NCAA’s decision to move from four regional sites to two, which began with the 2023 Women’s NCAA Tournament. Auriemma’s argument is cramming eight teams into a site instead of four creates a bad experience for the players, as they have to show up to the arena twice on off days, once for media and another for practice. Shoot-around on game days has also been early in the morning. Auriemma also pointed out attendance seems to be down this year at the regionals, as Texas is the only team playing close to home in Fort Worth.
“Does anybody who makes these decisions ever ask the coaches and the players, ‘Hey, does this work? Do you guys do this during the regular season? Is this normal?’” Auriemma rhetorically asked. “I just don’t understand some of the decisions that are made about our game when we’re trying to grow the goddamn game.
“There is a level of frustration right now among the coaches that’s higher than any time I’ve ever seen it.”
Louisville
Louisville had Michigan on its heels in the first quarter and couldn’t capitalize on the momentum. Michigan’s three stars, Olivia Olson, Syla Swords and Mila Holloway were a combined 0-for-6 to open the matchup, and Louisville couldn’t keep its foot on the gas.
Multiple starters failed to score to keep up with the Wolverines and it went downhill quickly. Mckinley Randolph’s first basket came in the third quarter and Laura Ziegler was scoreless until she sank a triple late in the fourth quarter. That’s not ideal.
Once Louisville’s offense couldn’t keep up, the defense eventually faltered and Michigan’s lead ballooned to 23 points twice.
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t our best day by any means. I thought in the first quarter we came out. We executed. We defended extremely well,” Louisville head coach Jeff Walz said postgame after a 71-52 loss. “Then uncharacteristically we missed a lot of wide open shots. Instead of being a 15-9, it could have been 20-9,”
“It wasn’t our day. I mean, there’s not much to say about it. Michigan did some really nice things, but we also missed a lot of open shots. At this time of the year you’ve got to be able to knock down open shots. Unfortunately, we struggled in doing that.”
LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson
Johnson’s college career ended in heartbreaking fashion following Duke’s buzzer-beating win in the Sweet 16. The loss snapped Johnson’s streak of Elite Eight appearances. She made it to the Elite Eight in the first three seasons of her career and won a national title with LSU her freshman season in 2023.
“She was the first McDonald’s we signed at LSU before we ever won a championship,” LSU head coach Kim Mulkey said. “She was freshman of the year in the SEC. She has two careers that she’s doing every day of her life. She spent four years at the same institution. The list goes on.
“So much appreciation to her for being who she is. She has a joyous spirit about her and she helped us win many ball games.”
Whoever made up those Kim Mulkey retirement rumors
Mulkey officially shut down retirement rumors that have swirled during the 2026 Women’s NCAA Tournament.
“I’m not retiring, do I look that bad? I don’t know where that came from. I am only 63 and I’m healthy with a few stents in my heart. My doctor says I’m good to go,” Mulkey said Friday evening, calling the speculation a “flat-out lie” that was manufactured to disrupt her recruiting.
She continued, “I think as we get older as coaches, they want to say, well, how much longer is she going to be in the game? I’m going to be in this game unless LSU fires me until I can’t put a product on that floor that’s competitive or my health fails me.”
Reach USA TODAY National Women’s Sports Reporter Cydney Henderson at chenderson@gannett.com and follow her on X at@CydHenderson.
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