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.
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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.
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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.
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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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