Crooks, Brown lead Iowa State women to First Four win over Princeton

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Audi Crooks scored 12 of her 27 points in the fourth quarter, Addy Brown added 22 points and Iowa State rallied from a 15-point second-half deficit then held off Princeton 68-63 in the opening game of the NCAA Tournament on Wednesday night.

The First Four victory in the matchup of 11-seeds advances the Cyclones (23-11) to a matchup with sixth-seed Michigan on Friday. The win was No. 800 for coach Bill Fennelly, third-most in women’s basketball among active coaches.

Crooks, named to The Associated Press All-America third team released Wednesday, dominated the paint where the Cyclones outscored the Tigers 46-28, making 12 of 21 shots. Brown was 9 of 16 with eight assists and seven rebounds. Emily Ryan had six assists in tying the Big 12 career record with 988, matching Niya Johnson’s total from 2013-16 with Baylor.

Fadima Tall scored 19 points, Ashley Chea had 15 but none in the second half, Skye Belker added 11 and Parker Hill had 10 points and 12 rebounds for Princeton (21-8), which, like Iowa State, was making its sixth straight tournament appearance.

SOUTHERN 68, UC SAN DIEGO 56

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Soniyah Reed came off the bench to score 19 of her 24 points in the first half when Southern built a big lead that it was able to ride to an NCAA Tournament First Four win over UC San Diego.

The 16th-seeded Jaguars (21-14) won for the first time in seven tournament appearances and go up against overall No. 1 seed UCLA in the round of 64 on Friday.

Reed, who came in averaging under 11 points a game, made 8 of 10 shots including three 3-pointers. Aniya Gourdine shot 7 of 14 and added 17 points and seven rebounds. Tionna Lidge scored 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting. The Jaguars shot 49%.

Sumayah Sugapong led UCSD (20-16) with 19 points, making three 3-pointers, and had six assists. Parker Montgomery hit four 3-pointers and added 15 points. The Triton duo combined for 25 second-half points. UCSD, which reached the tournament in its first year of eligibility, shot 34%.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness