Marta Suarez scored a career-high 33 points, Olivia Miles added 28 points in a near triple-double and third-seeded TCU ended Virginia’s magical NCAA Tournament run with a 79-69 victory in the Sweet 16 in Sacramento on Saturday.

Miles had 10 rebounds and eight assists and Suarez had 10 rebounds as the Horned Frogs (32-5) overcame a one-point halftime deficit by scoring the first 11 points of the third quarter to take control.

The Horned Frogs will make their second straight Elite Eight appearance when they meet top-seeded South Carolina on Monday.

Suarez had 13 points in the third quarter, when Miles had six assists and four rebounds as the Frogs pushed their lead to 15. The 10th-seeded Cavaliers did not get closer than eight until the final 31 seconds.

Miles’ two free throws with 26.1 seconds left for a 77-69 lead clinched it. She is one of four Division I players with at least 600 points, 250 rebounds and 100 assists.

Paris Clark had 20 points and Kymora Johnson had 18 for the Cavaliers (22-12), the lowest seed to reach the Sweet 16 since 2022.

Clara Silva had eight points and eight rebounds for TCU, which had a 38-29 edge on the boards and limited Virginia to 41% shooting.

Virginia led by seven late in the first quarter. TCU took a 35-33 lead with 1:09 left in the first half, when Suarez made a free throw after Romi Levy was called for a Flagrant 1 foul for pulling Miles down as she drove to the basket.

Clark’s three-point play gave the Cavaliers a 36-35 lead at halftime.

–Field Level Media

North Carolina State assistant Adam Howard is the new head coach at Troy, the school announced Saturday night.

Howard replaces Scott Cross, who left after the NCAA Tournament to become head coach at Georgia Tech. Cross finished his seven-year tenure with five straight 20-win campaigns.

Troy went 22-12 this season and reached the NCAA tourney for the second straight season. The Trojans, seeded 13th, were routed 76-47 by Nebraska in the first round of this year’s tournament.

Howard will look to continue the success. He had a two-season stint as an assistant with Troy (2016-18) earlier in his career with the Trojans qualifying for the 2017 NCAA Tournament.

Last season was Howard’s lone campaign at NC State, which went 20-14 and reached the NCAA Tournament before losing to the Texas in the First Four. Wolfpack coach Will Wade departed for LSU after the season.

Howard’s other stops as an assistant coach include Southern Miss (2012-14), Tennessee (2014), South Alabama (2018-22) and Nebraska (2022-25).

Howard resigned at Tennessee in November 2014, citing personal reasons, during a time when he and then-Volunteers coach Donnie Tyndall were being investigated by the NCAA for recruiting violations at Southern Miss, where Tyndall was previously the head coach.

–Field Level Media

The St. Louis Blues continued their dominant March with a 5-1 thumping of the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

The win marked St. Louis’ fourth in a row as they improved their March record to an NHL-best 10-1-2.

The Blues (31-30-11, 73 points) scored three in the third after Jake McCabe brought it back within one for the visitors. Dylan Holloway had a two-point game two nights after he scored the overtime winner against San Jose. Jake Neighbours, Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas also had multi-point games

Jordan Binnington stopped 12 of just 13 shots for the Blues while Joseph Woll turned away 33 of 38 shots for the Maple Leafs (31-30-13, 75 points).

Jimmy Snuggerud opened the scoring 5:21 into the second period, beating Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly to Cam Fowler’s slick feed through the slot. The goal boosted Snuggerud to second in rookie scoring since the new year. Former Leafs defenseman Justin Holl nabbed his first as a Blues player about five minutes later, tipping Kyrou’s point shot past Woll through a high screen to make it 2-0.

McCabe brought it back within one early in the third, flicking a seemingly innocent snap shot from the sideboards past an unsuspecting Binnington. The goal extended an unlikely point streak to three games for the stay-at-home defenseman.

The Leafs had some cause for excitement after Blues defenseman Theo Lindstein took a penalty for holding just over a minute later. Pius Suter was quick to disrupt their momentum with a short-handed goal off a feed from Thomas. Toronto was caught flat-footed on its own power play, with three Leafs opting to challenge Thomas in the corner instead of Suter in the high slot.

Kyrou recorded a second assist two-and-a-half minutes later, sliding a pass under the stick of Jacob Quillan and onto the tape of Holloway, who wristed it past Woll blocker side. Philip Broberg then made it 5-1 late on the power play.

The Maple Leafs were awarded a four-minute power play in the first period when Jack Finley was issued a double minor for high-sticking Quillan. Toronto failed to capitalize on the opportunity and only managed four shots through the first 20 minutes.

Toronto’s best chance of the opening frame came off the stick of Matias Maccelli after William Nylander stripped Pavel Buchnevich of the puck to spark a two-on-one. Binnington came across just in time to thwart Maccelli’s five-hole tuck.

–Field Level Media