Sports
Women's NCAA Sacramento 4 roundup: Iowa evades Fairleigh Dickinson upset bid
Mar 21, 2026; Columbia, South Carolina, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks forward Joyce Edwards (8) looks to shoot over Southern Jaguars guard Olivia Delancy (30) in the first half at Colonial Life Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Blake-Imagn Images Ava Heiden scored 15 points in the fourth quarter to help No. 2 seed Iowa survive a strong upset bid from No. 15 Fairleigh Dickinson for a 58-48 win in Sacramento Region 4 first-round NCAA Tournament action Saturday in Iowa City.
The Hawkeyes (27-6) led by just two points entering the fourth quarter after they were outscored 16-15 over the middle two periods. Heiden accounted for half of the team’s scoring with 29 points on 11-of-16 shooting and 7-of-7 from the free-throw line, all of which came in the final quarter.
Hannah Stuelke added 13 points and a career-high-tying 16 rebounds as Iowa overcame a 1-for-13 3-point performance by handily outrebounding the Knights 47-28 to win their seventh straight NCAA Tournament opener.
The Hawkeyes next host No. 10 seed Virginia on Monday for a spot in the Sweet 16.
Fairleigh Dickinson’s only lead of the game came at 3-2, but the Knights (30-5) cut a 15-point first-quarter deficit to three points by the end of the first with a 12-0 run and trailed by one at halftime. Ava Renninger was the only Fairleigh Dickinson player in double figures with 13 points.
Bella Toomey tallied nine off the bench on a trio of treys, and Madlena Gerke and Kailee McDonald chipped in eight apiece as the Knights saw their 22-game winning streak come to an end.
No. 1 South Carolina 103, No. 16 Southern 34
Joyce Edwards scored 27 points to lead five Gamecocks players in double figures in a first-round romp over the Jaguars in Columbia, S.C.
Regional top seed South Carolina (32-3) will meet Southern Cal on Monday. Ta’Niya Latson had 17 points, Madina Okat and Agot Makeer both scored 15 and Tessa Johnson had 14 for the Gamecocks, who made 54.7% of their shots from the field.
Joceyln Tate had 10 points and eight rebounds off the bench for Southern (20-14), which shot just 18.5% from the field and committed 20 turnovers. The Jaguars knocked off Samford on the same court two days earlier in the First Four, but they were no match for South Carolina.
The Gamecocks led 23-6 early in the second quarter and outscored Southern 32-2 in the third quarter.
Johnson, who also pulled in 10 rebounds, connected on four of South Carolina’s eight 3-point baskets, matching Southern’s 3-point total. Alicia Tournebize had 11 rebounds for South Carolina, which built a 57-33 rebounding edge.
No. 10 Virginia 82, No. 7 Georgia 73 (OT)
Kymora Johnson poured in 28 points and Sa’Myah Smith racked up 23 as the Cavaliers dominated overtime in a first-round victory in Iowa City, Iowa.
Romi Levy provided 14 points for No. 10 seed Virginia (21-11), which takes on the Fairleigh Dickinson-Iowa winner on Monday. The Cavaliers outscored Georgia 11-2 in the extra period.
Mia Woolfolk, a Virginia native, posted 27 points and Rylie Theuerkauf, aided by five 3-point baskets, compiled 22 points for seventh-seeded Georgia (22-10). Savannah Henderson had 11 points, but the Bulldogs shot 7 of 24 on 3-pointers.
With the score tied at 71-all, Georgia got off two shots in the final seconds of regulation but didn’t connect.
Georgia wasn’t able to take full advantage of a huge edge in free-throw opportunities, going 22 of 35 at the line. Virginia was just 12 of 15, with six of those attempts coming in the final two minutes of overtime.
No. 9 USC 71, No. 8 Clemson 67 (OT)
Jazzy Davidson scored six of her game-high 31 points in overtime as the Trojans outlasted the Tigers in a first-round matchup in Columbia, S.C.
After Clemson (21-12) took a three-point lead in overtime, Davidson drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to put USC (18-13) ahead to stay. Kara Dunn scored 22, including four 3-pointers, and Kennedy Smith added 12 points and six rebounds for the Trojans.
Taylor Johnson-Matthews scored a team-high 16 for Clemson, which forced the extra session on two Mia Moore free throws with 50 seconds left. Moore finished with nine points, six rebounds and six assists, while Raven Thompson posted an 11-point, 12-rebound double-double. Morgan Lee chipped in 12 points off the bench.
The Trojans shot 45% (27 of 60) from the field while holding the Tigers to just 37.3% (22 of 59). Clemson won the rebound battle 37-33, but USC held a 32-26 edge in points in the paint.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Alex Ovechkin becomes 2nd NHL player with 1,000 career goals
Mar 20, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) reacts after defeating the New Jersey Devils at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-Imagn Images Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin became just the second player in NHL history with 1,000 career goals, including regular season and playoffs, with a power-play goal on Sunday to join Wayne Gretzky.
Ovechkin, 40, eclipsed Gretzky for the most regular-season goals in league history on April 6, 2025, with goal No. 895.
On Sunday, Ovechkin reached the milestone mark in the third period against the visiting Colorado Avalanche, ripping a slap shot past goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood to tie the game at 2 with 5:43 left in regulation. Colorado rebounded to win 3-2 in overtime.
The Russian legend has 26 goals and 27 assists in 70 games this season, his 21st in the NHL — all with the Capitals, who made him the No. 1 overall pick in 2004. For his career, Ovechkin has 1,676 points (923 goals, 753 assists) in 1,562 regular-season games. In the postseason, he has 147 points (77 goals, 70 assists) in 161 games.
Among the numerous awards he has accumulated over his brilliant career, Ovechkin is a three-time Hart Memorial Trophy winner as league MVP, a 12-time All-Star and a Stanley Cup champion with Washington in the 2017-18 season.
–Field Level Media
Sports
South Korea's Sungjae Im maintains Valspar lead for third straight day
Mar 21, 2026; Palm Harbor, Florida, USA; Sungjae Im putts on the sixth green during the third round of the Valspar Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images South Korea’s Sungjae Im sank a 13-foot putt on the final hole to shoot 2-under-par 69 and stretch his lead to two strokes through the third round of the Valspar Championship on Saturday at Palm Harbor, Fla.
Im had gone nine holes without a birdie on Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club’s Copperhead Course before sinking his last birdie attempt. He enters Sunday’s final round at 11-under 202 in search of his first PGA Tour win since the 2021 Shriners Children’s Open.
Brandt Snedeker posted 67 to pull into a share of second place with David Lipsky, who turned in an erratic 70.
Snedeker’s bogey-free round — beginning with three birdies on the first four holes — gave him a score that matched the best rounds of the day.
England’s Marco Penge and England’s Matt Fitzpatrick shot matching 68s to hold a tie for fourth place at 8 under. That’s two shots clear of South Korea’s S.H. Kim and Belgium’s Adrien Dumont de Chassart, a duo that shared the day’s best round with Snedeker.
Lipsky moved into a share of the lead with a birdie on No. 15 before giving it back with a bogey — his third of the back nine — on the next hole. His round included five birdies and four bogeys.
Im, who hadn’t led through 36 holes of a PGA Tour event since 2021, finished at 69 for the second day in a row. He saved par on No. 16 after a tee shot settled on a cart path.
Penge was at 2 over for the round after a double-bogey 6 on No. 6, but he played the backside bogey-free at 4 under.
Fitzpatrick was steadier. He fashioned nothing but pars — save a three-hole stretch of birdies on Nos. 10-12.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Ryan Odom strives for another shining moment as Virginia faces Tennessee
Mar 20, 2026; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Virginia Cavaliers guard Jacari White (6) takes a jump shot during the second half against the Wright State Raiders during a first round game of the men’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images PHILADELPHIA — Ryan Odom engineered a massive one-year turnaround at Virginia. Seven years removed from the program’s only national title, Odom has his players visualizing their own shining moment.
The third-seeded Cavaliers are on the verge of the Sweet 16 but first must handle Ja’Kobi Gillespie and sixth-seeded Tennessee in a Midwest Region second-round matchup on Sunday.
Virginia (30-5) officially doubled its win total from last season when it pulled out an 82-73 win over Wright State in Friday’s opener. The Cavaliers hadn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since the 2019 national final.
Odom — the same coach who pulled off UMBC’s historic 16-over-1 upset of Virginia once upon a time — said afterward that he’d shown his players a montage of their season set to “One Shining Moment,” the tournament’s unofficial theme song.
After being hired from VCU last March, Odom had to assemble a new team quickly and primarily through the transfer portal. He has gotten his players to buy into Virginia’s history and the part they can play in writing a new chapter.
“When he brought us here, he emphasized the importance of what it is we’re actually playing for and not just ourselves, and playing for the university and trying to continue the legacy that was left behind by the players before,” said Virginia senior guard Jacari White, who transferred in from North Dakota State. “And so we honor that and take pride in that, and I feel like that shows in our play.”
Virginia’s 3-point marksman off the bench, White scored a season-high 26 points to propel the Cavaliers past the upset-minded Raiders. The first five of his six 3-pointers either tied the game or put Virginia in front.
“He’s one of the best shooters in the country when he’s locked and loaded there and feeling it,” Odom said. “You have to see that first one go in on game day, and he did, and then he was kind of on from there.”
Tennessee (23-11) is familiar with countering 3-point specialists after it held Eian Elmer to 0-for-7 shooting and Brant Byers to 1-for-6 in Friday’s 78-56 win over Miami (Ohio). Elmer shot 42.9% from deep for the year and Byers was at 39.2%.
“It’s similar. They put up around 30 threes a game or something like that,” Tennessee guard Bishop Boswell said of Virginia. “They’re also doing a (good) job attacking it early if they have the open three, so I think kind of just the same thing as we kind of did last game, just being in gaps early and playing out, guarding the 3-point line as best we can, but they’re balanced so just trying to take away as much as we can.”
Gillespie racked up 29 points and nine assists to carry Tennessee on a day where star freshman Nate Ament went scoreless in 18 minutes. Ament has been battling a high ankle sprain, yet had a 27-point showing and a double-double in the final two games of the SEC tournament last week.
“Last night, we could tell he was struggling with it,” coach Rick Barnes said Saturday. “That’s why we didn’t put him back in the game. …
“We need Nate. He knows it, but he will give us everything that he can, and that’s really all I can say about it. If it’s up to him, he would play every minute if he could. We’ll see game time.”
Ament averages 17.0 points and 6.5 rebounds while Gillespie leads Tennessee with 18.3 points and 5.6 assists per game.
Belgian freshman Thijs De Ridder tops Virginia at 15.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per contest.
–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media
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