Iowa State vs. Syracuse; Oklahoma State vs. Princeton: March Madness women's games to watch

March Madness has started with no early upsets.

March college basketball usually brings what it is named after, Madness.

The first day of the first round had no upsets — every higher seed won.

Some mid-majors and lower-ranked teams pushed Michigan State and Texas Tech, but no Cinderella story has appeared yet.

Most favorites, like No. 1 Texas, dominated, but some lower-ranked teams also played well against similar opponents. Maryland (No. 5) beat Murray State (No. 12) by 32 points — a huge margin for a 5 vs 12 matchup, especially given Murray State’s strength.

Kyndal Walker led the Terrapins, coming off the bench with 33 minutes, and earned a team high of 20 points. Four of the five starters for Maryland reached double digits, with Mir Mclean and Saylor Poffenbarger hitting double digits for rebounding as well. 

Another team out of the Big Ten showed up strong Friday afternoon: the Washington Huskies. The Huskies are a six seed in the tournament, but showed the committee they may have been under ranked by defeating No. 11 South Dakota State by 18 points. 

Avery Howell led the Huskies with an impressive 30 points in 33 minutes, but she was only one of two starters to reach double digits which could prove to be a weakness as the tournament advances. 

Today, South Carolina will play their first game since a crushing championship defeat by Texas in the SEC tournament, but this game is likely to be a confidence builder for the Gamecocks who are facing 16 seed Southern U.

Ones to watch today are closely seeded No. 8 Iowa State and No. 9 Syracuse, as well as, No. 8 Oklahoma St. vs. No. 9 Princeton. 

Thank you for reading Female Athlete News. Clara Romae Slowinski is a student-intern at Penn State University.