UConn advanced to the Sweet 16 after outdueling UCF on Monday. With the 52-47 win, the Huskies reach their NCAA record 28th consecutive Sweet 16.

In the next round, the Huskies will face Indiana, which edged Princeton in its own Round of 32 contest, at 2 p.m. ET Saturday with a spot in the Elite Eight on the line.

UConn eked out the win despite scoring the fewest points in an NCAA Tournament victory in program history. The Huskies shot a season-low 29.2 percent from the field, while UCF shot 34.8 percent.

The Knights jumped out to an eight-point lead early. UConn responded and held a 12-point lead midway through the fourth quarter, but the Knights pulled within three with less than a minute to go.

“Given the kind of season we’ve had, I thought I’d pretty much seen it all,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “But this was a rather new experience for me. It was what we thought it would be. It was going to be really difficult. It was going to be really ugly looking, and it was.

“And we could have just as easily let that game get away from us and we didn’t. There’s something to be said for that, that you can win a game that you probably would look back and say, ‘I’m not sure how we won that game, but we did.’”

The Huskies were just 2-of-12 on layup attempts, which left the door open for UCF. The Knights, though, struggled with free-throw shooting, going 10-for-20.

Foul trouble was also a factor, as three players — Olivia Nelson-Ododoa and Aaliyah Edwards from UConn and Alisha Lewis from UCF — fouled out before the end of the night. Two other UCF players committed four fouls, including UCF’s Brittney Smith, who had 11 points and five rebounds. Diamond Battles led the Knights with 12 points.

UConn’s Azzi Fudd led all scorers with 16 points, three steals and two blocks, while her teammate Christyn Williams added 12 points.

“We just tried to throw the first punch and keep punching them,” Williams said. “We didn’t have our best game today, but I’m really proud of our team. We grinded it out. It was very ugly, but we got the dub and that’s all that matters.”

Fudd said after the game that the “adversity we faced off the court” in addition to the Huskies’ tough schedule during the season helped them triumph on Monday. She also praised the sold-out crowd of 10,167 fans at Gampel Pavilion.

“The atmosphere was amazing,” said Fudd. “That’s definitely something I’ve never experienced to this kind of level. That made the game a lot of fun. I think that also helped with our momentum.”

No. 1 NC State 89, No. 9 Kansas State 57

Kayla Jones led all scorers with 18 points and five rebounds as Raina Perez and Diamond Johnson contributed 15 points apiece to lead the Wolfpack over the Wildcats.

No. 3 Michigan 64, No. 11 Villanova 49

Senior Naz Hillmon recorded her 50th career double-double with 27 points, 11 rebounds and five steals, while Leigha Brown added 20 points to help the Wolverines advance past Villanova and to the Sweet 16.

No. 5 Notre Dame 108, No. 4 Oklahoma 64

Four Irish players scored in double digits, including three with at least 20 points, to topple Oklahoma. Notre Dame senior Dara Mabrey led all scorers with 29 points, six rebounds and three assists.

No. 4 Tennessee 70, No. 12 Belmont 67

Tennessee narrowly escaped Belmont after Bruins guard Destinee Wells broke out for 22 points, six rebounds and four assists. The Volunteers were led by Alexus Dye, who had 20 points and 11 rebounds.

No. 6 Ohio State 79, No. 3 LSU 64

Ohio State took care of business behind a 23-point, eight-assist performance from Jacy Sheldon to upset the Tigers. LSU guard Khayla Pointer wasn’t going to go down without a fight, contributing 32 points and four assists in the loss.

No. 5 UNC 63, No. 4 Arizona 45

Arizona’s attempt to reach back-to-back title games is over. The Tar Heels were led by Kennedy Todd-Williams, who had 19 points and seven rebounds; Alyssa Utsby added 12 points and 12 rebounds in the win.

The Sweet 16 field features four teams each from the ACC and the Big Ten. The SEC, Big 12 and Big East each have two teams remaining. Stanford is the lone Pac-12 team left, while the Summit League has South Dakota in the tournament’s third round.

Welcome to another episode of Sports Are Fun! presented by TurboTax.

Every week on Sports Are Fun!, co-hosts soccer legend Kelley O'Hara, sports journalist Greydy Diaz, and JWS intern BJ serve up their hottest takes on the biggest women's sports headlines.

This week, Sports Are Fun! talks all things NWSL with Gotham FC goalkeeper — and O'Hara's fellow Stanford alum — Ryan Campbell.

"We're five games in at this point and now I feel like things are starting to take shape — we can talk about them," O'Hara opens, referencing the start to the 2025 NWSL season. "I'm excited... the settling's happened, now we can get into season."

"So we're going to talk about what happened this weekend," she continues. "First on the list: Gotham FC. Thankfully we have our very own Gotham FC player in the house."

"I feel like what you're saying is like totally correct — the first three games, I think we scored not very much — a bit of a drought," says Campbell. "But, I mean, I practice with these girls every day. I know Ella Stevens can hit it upper-90, I know Esther's chipping me at practice. I know we have scoring power."

"We all had the sentiment and didn't really get discouraged and I don't think the staff was discouraged at all," she adds. "The resounding sentiment was, 'The rain's going to fall, like it's going to drop for us.' And I think you saw that against Angel City."

In addition to this weekend's NWSL action, Sports Are Fun! also tackles the WNBA Draft's viewership, the NCAA Gymnastics Championship, and so much more.

'Sports Are Fun!' reflects on former USWNT coach Vlatko Andonovski

Then, Sports Are Fun turned to coaching. The headline? Angel City bringing on new manager Alexander Straus from Germany's Bayern Munich.

What makes a good coach? What do players look for in a coach? O'Hara knows one thing — playing under USWNT coach Vlatko Andonovski wasn't exactly a learning experience.

"Hollywood's got a new hitman you guys," Campbell quips about Straus. "He has piercing blue eyes. They rival Leo DiCaprio."

"But can he coach a soccer team to a championship?" asks O'Hara.

"I've always wondered this," says BJ. "You played at the college level. You play now professionally, you played for the national team — how are you listening to a coach?"

"I think a good coach is going to go in and take a player as experienced as Christen Press, Sydney Leroux, and say, 'This is what I see. This is what I think you can bring to the team. This is how I'm going to utilize you in the system that I want to play,'" O'Hara answers.

"What is funny is — this is going to sound bad. I feel like I shouldn't say this. I don't feel like I learned anything new from Vlatko," she says, subsequently referencing the former USWNT coach. "And, actually, post-having him as a coach, I was like, 'Wow, is that on me? Did I stop learning or did he not coach me?"

"I had conversations with other other players about it. They were like, 'No, no, no, that was on him.' Because I feel like I was always open. I was like, 'I want to be coached, tell me how I can.' Because as a player, yes, you become the type of player you are, but you're never perfect."

About 'Sports Are Fun!' with Kelley O'Hara

'Sports Are Fun!' is a show that’ll remind you why you fell in love with women's sports in the first place.

Join World Cup champ, Olympic gold medalist, and aspiring barista Kelley O'Hara as she sits down with sports journalist Greydy Diaz and a revolving cast of co-hosts and friends. Together, they're talking the biggest, funnest, and most need-to-know stories in the world of women’s sports.

From on-court drama to off-field shenanigans, to candid (and silly) chats with the most important personalities in the space, this show screams "Sports Are Fun!"

Subscribe to Just Women's Sports on YouTube to never miss an episode.

The Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) announced a plan to launch a Division II pro arm in 2026, providing a domestic stepping stone for players aspiring to top-flight leagues like the NWSL and USL Super League.

The same Cleveland ownership group that recently fell short of securing an NWSL expansion team is backing the venture, making good on their promise to bring professional women's soccer to Northeast Ohio.

The league will launch with a shortened season following the 2026 men's World Cup, before beginning its first full-fledged campaign in April 2027.

With 15 teams already confirmed, WPSL Pro intends to field clubs in an initial 16 to 20 markets.

Along with Cleveland, the inaugural WPSL Pro season will include teams in Austin, Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Fargo, Houston, Oklahoma City, Sioux Falls, Wichita, and the Bay Area, among others. Each franchise will pay a $1 million fee to enter the league.

The WPSL has a history of fostering high-level amateur competition, currently housing over 100 clubs and boasting a roster of former players that includes USWNT icons Brandi Chastain, Alex Morgan, and Rose Lavelle. WPSL Pro, however, will become the US soccer pyramid's first-ever second-tier league.

"WPSL Pro is the bridge that's been missing — not just for players, but for the communities, investors, and brands ready to be part of the next chapter in women's sports," league co-founder Sean Jones said in a statement.

The No. 22 kit of Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark weighed in as last fall's second best-selling basketball jersey in the US according to sports outfitter Fanatics, with the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year trailing only NBA superstar Steph Curry on the top sales list.

Clark's merch dominance is nothing new, however. Her Indiana jersey sold out less than an hour after the Fever drafted her as the overall No. 1 pick in April 2024, making Clark the top seller of any draft night pick in the company's history.

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Even more, Clark's merchandise led last season's record-shattering WNBA sales, with Fanatics reporting that 2024 sales of player-specific gear earned a jaw-dropping 1,000% year-over-year increase by last summer's All-Star break — in large part thanks to the 2024 WNBA rookie class.

Fellow 2024 WNBA debutants Chicago Sky standout Angel Reese and then-Las Vegas Aces guard Kate Martin — Clark's NCAA teammate at Iowa — trailed the Fever star with the league's second- and fourth-most merchandise sales, respectively.

This year, a new WNBA rookie could give Clark a run for her money, as the No. 5 Dallas Wings jersey for 2025's No. 1 draft pick, Paige Bueckers, is already doing numbers at retailers across the country.

Already a brand mogul in her own right, Bueckers topped the 2024 NIL list as college basketball’s biggest earner via endorsement deals and merchandise sales prior to going pro.

Kenyan runner Sharon Lokedi shattered the women’s course record at the 2025 Boston Marathon on Monday, finishing the 129th edition of the race in 2:17:22 — more than two and a half minutes faster than the previous record set by Ethiopia's Buzunesh Deba in 2014.

The victory marked the 31-year-old runner's second major marathon championship following her 2022 New York City Marathon win.

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After finishing second in the 2024 Boston Marathon behind fellow Kenyan Hellen Obiri, Lokedi avenged her runner-up status by overtaking the back-to-back defending champion in the final kilometer of Monday’s race.

"I'm always second to her and today I was like, 'There’s no way,'" Lokedi said of her rivalry with Obiri. "I just have to put it out there and fight 'til the end and see how it goes. I'm so glad I ran that fast and she was right behind me. We all fought and wanted this so bad."

All of this year’s top three finishers broke through the course record pace, with Obiri and Ethiopia's Yalemzerf Yehualaw joining Lokedi both at the finish line and in the Boston Marathon's record book.

Along with her $150,000 winner's check, Lokedi will pocket an additional $50,000 for claiming the fastest women's time in Boston Marathon history.