The Virginia women’s basketball team unleashed a water bottle celebration in the locker room in Iowa City, Iowa, on Monday after making history in the 2026 Women’s NCAA Tournament.
The No. 10 Cavaliers upset No. 2 Iowa in the double overtime to become the first First Four team to advance to the Sweet 16. The win marked Virginia’s third game in five days after coming through the play-in tournament.
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“We’re still dancing. It’s so sweet,” said Kymora Johnson, who feels “hungry and tired” after playing 50 minutes in the double-overtime win. “We’re a confident team, and I think we believe in all the work that we’ve put in. Not a lot of people have. They’ve written us off. We came into March trying to show what Virginia is about.”
While Johnson is elated, Iowa senior Hannah Stuelke experience devastation after her college career came to an end.
USA TODAY Sports has followed along with every upset, buzzer-beater and matchup from the 2026 Women’s NCAA Tournament and rounded up our winners and losers from the second round of March Madness:
Winners
The ACC
A lot of folks thought it was a down year for the conference. Duke got off to a shaky start, NC State didn’t play up to its typical title-contending standards and questions swirled about Notre Dame’s roster construction and reliance on Hannah Hidalgo.
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But success in college basketball is not measured by what you do in November. It’s all about if you’re winning in March. After going 8-2 in the first round, five ACC teams are advancing to the Sweet 16, tied with the 2015 season for the most the conference has ever sent to the second weekend. Only the SEC, with six teams, will have more squads dancing in the regionals.
Obviously Virginia’s shocking upset of Iowa was the result that jumped off the screen for the conference, followed closely by Notre Dame upsetting Ohio State to punch its ticket to the Sweet 16 for the fifth straight time under Niele Ivey. However, all three of the ACC’s top 16 seeds lived up to the hype too, as North Carolina defeated Maryland, Louisville outlasted Alabama and Duke blew out Baylor to advance.
“The ACC has prepared us for this physicality,” North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart said. “They’ve prepared us for individual defenders and really good coaches. I feel more prepared, honestly, year after year as our league continues to get better.”
Now the question is, can any of the five ACC teams remaining breakthrough to the Final Four?
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Minnesota Golden Gophers
No. 4 Minnesota had not advanced to the Sweet 16 since 2005, but Golden Gophers guard Amaya Battle ended that streak in buzzer-beater fashion. Minnesota was down eight points entering the final quarter, but the team’s defense contained No. 5 Ole Miss and outscored them 29-9 in the final frame. Battle delivered the final dagger and knocked down a 13-foot jumper as time expired to give Minnesota a 65-63 victory.
“Any basketball player, when you shoot on your own, you’re like, OK, three, two, one, throw it up there and see what happens. It was real life today,” said Battle, who finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. “It’s bittersweet. I’ll never play at The Barn ever again. … I’m leaving it with a win. We’re leaving it with a win and we’re about to go to the Sweet 16, so what better way?”
Virginia Cavaliers
Virginia women’s basketball was on the bubble heading into Selection Sunday and the Cavaliers were unsure if they would even make March Madness. Virginia advanced through the First Four and is now heading to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2000.
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“We fought to get here. I mean we were teary-eyed before our name was called (on Selection Sunday) and then it was called and we were like, it’s go time,” Virginia guard Kymora Johnson said on Monday. “It is time to show everybody who Virginia is. That’s what we all came here to do and we did it”
If you don’t know who Virginia is, now you know. The Cavaliers overcame a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter to force double overtime and upset No. 2 Iowa 83-75 on Monday. Johnson led the way scoring 14 of her 28 points in both overtime periods. She also had four assists, two rebounds and two steals in the win.
Virginia is the first First Four team to advance to the Sweet 16 and is the only double-digit seed remaining.
Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo
Hannah Hidalgo is a walking highlight reel, as evidenced by her latest March Madness performance. Hidalgo led No. 6 Notre Dame to a 83-73 upset win over No. 3 Ohio State to punch the Fighting Irish’s ticket to the Sweet 16 for the fifth consecutive season. Hidalgo fouled out with 40.2 second remaining, but finished two steals short of a triple-double with 26 points, a career-high 13 rebounds and eight steals. With the performance, Hidalgo passed Arike Agunbowale (849) for the Notre Dame single-season scoring record with 856 points and counting. She also holds the single-season records for steals (189) and points per game (25.2).
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“Nobody believed in us,” Hidalgo said. “I feel like for me, it’s just reading what the offense is doing. Thinking one step ahead, I think, is really big, just reading the passing lanes. I didn’t get too many on-ball steals. I don’t think I got any. So I think for me, it was a lot of off-ball and just reading what they might do next and just being ready, being prepared to take it away. Like, that last steal when I thought I was going to be a clear path.”
Losers
Iowa Hawkeyes
Hannah Stuelke’s final game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa, didn’t go as expected. No. 2 Iowa was ousted by No. 10 Virginia on their home court in front of a sold-out crowd, the Hawkeye’s second straight second-round exit after advancing to the NCAA Tournament championship game in 2023 and 2024.
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“Obviously not the way we wanted the game to go,” said Stuelke, who finished with 15 points, a career-high 19 rebounds and six assists. “I’ll carry it throughout my life and learn from it, and I’ll be a stronger person for it.”
Iowa put up 21 more shots than Virginia over the course of the game, but Virginia was the more efficient team. The Cavaliers shot 44% from the field, compared to 37% for the Hawkeyes. Iowa was outscored 44-27 in the fourth quarter and overtime, despite carrying a nine-point lead in the fourth.
“When you look at categories that need to happen — the free throws, the shooting percentage —that hurts because those things are a little bit more controllable, said Iowa head coach Jan Jensen. Iowa only shot 50% (8-of-16) from the free-throw line and out-rebounded the Cavaliers 50-48.
West Virginia
The Mountaineers’ Sweet 16 drought will continue. Despite securing a top 16 seed and hosting rights — which drew record crowds to Morgantown’s Hope Coliseum — West Virginia was unable to beat No. 5 Kentucky in the second round of the tournament, losing 74-73. Teonni Key and Clara Strack both had double-doubles for the Wildcats, and WVU just couldn’t overcome Kentucky’s length. The Mountaineers have not been to the Sweet 16 since 1992. West Virginia has lost 12 straight Round-of-32 games.
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Ohio State’s Jaloni Cambridge
Cambridge’s breakout year comes to an end in the second-round of March Madness, yet again. The sophomore guard tied her career-high with 41 points, seven rebounds, two blocks and two assists, but her spectacular performance was spoiled by No. 6 Notre Dame on Ohio State’s home court at Value City Arena in Columbus.
“Forty-one (points) doesn’t matter with an L,” Cambridge said. “You want to win. If I could have scored zero and got a win, I would have been satisfied.”
Cambridge scored more than half of the Buckeyes’ points, but she couldn’t do it on her own. She was the only Ohio State player to reach double digits. The rest of the team combined for 32 points. Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo on the other hand got help from her supporting cast, with four other player reaching double digits in the upset win. It marks Ohio State’s third consecutive exit in the second round.
Syracuse Orange
Give Syracuse credit for playing against UConn, but the game was over before it started. The lead was 25 after the first quarter, and 53 by halftime. UConn scored 60 first half points with nine 3-pointers. Azzi Fudd had 26 points by halftime and 30 points by midway through the third quarter, including seven triples. Turnovers were also an issue. The Orange spotted UConn 30 points off turnovers before the fourth quarter ever arrived.
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Reach USA TODAY National Women’s Sports Reporter Cydney Henderson at chenderson@gannett.com and follow her on X at @CydHenderson.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Women’s March Madness Round 2 winners, losers: Virginia soars, Iowa fizzles
