SEATTLE (AP) — The battle for the national championship in women’s basketball is on. Sweet 16 weekend has arrived with a twist this year: There are two regional sites instead of four: Greenville, South Carolina, and Seattle each will host eight teams. The Final Four is in Dallas on March 31, and the championship game is two days later on April 2.
The UConn Huskies (31-5) are in the Sweet 16 for the 29th straight year and will face the Ohio State (27-7) Buckeyes who are heading to the Sweet 16 for the second year in a row.
Gritty No. 3 Ohio State has made a second-half comeback in four straight postseason games and beat North Carolina on Jacy Sheldon’s short jumper with 1.8 seconds left.
No. 2 UConn has been bolstered by the return of Azzi Fudd from a knee injury. She scored 16 of her 22 points in the third quarter to break open a tie game in their victory against Baylor.
UConn’s Gena Auriemma leads all women’s coaches with 11 championships.
HOW TO WATCH
The title game will be on a national network — ABC — for the first time since 1996.
Besides that, every game of the women’s tournament will be available on ESPN’s networks or streaming, with fans encouraged to navigate to the “Watch” tab on ESPN’s sites. There are multiple sites listing game times, channels and other details, including the NCAA site.