USA Takes Over: Dominates Japan 81-67, Seizes Olympic Basketball Crown!

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - MARCH 05: Avery Howell #2 and Sayvia Sellers #0 of the Washington Huskies celebrate after defeating the USC Trojans during the second round of the 2026 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on March 05, 2026 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images) | Getty Images UW Women’s Basketball made it back to the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row, only this time they are a #6 seed. The women will be playing the #11 seed South Dakota State this Friday, March 19.

The winner of this match-up will likely play #3 TCU in the second round. Going into Selection Sunday, CBS had UW as a #6 seed and ESPN had UW as a #7 seed, both predicting that UW would be in UCLA’s bracket. Apparently the Selection Committee watched the first half of the UW-UCLA game in the Big 10 tournament and worried that UW would knock out the #1 seed UCLA out a bit too fast.

UW is in South Carolina’s bracket, which will play in Sacramento for the Sweet Sixteen. UW played in the Big10 Tournament as a #8 seed, beating the #9 seed USC by 12 points. As mentioned, they went on to play the #1 seed UCLA and were actually up by 20 points in the first half against UCLA.

UW might have even given UCLA the toughest half they’ve had all year. And then UCLA made some adjustments out of halftime and beat UW by 18. But!