NCAAW: Audi Crooks, two Ivies and an HBCU highlight First Four

On Wednesday, Mar. 19 and Thursday, Mar. 20, eight teams will compete in NCAA Tournament’s First Four, aiming to earn an official spot in the tournament’s 64-team field.

No. 11-seeds Princeton and Iowa State kick things off at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday, followed by No. 16-seeds Southern and UC San Diego at 9 p.m. ET. On Thursday, No. 11-seeds Washington and Columbia meet at 7 p.m. ET before No. 16-seeds William & Mary and High Point fight for the final spot.

Here are four things to know when tuning in for the First Four:

Audi Crooks is awesome!

After last season’s second-round NCAA Tournament game against Stanford, where Iowa State took the Cardinal to overtime before coming up short, expectations were high for the Cyclones. A No. 11 seed indicates that Iowa State disappointed, finishing seventh in the Big 12.

But, the Cyclones’ subpar season was not due to Audi Crooks. The sophomore center averaged over 23 points per game while shooting better than 60 percent from the field. She scored 30 points or more seven times, highlighted by her 36-point and 10-rebound double-double in Iowa State’s dominant win over Kansas State, a No. 5 seed in the tourney, in early March.

Crooks’ singular scoring star power not only can power Iowa State through their First Four matchup against Princeton, but also makes the Cyclones an unappealing opponent for No. 6-seed Michigan on Friday.

Princeton, Columbia among record three Ivies in Big Dance

Speaking of Princeton, the Tigers are one of a record three Ivy League schools that earned a bid into the 68-team field. While Harvard automatically qualified by winning the Ivy League Tournament behind epic performances from Harmoni Turner, Princeton and Columbia, which topped the Ivy League during the regular season, will have to secure their at-large selections by winning their First Four games.

Both teams’ season-long successes are more impressive considering they lost their engines from the season prior. The Tigers saw a graduated Kaitlyn Chen take her talents to Storrs, CT and join UConn, while the Lions’ Abbey Hsu was drafted by the Connecticut Sun and is set to make her WNBA debut in 2025, having recently signed her rookie scale contract.

This season, Princeton has been led by the trio of Skye Belker, Ashley Chea and Fadima Tall, all of whom are sophomores. Riley Weiss, another sophomore, has led Columbia in scoring.

Southern is the second HBCU dancing

No. 13-seed Norfolk State, winners of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), have their spot in the 64-team field. Can No. 16-seed Southern, the regular-season and tournament champions of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), join them?

Although the games were struggles, the Jaguars did test themselves against top competition during non-conference play, facing off against Power Four tournament teams in Oklahoma, NC State, Texas and Illinois, in addition to fellow First Four entrants in Iowa State and Washington. Despite the losses, that slate should have Southern prepared for the pressures of a First Four game against UC San Diego and, if they’re victorious, an opening-round date with UCLA, the tournament’s No. 1-overall seed.

Can William & Mary keep winning when it matters most?

Sometimes, it’s not about how many games you win, but when you win them.

That’s the case for No. 16-seed William & Mary, which finished ninth in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) regular-season standings with an 8-10 conference record and 15-18 overall record, but prevailed in the conference tournament to punch their ticket into the Big Dance. It’s the first NCAA Tournament appearance in school history for the women’s or men’s programs. The Tribe also are the first team since 2022 to make the tournament with a record of at least three games under .500, and only the seventh to do so this century.

However, William & Mary have won four-straight games, their longest streak of the season. If they can extend it to five games against High Point, the regular-season and tournament champs from the Big South, and earn a shot at No. 1-seed Texas, it likely will be due to another big game from Bella Nascimento, who had a 33-point and 11-rebound double-double in the CAA championship game.