rewrite this content and keep HTML tags
Thursday’s conference tournament games featured more top 25 teams—and they have begun dropping. We had No. 24 Michigan State falling to Iowa, No. 19 Alabama losing to Florida and No. 18 Tennessee getting upset by Vanderbilt.
Here is a brief breakdown of how these upsets happened:
The Caitlin Clark Effect
How good is Caitlin Clark? Her mere presence created an upset, even though she was just a spectator for No. 11-seed Iowa’s second Big Ten Tournament game against No. 6-seed Michigan State.
Seriously, though, Iowa did a stupendous job of taking down Michigan State, 74-61. Lucy Olsen spearheaded the victory, scoring 21 points on 50 percent shooting. She was also a perfect 8-8 from the charity stripe.
Off the bench, the Hawkeyes got a strong performance from Ava Heiden, who scored 11 points. In charge for most of the game, Iowa really took control in the second quarter when they held the Spartans to nine points. For Michigan State, Julia Ayrault led the way with 17 points, but it wasn’t enough to stave off elimination.
Tide Rolled
In the SEC, No. 11-seed Florida took down No. 6-seed Alabama, 63-61. The Tide made things interesting down the stretch, going on a 5-0 run, but they ran out of time—and the Gators sent them home.
It takes a team to win a game, but make no mistake about it: Florida is advancing because of Liv McGill. The freshman had 29 points and led the team in assists with four. Alabama was suffocated offensively and couldn’t string together much scoring. Sarah Ashlee Barker was the exception, as she had 24 points along with eight boards.
The loss not only ends Bama’s SEC season, but it’ll also undoubtedly affect their NCAA Tournament seeding.
Vanderbilt dominates
While Florida-Alabama was a competitive game, No. 8-seed Vanderbilt’s contest against No. 9-seed Tennessee was not. The Commodores led essentially the entire game and won easily, 84-76, advancing to the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament.
Vanderbilt was led by their backcourt combo of Iyana Moore and Mikayla Blakes; they scored a combined 47 points. The Volunteers had a more balanced attack, but struggled to score for long stretches. This resulted in Tennessee falling behind in the first half and never threatening in the second.
Friday will feature an even heavier slate of games as we reach the midpoint of all the conference tournament action. Be sure to return to Swish Appeal the following morning for more conference tournament updates.
