Virginia becomes first First Four team to reach Sweet Sixteen after 83-75 double-OT win over Iowa

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Kymora Johnson scored 28 points as 10th-seeded Virginia became the first First Four to reach the regional semifinals after an 83-75 double-overtime win over No. 2 seed Iowa on Monday in a women's NCAA Tournament second-round game.

The Cavaliers (22-11) won three games in five days, defeating Arizona State 57-55 in Thursday’s First Four game, following that with an 82-73 overtime win over Georgia in Saturday’s first-round game, and then the Hawkeyes (27-7), who were playing in front of a sellout home crowd of 14,332.

It’s the first time Virginia has advanced to the second weekend of the tournament since 2000. It's also the first time a 10-seed has reached the Sweet 16 since Creighton did it in 2022. The Bluejays also beat Iowa in the second round that year to advance.

Iowa had chances to win the game in regulation and at the end of the first overtime. Chazadi Wright’s turnaround jumper with one second left in regulation missed, then the Hawkeyes missed two shots at the end of the first overtime, a 3-pointer by Taylor Stremlow and a putback attempt by Ava Heiden.

Johnson had 14 of her points in the two overtimes.

Paris Clark had 20 points for the Cavaliers. Romi Levy had 13 points. Caitlin Weimar had 12.

Heiden led Iowa with 26 points. Wright had 21 points. Hannah Stuelke had 15 points and 19 rebounds for her 10th double-double of the season.

Virginia led 28-23 at halftime. The Cavaliers shot just 39.3% in the half, but took advantage of Heiden picking up two fouls in the first 4 ½ minutes as well as Iowa’s poor 3-point shooting. The Hawkeyes were 10 of 32 from the field in the half, but only 1 of 12 in 3-pointers.

The Cavaliers move on to the Sacramento Regional 4 semifinals, where they will play third seed TCU.

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