By Bel Garcia

Seattle, WA - The Circling Seattle Sports + Converge Media team of Bel Garcia and Mathew Bermudez will be on hand for all three days of Women’s March Madness as the Seattle regional is being hosted at Climate Pledge Arena! Bel will be writing game recaps of every matchup that takes place as each team fights to move on in the big dance, while Mathew Bermudez will be capturing the matchups through his lense and recording the recaps that Bel does for the days! Here is what Bel and Mat saw one day one of the tournament, as the Colorado Buffaloes battled the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Ole Miss Rebels took on the Louisville Cardinal!

Colorado and Iowa, the first game of the Seattle regional, through photos (Photos by Mathew Bermudez)

Game 1: Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Colorado Buffaloes

March Madness in Seattle kicked off with a familiar name in the PNW, Quay Miller a Renton native; and the Buffaloes had the tough task of stopping a Caitlin Clark led Iowa team. Clark started the game as many expected, aggressive, and looking for her shot early. She ended the first quarter with eleven points but cooled down in the second half only scoring two points after getting into some foul trouble. She relied on her team to take part of the scoring load. What many might not have expected was for Buffs Frida Formman to have the hot hand early, by the end of the half she was 4-7 from beyond the arc, had 19 points. Her hot hand and the Colorado defense meeting Iowa and Clark at the rim whenever they drove to the basket had them going into the half up by one point.

The difference in the second half for this one was the lack of attempts that Frida Fromman received in comparison to Caitlin Clark. The Hawkeyes slowed the tempo of the game to keep control and it allowed for Clark to get into a groove. Iowa had to have a good shooting game from the floor given the strength of Colorado’s defense. The Hawk’s did some adjusting of their own after halftime and put more of a focus on their defense holding Formman to a quiet half until she eventually fouled out with more than half of the fourth quarter remaining. PNW native Quay Miller was dominant on the boards for the Buffaloes but had a slow shooting night until the fourth quarter. Quay erupted hitting some crucial shots to keep her team within a few points. The efforts were just not enough as Iowa outlasted CU 87-77 to advance to the Elite 8.

Ole Miss fell to Louisville in the second game of the Seattle regional (Photos by Mathew Bermudez)

Game 2: Ole Miss Rebels vs Louisville Cardinals

Friday night’s second and final game was a matchup between Ole Miss and Louisville. For Cardinal’s Hailey Van Lith it was a sort of homecoming having grown up in Cashmere, WA and getting to play somewhat close to home. She received a warm welcome from the fans in Climate Pledge Arena and quickly started with an aggressive mindset. She was not the only one that would start aggressive as Ole Miss was quick to get good looks on offense and held the Cardinals to some tough shot clock fighting shots. Marquesha Davis and Myah Taylor led the offense for the Rebels combining for 20 points in the first half. Meanwhile, Louisville did a great job at distributing the ball and getting touches from several of their players, a collective effort. A lower scoring game than the first, they ended the half with a Cards lead of 34-29.

State of Washington native Haley Van Lith (Photos by Mathew Bermudez)

The second half was a different tale, but similar to our first showcasing, a much slower tempo. Louisville had the control the whole second half and it felt like they were running away with it. Van Lith continued shooting in the second half, but just couldn’t get her shots to fall. Luckily for the Cardinals the rest of the team was able to step up and keep a comfortable lead with a big And-1 play from center Cochran and some key layups from Robinson in the fourth quarter. They held off Ole Miss to advance to the Elite 8 and will match up against the Iowa Hawkeyes.

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