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# Huskies Women Dominate Jackrabbits to Win NCAA Tournament Opener
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/washington-huskiess-womens-basketball-ncaa-tournament-south-dakota-state/
- Published: 2026-03-20T22:19:28.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T06:15:32.000Z
- Author: Aaron Coe
- Tags: Game Day, Tina Langley, Avery Howell, Sayvia Sellers, Brynn McGaughy, NCAA Tournament, Huskies Women's Basketball

\[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1638"\]

![  Washington Huskies guard Avery Howell shoots a 3-pointer during UW’s 72-54 win over South Dakota State in a first-round NCAA Tournament game on Friday, March 20, 2026 at Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. Credit: Washington Athletics  ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1d/f2/1df2f77b-83dd-4bc0-a6d2-6d1bb5df89a3/content/images/2026/10/howell-wbb-format-original-1.jpg)

Washington Huskies guard Avery Howell shoots a 3-pointer during UW’s 72-54 win over South Dakota State in a first-round NCAA Tournament game on Friday, March 20, 2026 at Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. Credit: Washington Athletics \[/caption\]

There would be no first-round meltdown this year. 

A year after blowing a 13-point halftime lead for a quick NCAA Tournament exit, the Washington women’s basketball team overcame a slow start to overwhelm South Dakota State, 72-54, in the first round Saturday at TCU’s Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. 

One key ingredient to Washington’s first-round win this season was sophomore Avery Howell, who helped USC reach the Final Four last year. Howell, a 6-foot sophomore transfer, led the Huskies (22-10) with 30 points and nine rebounds. Her seven made 3-point shots and Washington’s tenacious defense carried the sixth-seeded Huskies to the second round, where they will face No. 3-seed TCU on Sunday. 

“Avery's a player — she just plays hard,” said Washington’s Big Ten First-Team point guard Sayvia Sellers, who registered 10 assists along with three steals and four points. “And so I think I'm not gonna lie. I kind of expect that out of her to just be on the glass every game, because that's just who she is. And then obviously, offensively, she puts in the work to shoot like that, and so I think it's very rewarding, and it's fun to see that all the hard work that she puts in every day shows up in big moments like this.”

Between Sellers’ ballhandling, Howell’s shooting and Washington’s defense, the Huskies made certain the result wouldn’t mirror last year’s “first four” loss to fellow No. 11 seed Columbia. 

Early on, however, the No. 13-seed Jackrabbits (27-7) proved to be the aggressors. South Dakota State jumped out to a 13-3 lead while Washington missed 12 of its first 13 shots. After that, Washington turned on the defense, and it was lights out for the Jackrabbits. 

“I think we just knew how we have been practicing, and so we knew that we were capable of playing this specific style of defense that we wanted to play today,” said Washington head coach Tina Langley, whose team finished with a 40-25 rebounding advantage. “And so it was just reminding … them of the scout, reminding them the way we wanted to play. And we knew that would lead us to our transition offense.”

Brynn McCaughy helped get Washington’s offensive engine started with four straight free throws to cut SDSU’s lead to 13-7\. The 6-3 freshman forward and 6-5 senior center Yulia Grabovskaia caused the Jackrabbits problems under the basket, which opened things up for Howell and allowed Sellers room to run the offense. 

McCaughy and Grabovskaia also had their hands full trying to slow down senior forward Brooklyn Meyer, who entered Friday’s game averaging 22.4 points and eight rebounds per game for a team that had won 10 straight. Howell (29 points, seven rebounds) and Emilie Fox (14 points) combined for 43 points, but the rest of the Jackrabbits made five of 24 shot attempts and scored 11 points. 

“Just be physical,” McCaughy said of the game plan against Howell. “Don't foul, which, you know it happens. But keeping high hands. She's experienced, I give her a lot of respect, like she's a really good player, so just not fouling and being strong.”

UW trailed 13-9, but the deficit was erased quickly — and for good — once Howell got going with her first points 5:43 into the game. Sellers pulled down a rebound and then found Howell for a layup to begin Howell’s run of scoring 12 of Washington’s next 15 points in less than four minutes to put UW up 24-17\. 

“I think that's obviously not the start that we wanted, but we knew that if we dug in on the things that we needed to focus on in the scout and just going back to scout and the preparation that we had done all since we've known who we've been playing,” said Howell, whose career-high is 34 points. “Just going back into that and then coming together, playing and executing on the court. And I think a lot of that started with our defense and just having that flow into our offense and just helped us be successful in that next run.”

Washington pulled away for the remainder of the second quarter, which UW ruled 23-9 as the Huskies built a 38-24 halftime lead. With the exception of 15 seconds when SDSU trailed 40-31 early in the third quarter, UW maintained a double-digit lead for the entire second half. Thoughts of last year’s crushing loss crept into minds, but only briefly. 

“I knew we were a different team,” Langley said. “And so I think as a fleeting thought. It's one that passes, and you're like, ‘I'm so glad we're a different team.’ So didn't stay long, and knew that we were able to talk, even in a timeout, about ‘This is when we extend the lead.’ And so love to see that growth.”