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03/28 22:09 CDT Marta Suarez and Olivia Miles lead TCU past Virginia 79-69 and into the women's Elite Eight Marta Suarez and Olivia Miles lead TCU past Virginia 79-69 and into the women's Elite Eight By MICHELLE SMITH Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) --- Marta Suarez began her collegiate career at Tennessee, spent two seasons at California and chose to take one last shot at a tournament run with TCU this season. After a 33-point, 10-rebound effort, she got what she came for --- a trip to the Elite Eight. Suarez and Olivia Miles were nearly unstoppable, and TCU overwhelmed 10th-seeded Virginia with a third-quarter burst that turned a nip-and-tuck game into a convincing win, 79-69 over the Cavaliers on Saturday in the Sweet 16 of the women's NCAA Tournament. TCU (32-5), making its second straight appearance in a regional final, will face No. 1 seed South Carolina on Monday for a trip to the Final Four. Suarez's career-best scoring night --- and her 12th double-double of the season --- was complemented by fellow senior and All-American Miles, who finished with her own gaudy stat line of 28 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. A few weeks from now, both will likely be WNBA draft picks, but for now, their decision to come to TCU has paid off. "I'm feeling very grateful and very blessed," said Suarez, a stretch forward from Spain who has proven adept at creating mismatches inside and on the perimeter. "But also, at the same time, it's like, ?Next game.' It's a pretty quick turnaround. I'm excited to get the win, but I'm ready to get going on the next one." TCU coach Mark Campbell has built his program into a national power through the transfer portal. In the past three seasons, TCU has brought in 18 transfers --- none as impactful as the combination of Suarez and Miles, who scored 61 of the team's 79 points on Saturday. "Olivia, there's maybe five players on the planet that can do what she does, men or women," Campbell said. "And then Marta is a unicorn in her own way. She is a stretch-4 that's powerful and strong and can post and then she has guard skills and can shoot 3s. It's been really fun to figure out how to create a two-man game with these two players. "I'm just thankful I get another 40 minutes to go to battle with them." The Horned Frogs opened the second half with a 17-4 run to pull ahead for good. The Cavaliers pressed aggressively and cut the lead to six points with 27.1 seconds to go, but TCU closed it out. Cumulatively this season, the Horned Frogs have outscored opponents by more than 200 points in the third quarter. "The third quarter has been great to us all year," Campbell said. "I think we settled into a rhythm. Every third quarter this group comes out and hoops and that was the separator."

Virginia's inspired run ends Paris Clark scored 20 points and Kymora Johnson had 18 points, eight assists and six rebounds for Virginia (22-12), the lone double-digit seed to reach the Sweet 16. The Cavaliers' journey began in the First Four and continued with a road win over No. 2 seed Iowa in the second round. And Virginia looked like it hadn't run out of magic when it took a 36-35 lead into at halftime behind 10 points each from Clark and Johnson. Suarez had 18 points in the first half for the Frogs and Miles had 12, but the rest of the team scored only five. Ultimately, TCU's size --- Virginia was out-rebounded 38-27 --- and the one-two punch of Suarez and Miles were too much to overcome. "I thought we had some really good moments in that game," Virginia coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton said. "But the third quarter got away from us. ... We came up short, but that doesn't take away from our season or the growth we've had with our program."

Up next TCU's matchup against South Carolina will be the second in the past two seasons. South Carolina beat TCU 85-52 in December 2024. ___ AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

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