Illinois beats Colorado for 1st round win as youngest team in women's NCAA Tournament

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Cearah Parchment scored 21 points as seventh-seeded Illinois beat No. 10 seed Colorado 66-57 on Saturday night in the first round of the women's NCAA Tournament.

The Fighting Illini (22-11) are the youngest team in this tournament after replacing four starters, and they now have won a first-round game for a second straight season. Illinois will play No. 2 seed Vanderbilt, a 102-61 winner over No. 15 seed High Point, on Monday night for a berth in the Sweet 16 of the Fort Worth 1 Region.

After being the youngest team in the Big Ten all season, coach Shauna Green went from not talking about the youth of her Fighting Illini to embracing the energy as fuel for this season.

“We can keep this group together, big picture it's going to be really fun to see what we can do," Green said. “Right now we're worried about Monday.”

Playing a lot of tight games in the Big Ten certainly has helped the young Fighting Illini grow up faster. Sophomore forward Berry Wallace said her younger teammates have been figuring out how each can help and lead.

“We all just have a really big competitive spirit, and everyone wants to win,” Wallace said.

Wallace added 18 points for Illinois, and freshman point guard Destiny Jackson grabbed 11 rebounds and scored 11 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter to help seal the win.

“She just has such great composure," Parchment said of Jackson. "I think that she’s just really reliable.”

Colorado (22-12) won four of the first seven games between these programs, but this was the first for these programs to play since 2013 and first in the NCAA Tournament. The Buffaloes missed their last five shots going scoreless from the floor after Jade Masogayo's layup with 4:08 left.

Coach JR Payne said Illinois is really good and really talented.

“Both teams really played hard and competed," Payne said. "I think it was a fun game to watch. I’m proud of how we competed. And in the end, someone has to win. Someone has to lose.”

Desiree Wooten led Colorado with 17 points, and Masogayo added 15.

Illinois outscored Colorado 20-18 to lead after the first quarter and used six straight late in the second to help take a 34-29 lead into halftime.

Masogayo's layup pulled Colorado within 38-36 with 7:30 left in the third. Then Illinois reeled off seven straight with Wallace's two free throws giving the Fighting Illini their biggest lead at 45-36. Colorado wound up outscoring Illinois 15-13 in the third, and Wooten's layup pulled the Buffaloes within 47-44 to start the fourth.

Then one of the Fighting Illini's freshman took over. Jackson scored seven of the first nine points for Illinois, and her 3-pointer pushed the lead to 56-50.

Illinois improved to 10-10 in this tournament, and this was the Fighting Illini's third berth in four years under coach Green and 11th all-time. Now Illinois has NCAA wins in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 seasons.

That's when the program had a four-season streak of winning at least once in this tournament dating back to 1996-97.

Parchment now has the Illinois mark for most points by a freshman with another game to play. She came in with 430, trailing Chatrice White's record of 448 points set in 2014-15.

“It’s even cooler that it was the first round of March Madness, and this was my first game in March Madness,” Parchment said.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness