Portland, which is welcoming a WNBA team back in the city after 24 years, selected veteran forward Bridget Carleton with the first pick in the league’s expansion draft on Friday.

Aaliyah Edwards scored 26 points, Lou Lopez Senechal added 23, and No. 9 UConn, which was missing head coach Geno Auriemma, beat Florida State 85-77 in the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase.

Azzi Fudd scored 32 points and No. 5 UConn beat 10th-ranked North Carolina State 91-69 on Sunday in a game that started with a scary moment when longtime Huskies associate head coach Chris Dailey fainted after the national anthem.

Bueckers scored 28 points and top seed UConn used a huge run spanning the final two quarters to beat No. 2 Baylor 69-67 on Monday night and reach a 13th consecutive Final Four in the women’s NCAA Tournament. After a timeout, Baylor fouled Christyn Williams, who missed both free throws to give the Lady Bears one last chance. The Lady Bears (28-3) had won the previous two, including a 74-58 win at Connecticut in January of 2020. The Lady Bears closed the action-packed first quarter with a 20-10 run and trailed 26-24 after one.

UConn guard Paige Bueckers (5) works the ball past Iowa guard Caitlin Clark (22) during the first half of a college basketball game in the Sweet Sixteen round of the women's NCAA tournament at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Saturday, March 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)SAN ANTONIO – The game was billed as a marquee matchup of uber-talented freshmen Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark. Williams scored 27 points and Bueckers added 18 to lead No. 1 UConn to a 92-72 win over fifth-seeded Iowa on Saturday in the Sweet 16 of the women's NCAA Tournament. “I thought we played a great team basketball game," Williams said.

(AP Photo/Eric Gay)SAN ANTONIO – UConn did just fine without coach Geno Auriemma. Bueckers scored 24 points — the most by a UConn player in her first NCAA Tournament game — and the top-seeded Huskies routed High Point 102-59 in the first round Sunday. “We just want to continue to win for him so he can get out here with us,” Bueckers said. Muhl injured her left ankle in the Big East Tournament opener, but returned for the Huskies' game the next night. “I think that was a little bit of improv from some of the players," High Point coach Chelsea Banbury said.

1 in The Associated Press women's basketball poll, Monday, Feb. 15, 2021, for the first time this season after beating top-ranked South Carolina last week. 1 in The Associated Press women's college basketball poll. For the ninth consecutive season, the Huskies have reached the pinnacle of the women's AP Top 25, receiving 26 first-place votes from a 30-member national media panel Monday. 1 South Carolina in overtime a week ago in a 1-vs-2 matchup. Stanford and South Carolina have the next longest active streaks, at two years.

Connecticut guard Paige Bueckers (5) reacts after her three-point basket against South Carolina in overtime of an NCAA college basketball game in Storrs, Conn., Monday, Feb. 8, 2021. AdAliyah Boston had 17 points and 15 rebounds for South Carolina (15-2), which overcame a seven-point deficit in the fourth quarter. The loss ended a 12-game winning streak for South Carolina. Ad“We'll learn from it,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. UConn scored 19 points off of 21 South Carolina turnovers.

They, like thousands of other U.S. college students from foreign countries, are still overseas because of international travel bans instituted as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Auriemma said Wednesday. These issues are going to be really, really difficult to overcome, Auriemma said. "UConn has about 40 international athletes still overseas, the school said. Corasaniti said they are being told that right now college athletes and students in general are considered nonessential and must wait for travel restrictions to be lifted. Auriemma questions why international students aren't being given the same consideration.