The women's NCAA basketball Sweet 16 field is complete, and Pittsburgh and Vanderbilt are moving on after winning first-round games held at The Pit this week.
No. 6 seed Pittsburgh pulled off the only considerable upset of the games played in Albuquerque, knocking off No. 3 Baylor 67-59 on Monday to advance to the regional semifinals.
Monday's win is arguably the biggest in Panthers' history, as they advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time in just their second NCAA Tournament appearance.
Pittsburgh head coach Agnus Berenato called the win over Baylor - ranked No. 12 nationally - a program-changing victory.
"It is just a great feeling to know that you are going to the Sweet 16 and to know that we played a tremendous Baylor team," she said. "Slowly, we are making some impacts, and now everybody besides the Big East will think, 'Well, Pitt - wow. They are really paying attention to the women's basketball program, and they are going to be a force to be reckoned with in the future.'"
Pittsburgh will play No. 2 Stanford in the Sweet 16.
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Guard Shavonte Zellous and center Marcedes Walker carried the Panthers to a big second half in Monday's win.
Baylor led 28-26 at intermission, and the teams traded baskets in the opening minutes of the second half. Pittsburgh held a 37-34 lead with 16:29 remaining before Walker and Zellous combined to score 14 of the Panthers' next 16 points, pushing the lead to 53-43.
Momentum seemed to swing back in Baylor's favor when Walker fouled out at the 5:28 mark, and Melissa Jones cut the lead to 53-51 with two free throws.
However, Zellous was fouled from behind the arc and nailed all three free throws, and Pittsburgh held off Baylor the rest of the way.
Zellous led the Panthers with 19 points and grabbed six rebounds. Walker added 17 points and nine boards.
Danielle Wilson scored 15 points and had six rebounds for Baylor but did not score or grab a board in the second half. Rachel Allison scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Bears.
Walker, a senior, said she was proud of the way her teammates responded when she fouled out.
"You need a team," she said. "It's not an individual game, and you have to have the support cast that I got - and I'm a support cast for them, as well. It just means so much to me."
In Monday's second game, No. 4 Vanderbilt and No. 5 West Virginia battled for much of the contest before Vanderbilt pulled away midway through the second half to win 64-46.
Vanderbilt has won 11 of its last 12 games and will play No. 1 Maryland in the Sweet 16.
Commodore head coach Melanie Balcomb said her team's ability to stay fresh late in games has been a key to the recent success.
"I'm really impressed with our level of conditioning," she said. "We wore them down and wore them down - and that was one of our major goals."
West Virginia led by as much as five in the first half but couldn't get any separation and held a 29-27 halftime lead.
The game remained close until Vanderbilt started to pull away with more than 10 minutes remaining. Jessica Mooney hit back-to-back field goals and gave the Commodores a 46-38 lead with 10:11 to go.
Christina Wirth made a 3-pointer with 8:32 left to build a 51-40 lead, and West Virginia would not get within single digits the rest of the way.
Wirth scored 21 points and had seven rebounds, while Mooney added 11 points and three assists for Vanderbilt.
Olayinka Sanni scored 14 points and grabbed five rebounds to lead West Virginia.
