Women's March Madness 2024: Sweet 16 tournament takeaways - ESPN

Upsets were few and far between in the early rounds of the women's NCAA tournament. The Sweet 16 delivered right away.

No. 3 seed Oregon State upended second-seeded Notre Dame in Friday's opening game of the regional semifinals.

The Beavers advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2018 and for the third time in program history. The Irish lost in the Sweet 16 for the third consecutive tournament.

Oregon State will face South Carolina, which survived a scare from Indiana to reach its fourth straight Elite Eight.

The Sweet 16 continues Friday with two more games, all on ESPN and the ESPN App.

Raegan Beers gets up for a massive denial on Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo.

Can Oregon State's post presence take the Beavers to the Final Four? There were two stories to the game — the Beavers' domination inside and the way they completely shut down freshman All-American Hannah Hidalgo. Headed into the matchup, Oregon State felt good about its chances to seize control of the game with its play inside — mainly because Notre Dame was down one of its best post players and the Beavers knew the Irish couldn't play as aggressively in order for their team to avoid getting into foul trouble.

The result? Oregon State had 40 points in the paint as Raegan Beers and Timea Gardiner combined for 32 points and 24 rebounds. The Beavers also outrebounded Notre Dame 42-24, another huge advantage in the game. When Notre Dame tried to defend better inside — tying the score late — a pair of 3-pointers helped seal the victory. Oregon State's 60.4% shooting from the field was the highest Notre Dame has allowed in an NCAA tournament game since at least 1999.

Hidalgo finished with 10 points, going 4-of-17 from the field, and didn't score a point