The basis for the subregionals returned to the approach used between 1982 and 2002; the top sixteen teams, as chosen in the bracket selection process, hosted the first two rounds on campus.

BYU held a small, two-point lead at half-time, which evaporated when DePaul opened the second half with a 14–0 run.

With one second left in the game, the lead was three, and Haley Steed launched a three-point attempt that many, including BYU coach Jeff Judkins, thought it was going in.

Ohio State would play roughly even with Florida the rest of the way, occasionally cutting the margin, once to two points, but never taking the lead.

The Yellow Jackets build a large lead early, and were never threatened again by the Pioneers, who were playing in their third NCAA tournament since 2006 but still looking for their first won.

[15] Delaware reached halftime with a six-point lead over eleventh seeded Kansas, but the Jayhawks came on strong in the second half.

In the second half, the Tennessee team, behind 22 points off the bench from Meighan Simmons, and took over the lead, then extended it to double digits.

Georgia Tech's Sydney Wallace scored 32 points, but Brittney Griner had 35 for Baylor to help lead them to a win, 83–68.

At the pro level, an ejection for leaving the bench brings with it a suspension for the subsequent game, but the rule is different in the NCAA.

[21] West Virginia's leading rebounder, Ayana Dunning, picked up her fourth foul and headed to the bench less than six minutes into the second half.

[22] South Carolina faced Eastern Michigan, whose Tavelyn James is the second leading scorer in the nation at 24 points per game.

[23] The game plan of South Dakota State's head coach Aaron Johnston including containing Purdue's leading scorer Brittany Rayburn.

However, Johnston hadn't planned on the Boilermakers' Courtney Moses setting an NCAA record for three-pointers in a game.

Vanderbilt moved out to a small seven-point lead at halftime, then went on a 20–5 run in the second half to put the game out of reach.

St. Johns had the ball with about five second left in the game, when Nadirah McKenith ran the length of the court, putting in a basket with 0.1 on the clock, securing the 69–67 victory.

They faced fourth seeded Purdue in a match up to determine who would advance to the sweet sixteen in the Fresno region.

The Blue Devils scored sixteen consecutive points in one run spanning halftime which put the game out of reach.

In the second half, the defense of Arkansas prevailing, holding the Dayton flyers to zero field goals in the last twelve minutes of the game.

[36] The defending national champion Aggies held only a four-point lead at halftime over Albany, playing in its first ever NCAA Tournament appearance.

[42] Notre Dame scored the first eleven points before the two-minute mark, giving the Irish a chance to rest starters.

Against, Texas A&M they fell behind by double digits again, with a 14-point deficits in the second half and rallied again, taking a one-point lead late in the game.

[45] The Maryland-Louisville game set up a rematch between Jeff Walz, the head coach of Louisville, but former assistant at Maryland to Brenda Frese.

[47] California scored more field goals than Notre Dame, and made more three-pointers, but the Fighting Irish, playing on their home court, had more points from the free throw line.

[50] Notre Dame's Skylar Diggins had a triple-double in points assists and rebound to help lead the Irish to a 31-point victory over Maryland.

They played well against the eight-seeded Kansas State Wildcats, going on a 10–2 run to start the second half, and turn a small halftime deficit into a lead.

However, Kansas State's Branshea Brown set a career record for points with 22 and helped the Wildcats hold on for a 67–64 victory.

[53] Gonzaga, which had ridden graduated superstar Courtney Vandersloot to the regional final in 2011, picked up where it had left off a year earlier, achieving the only upset of the day.

[55] After winning all but one game in the regular season and conference tournament, Green Bay felt they deserved better than a seven seed.

In the second half, the Huskies expanded the margin to 20 points, then ended with a 15-point victory, 80–65, to propel the UConn team to their fifth consecutive Final Four, tying an NCAA record.

Notre Dame prevailed in the two regular season games, one of which went to overtime, while UConn won the match-up in the Big East tournament Finals.