Now that’s how you celebrate Women’s History Month

The GIST: Last night’s dramatic bracket reveal featured first-time dancers and perennial powerhouses aplenty, setting the stage for this week’s March Madness tip-off. It is time.

How it works: As discussed in yesterday’s Scroll, the 68-team women’s and men’s fields feature 32 automatic qualifiers who won their conference tournaments and 36 at-large bid recipients as decided by a 12-member selection committee.

• From there, teams were assigned seeds Nos. 1 through 16 and divided into four regions where they’ll battle it out in single-elimination play over the next three weeks.

• And if the math’s not mathing, both tourneys tip off their First Four action in the next 48 hours, where — you guessed it — four teams contend for spots in the official bracket. No pressure.

The top seeds: In the women’s bracket, No. 1 South Carolina unsurprisingly snagged the No. 1 overall seed after going undefeated for the second straight regular season. The other No. 1s? Caitlin Clark’s Iowa, who’ll be a top seed for the first time since 1992, JuJu Watkins’ USC, their first top billing since 1986, and Texas, No. 1 for the first time since 2004. Parity, is that you?

• On the men’s side, defending champs UConn nabbed the No. 1 overall seed after dominating their way through the Big East tournament, with Houston, Purdue, and blue blood UNC rounding out the rest of the No. 1s.

The GIST: Beyond the aforementioned Madness, it was a truly incredible weekend for women’s sports, with records broken across the PWHL and NWSL. Now that’s how you celebrate Women’s History Month.

PWHL takes over NHL rinks: Two PWHL games were held in NHL arenas over the weekend as the league took over the cities of Detroit, Michigan, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “Takeover Weekend” allowed thousands more fans to catch the action in person, and no surprise here, women’s hockey fans delivered.

• A U.S. record crowd of 13,736 fans saw Boston top Ottawa 2–1 in a shootout on Saturday, then yesterday, 8,850 people watched Toronto win their 10th straight game, setting a new Pittsburgh women’s hockey attendance record.

Kansas City Current open women’s soccer-specific stadium: On Saturday, Current co-owners Brittany and Patrick Mahomes brought the energy to the sold-out season opener at CPKC Stadium, one of the only women-specific soccer facilities in the world.

• The vibes were electric as 11,500 spectators willed the Current to a thrilling 5–4 victory over the Portland Thorns, a game that included a goal from KC’s 16-year-old rookie Alex Pfeiffer — now the youngest goal-scorer in league history.

You never know if college hooper and future WNBA draftee Cameron Brink is about to hit the runway or the hardwood. That’s why she’s the first New Balance women’s basketball athlete — their gear can stand up to tough challenges, and it epitomizes cool.

Need something that can keep up as you go hard on the hardwood? From their TWO WXY v4 sneakers, perfect for position-less play, to the Unity of Sport collection’s Hesi Lows, made for quick turns and quicker baskets, you’ll find a, ahem, balance between performance and vibes in every piece.

Looking for a getaway? Well, bust out your hiking gear because we want to give you the opportunity to explore Banff, Canada.

• This prize pack includes $500 cash for your flight, $500 towards your accommodations, gift cards, and so much more to create a memorable experience in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. See you soon, eh?