South Carolina remains perfect
ALBANY, N.Y. — Kamilla Cardoso scored 22 points and top-seeded, unbeaten South Carolina held off a spirited Indiana rally to win 79-75 on Friday and advance to the Albany 1 Regional Final of the women's NCAA Tournament.
South Carolina is three wins away from completing the 10th perfect season in NCAA Division I women's basketball history. Next up for the Gamecocks is thirdseeded Oregon State, which knocked off Notre Dame earlier Friday.
Coach Dawn Staley's Gamecocks (35-0) had run through their first two games in March Madness, winning by 52 and 47. They faced a much bigger challenge from fourth-seeded Indiana (26-6).
South Carolina built a 22-point lead in the third quarter before Indiana got going behind Sydney Parrish, who led the team with 21 points.
The Hoosiers, who were trying to pull off the biggest comeback in NCAA Tournament history, got within 74-72 on Mackenzie Holmes' layup with 1:08 left.
After a timeout, Raven Johnson calmly sank a 3-pointer from the wing 15 seconds later to restore a bigger cushion for the Gamecocks. Johnson scored 14 points.
Holmes then hit another layup to make it 77-74.
The Gamecocks then hit only two of four free throws in the final 21 seconds to leave the door open for a miraculous comeback, but Indiana couldn't convert on the offensive end, missing two contested 3-pointers in the final 15 seconds.
South Carolina looked like it was going to steamroll another opponent. It led 34-28 midway through the second quarter before going on a 15-4 run to close the half up 49-32. All but two of those points came on the inside.
Oregon State 70, Notre Timea Gardiner Dame 65: scored 21 points, Raegan Beers added 18 points and 13 rebounds and Oregon State frustrated Notre Dame star Hannah Hidalgo to advance to their first regional final in eight years.
Donovyn Hunter added 11 points for the third-seeded Beavers (27-7), who will face either overall top-seed South Carolina or Indiana on Sunday.
Sonia Citron scored 22 points and Maddy Westbeld added 19 for second-seeded Notre Dame, which finishes the season at 28-7. Hidalgo, who came in averaging 22.9 points, was held to just 10 points on 4 of 17 shooting, matching a season low in scoring.
She also missed about four minutes at the start of the second quarter after officials ordered her to remove a stud from her nose.
Oregon State led by a point at halftime, but opened the second half on and 11-2 run, capped by a layup from Gardiner that forced an Irish timeout.
The Irish came back, taking a 59-57 lead on a pull-up jumper from Anna Dewolfe with just over 4 minutes left in the game.