Cardinal defeat Beavers for championship
Stanford wins 12th tournament title and gets automatic bid to NCAA tournament.
SEATTLE — Alanna Smith scored 18 points, Karlie Samuelson added 14 and No. 10 Stanford overcame an early 13-point deficit to beat No. 6 Oregon State, 48-43, and win the Pac-12 tournament championship Sunday night.
The Cardinal (28-5) won their 12th tournament title, the most in conference history, and took the Pac-12’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
While Smith was carrying Stanford at the offensive end, the Cardinal shut down Oregon State and star Sydney Wiese, getting a bit of payback for a pair of regularseason losses to the Beavers. Oregon State (29-4) shot only 32%, made one shot in the fourth quarter, was held to a season low in points and lost for the first time since Feb. 10.
Wiese led the Beavers with 13 points.
In a season highlighted by Tara VanDerveer getting her 1,000th victory as a head coach, the Cardinal provided another title to their overflowing trophy case.
Smith was a big reason why. The 6-foot-3 sophomore made six of 14 shots and carried Stanford offensively with leading scorer Erica McCall held to eight points on two-for-10 shooting.
Stanford took its first lead since the opening minute of the game on Smith’s layup underneath with 7:25 left.
Wiese’s three-pointer at the other end was long and McCall added a driving layup to push the lead to 4036. Samuelson’s free throws with 4:23 left gave the Cardinal a 44-38 lead.
Wiese’s three-pointer with 3:23 left cut the lead in half and was Oregon State’s only field goal of the fourth quarter.
But the Beavers committed turnovers on two straight possessions and Brittany McPhee scored in the lane with 1:10 remaining for a five-point lead.