Stanford crushes UC Davis, 79-54
From the opening tipoff, it was no contest.
No. 2-seed Stanford extended its all-time NCAA Tournament record at Maples Pavilion to 37-4 with a methodical 79-54 beatdown of No. 15 UC Davis in the first round on Saturday.
The Cardinal (29-4) were much too big, too quick and too talented for the Aggies (25-7). UCD star Morgan Bertsch, the nation’s fourth leading scorer, had 25 points, but she was just 8 for 25 from the floor.
Stanford will play No. 7 BYU on Monday at 8 p.m. The Cougars led by 15 with 7:34 left but saw their lead cut to four on a furious rally by No. 10 Auburn before winning 73-64.
The WCC regular-season and tournament champions (26-6) had 19 points from Brenna Chase, 17 from Shaylee Gonzales and 14 from Caitlyn Alldredge. Janiah Mckay led Auburn (2210) with 17.
Alanna Smith scored 21 points (in just 21 minutes) and Kiana Williams 19, with five assists, to lead Stanford. Dijonai Carrington added 12 points and seven rebounds.
Stanford scored the game’s first 15 points as UCD missed its first eight shots. Williams had 11 points in the first quarter, after which the Cardinal had a 29-9 lead.
Bertsch finally scored the Aggies’ first basket nearly six minutes into the game. She hit three baskets in a row in the second quarter, but the Cardinal built the lead to 41-20.
Stanford led 49-26 at the intermission as Williams had 16 points and Carrington 10.
Smith, limited by foul trouble to seven points and 11 minutes in the first half, scored Stanford’s first nine points of the second half, building the lead to 56-29.
Briefly: Two Super Bowl winning quarterbacks were among the crowd of 3,456 - Russell Wilson of the Seahawks, cheering on his sister Anna, a backup guard for Stanford, and 49ers great Steve Young, rooting for BYU. … Stanford is in the Big Dance for the 32nd straight time. It was UCD’S second NCAA Tournament appearance since the school moved to Division I in 2007. … Bertsch ended her career with a school-record 754 points for the season. She left to an ovation in the final minute.