Stanford wins easily to march into Elite 8
Lexie Hull scored 19 points in her hometown, Haley Jones added 17 points and 10 rebounds, and top-seeded Stanford rolled into the women’s NCAA Tournament regional final with a 72-66 win over No. 4 seed Maryland on Friday night.
Meeting in the NCAAs for the first time since the schools played in the same building in the 2008 Elite Eight, the defending national champion Cardinal (31-3) dominated the Terrapins for the first three quarters. Maryland trimmed the deficit to 68-59 with 1:41 left, but couldn’t get much closer.
Stanford will face No. 2 seed Texas in the regional final on Sunday night. It’s Stanford’s 21st Elite Eight under coach Tara VanDerveer.
Cameron Brink added 15 points and eight rebounds in just 19 minutes for the Cardinal before fouling out late. When Brink picked up her third foul early in the third quarter, Hull picked up the scoring punch with 10 points in the quarter.
Hull and twin sister Lacie grew up in Spokane and both drew the loudest cheers all night.
Angel Reese led Maryland
(23-9) with 25 points. Diamond Miller added 11 points but picked up two quick fouls early in the third and fouled out in the fourth after scoring 47 points combined in the first two tournament games.
Chloe Bibby and Shyanne Sellers both had 10 for Maryland, which shot 27% in the first half and never recovered from a dominant first quarter by the Cardinal.
Stanford led 22-10 after one quarter, and 39-23 at halftime.
SOUTH CAROLINA 69, NORTH CAROLINA 61 » Aliyah Boston had 28 points and 22 rebounds, and top-seeded South Carolina moved on
to the Elite Eight with a victory over North Carolina.
The Gamecocks (32-2) will take on 10th-seeded Creighton in the Greensboro Region for a spot in the Final Four on Sunday.
The Tar Heels cut South Carolina’s 13-point fourthquarter lead to five down the stretch. But each time, Boston got her team back on track with her 27th straight double-double. The All-American also scored her team’s final 13 points.
Deja Kelly led North Carolina (25-7) with 23 points. TEXAS 66, OHIO STATE 63 » Joanne Allen-Taylor scored 17 points, and Texas beat Ohio State to advance to the Elite Eight.
Aliyah Matharu added 10 points for Texas (29-6), which will make its second straight appearance in the Elite Eight. The secondseeded Longhorns have won 14 straight games since their last loss on Feb. 6 — the second-longest active streak behind Stanford.
Taylor Mikesell scored 19 points and Jacy Sheldon had 17 for sixth-seeded Ohio State (25-7), which has not advanced beyond the Sweet 16 since 1993.
Texas plays Stanford in the Elite Eight on Sunday. CREIGHTON 76, IOWA STATE 68 » Morgan Maly scored a career-high 21 points to help 10th-seeded Creighton beat Iowa State, matching the lowest ever seed to reach a women’s regional final.
Tatum Rembao added 19 for the Bluejays, who entered the Greensboro Region semifinals savoring the program’s first run to the Sweet 16. Now, Creighton has joined Lamar in 1991 and Oregon in 2017 as 10-seeds that pushed to the Elite Eight.
The challenge ahead is even bigger for the Greensboro Region upstart: a matchup with No. 1 overall tournament seed South Carolina for a trip to the Final Four.