Final Four path becomes clearer for the Cardinal
MANHATTAN, Kan. — As the Stanford women went through a Pac-12 season in which they lost three games, two to Oregon State, they didn’t have the look of a Final Four team.
Now, there’s a path that could take them back there.
Last year, the Cardinal had to watch as not one but two other Pac-12 teams reached the Final Four instead of them. Stanford, remember, had gone to six Final Fours in seven years (2008-14), with bankable low-post scorers Jayne Appel and Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike.
This team is better in many ways than last season’s 27-8 team that upset Notre Dame in the Lexington, Ky., Regional semifinals before being beaten by Washington.
The Cardinal’s path to this year’s Final Four might go through Notre Dame again, though a suddenly depleted Irish team.
The top-seeded Fighting Irish announced Tuesday that leading scorer and rebounder Brianna Turner has suffered a torn ACL and will miss the remainder of the season. Without her, Notre Dame (32-3) might be hard-pressed to beat Ohio State (28-6) when the teams play Friday.
Stanford (30-5) returns to Lexington and will play the nightcap Friday against a Texas team it beat by 12 in the second game of the season.
Turner injured her left knee in the first half Sunday night. The Irish then were forced into overtime by ninth-seeded Purdue before winning 88-82.
The fact that the Cardinal could advance to the Final Four in Dallas is a stunning development, considering Stanford’s offensive problems this season.
Stanford’s leading scorer, Erica McCall, has reached double figures just three times in the past 10 games. Her lowpost-scoring role has gone largely to reserve Alanna Smith, whose emergence down the stretch has saved Stanford’s season.
“The way Smith is playing, she’s a real difference maker for them the last 10-15 games,” Kansas State head coach Jeff Mittie said after the secondseeded Cardinal ripped his seventh-seeded team 69-48 on Monday night.
Though Karlie Samuelson was kept in check with six points, junior guard Brittany McPhee pumped in a teamhigh 21 points, including 16 in the first half.
Stanford had been scheduled to fly home late Monday but couldn’t because its charter plane needed a part that didn’t arrive. So the Cardinal flew directly to Lexington and will take final exams this week at their hotel.
Taking finals in a hotel is nothing new for them. Neither is frustrating opponents with their defense.
“A lot of times, people see teams that get a lot of steals as great defensive teams,” head coach Tara VanDerveer said after Monday’s win. “We don’t get a lot of steals.
“We’re not the kind of defense that gets up all over people and (is) out of position a lot. We play position defense. Our defense works really hard to take away what people’s strengths are. We study video, maybe a little obsessively, but it works for us.”
Stanford is seventh in the nation in opponents’ field-goal percentage. The tight defense starts with point guard Briana Roberson, who continually puts pressure on her counterpart. Her sub, Marta Sniezek, is almost just as strong defensively.
In the low block, McCall, Smith, Kaylee Johnson and freshman Nadia Fingall set up double-teams that often take out the other team’s best scorer. The approach worked against Cal’s Kristine Anigwe, and it worked Monday against a lesser center, K-State’s Breanna Lewis (nine points, four boards).
“We’ve been doing that well all season,” McCall said.