Stanford easily claims spot in the Elite Eight
» Missouri State had waited two years to get another crack at the Sweet 16 and Stanford, only to watch the Cardinal turn their rematch into a romp.
Hannah Jump scored 17 points off the bench and top seed Stanford strolled past the No. 5 Lady Bears 89-62 to earn a spot in the Elite Eight of the women’s NCAA Tournament for the 21st time. They will play Louisville on Tuesday night in the Alamo Region final.
Stanford led by 23 at halftime and by as much as 38 in the fourth quarter as the Cardinal kept up their postseason barrage of 3-pointers by making 15.
The Cardinal (28-2) have made at least 13 from long range in each of their three tournament games. Jump led the way Sunday with five.
“We try to ride the hot hand,” said Kiana Williams, Stanford’s career leader in 3-pointers who made four and scored 16 points. “It’s hard to guard us because you can’t just focus on one person.”
Elle Ruffridge scored 18 points to lead Missouri State (23-3), a team with a history of punching above its status as a mid-major from the Missouri Valley Conference.
This Lady Bears team had a veteran lineup eager to improve upon its nine-point loss to Stanford two years ago. But hope of an upset quickly disappeared when Missouri State missed nine of its first 10 shots and struggled to deal with Stanford’s height and length near the basket as the Cardinal frontcourt diverted shot after shot.
“Every game we’ve been down, we’ve always come back,”
Missouri State coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton said. “So, it was a little surprise that we just couldn’t get over the hump.”
SOUTH CAROLINA 76, GEORGIA TECH 65. Zia Cooke and her South Carolina teammates were hot from the outside and rode that solid shooting to reach the Elite Eight.
Cooke scored 17 points, hitting five of six 3-point attempts, to lead top-seed South Carolina to a 76-65 win over fifth-seeded Georgia Tech.
“Our offense carried us today with our ability to hit layups and stretch the floor and hit some 3s,” Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley said. “Hope it continues to get better.”
LOUISVILLE 60, OREGON 42. Dana Evans scored 29 points and No. 2 seed Louisville advanced to the Elite Eight with a 60-42 win over sixth-seeded Oregon.
Louisville (26-3) continued its stellar defensive play, holding Oregon (15-9) to 14 points in the first half, including six in the second quarter.
Evans provided the offense. After going scoreless in the first quarter, the All-America guard started to heat up. Oregon had freshman Maddie Scherr guarding her in the opening period before she hurt her ankle and had to come out of the game. Evans responded by scoring 13 points in the second and ended the period with a nifty drive and dish right before the buzzer to give Louisville a 29-14 advantage at the break.
The Ducks got within 43-37 early in the fourth quarter, but seven straight points by Evans — including two deep 3-pointers — started a 13-0 run that put the game away.