ONTO THE FINALS
Jones lifts Stanford over South Carolina and into the championship game
Stanford players, including Haley Jones, center, celebrate their thrilling 66-65 Women’s Final Four semifinal victory against South Carolina on Friday at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Stanford’s win sends the Cardinal to Sunday’s NCAA championship game, where they await the winner of Arizona and UConn. For more, see
Haley Jones has played an unassuming and steady role for the Stanford Cardinal a season after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
That changed Friday when the former Archbishop Mitty star led Stanford to the NCAA championship game with a clutch performance in her first Final Four appearance.
THE SCORE
STANFORD 66, SOUTH CAROLINA 65 Up next: National championship, Stanford vs. Arizona-UConn winner at Alamodome in Texas, Sunday, 3 p.m., ESPN
Jones, who grew up in Santa Cruz, scored 24 points on 11-of-14 shooting as Stanford escaped with a nail-biting 66-65 victory over South Carolina in the national semifinals at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Jones scored a game-winning jumper with 32 seconds left to lift the top overall seeded Cardinal (30-2) to its first championship game in 11 years.
“Haley Jones was a problem for us,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said.
The Cardinal awaits the winner of Connecticut and Arizona in the late game Friday night. The winners play Sunday afternoon for the national championship.
Stanford’s last trip to the title game was 2010 on the same court. Coach Tara VanDerveer had a good chance to win her third national title until AllAmerican center Jayne Appell suffered an injured right ankle. Connecticut won that one 53-47.
Now VanDerveer’s team is rolling with a 19-game win streak that has included two consecutive close victories.
“This was a survive and advance” game, said VanDerveer, who was named the Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year and the U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s coach of the year on Friday.
Indeed it was.
South Carolina (26-5) missed two close shots at the end that saved Stanford’s season. Sophomore guard Brea Beal’s driving shot bounced off the rim.
All-American forward Aliyah Boston was there for the putback but her shot bounced away at the buzzer.
“Bre had a great shot,” Jones said. “Aliyah, we should’ve boxed her out, she had a great shot, thankfully, it didn’t go in and we’re moving on to Sunday.”
Jones also talked about the crucial shot that proved to be the difference.
“I just saw the ball bouncing around and most of my teammates were hitting some bodies to open it up,” she said. “I just let it fly and I said, ‘Please, Jesus, go in,’ and it did.”
Jones, the national high school player of the year in her senior season at Mitty, said Stanford had no time to celebrate.
“We just had to go on to the next play, there’s no time to get hyped about, we had to get back on defense.”
In the chaotic moments at the end, sophomore Ashten Prechtel also made a big steal with 13 seconds left that stopped South Carolina from a chance to take the lead.
Staley said the Gamecocks executed their game plan the way the coaches had hoped by limiting Stanford’s 3-point shooting. But the Cardinal still broke the NCAA Tournament 3-point record by making five of its eight shots behind the arc.
While Jones led the way Stanford again relied on a lot of contributions to reach the finale as senior All-American guard Kiana Williams struggled while making only four of her 14 shots.
Junior Lexie Hull had her second consecutive brilliant game, getting 18 points, 13 rebounds and four assists and throwing her body on the floor time and again in a physical contest featuring No. 1 seeded teams.
“It was very physical out there right down to the last play,” VanDerveer said.
Prechtel had nine points and eight rebounds while freshman forward Cameron Brink had six blocked shots.
The victory avenged a defeat to South Carolina in the national semifinal game in 2017. Stanford broke a fourgame losing streak in Final Four semifinals Friday.
Sophomore guard Zia Cooke led South Carolina with 25 points while fellow guard Destiny Henderson added 18 points, including a 3-pointer with 39 seconds left that gave the Gamecocks their only lead after the first quarter.
First-team All-American Boston had 11 points, 16 rebounds and four blocked shots.
Stanford had a slow start for the second consecutive game trailing by nine points with 4:29 left in the first quarter. The Cardinal had four turnovers and four fouls 4 ½ minutes into the game.
But Stanford didn’t wait until the second half to make a move like it did Tuesday in the Elite Eight. VanDerveer inserted Prechtel in the lineup as the Cardinal went on a 9-0 run to end the quarter tied 15-15.
“Now putting ourselves on this stage, it just means so much to us,” Jones said. “We’re not going to take a second for granted.”