Oregon State beats Notre Dame in Sweet 16
Timea Gardiner scored 21 points, Raegan Beers added 18 points and 13 rebounds and Oregon State frustrated Notre Dame star Hannah Hidalgo to beat the Irish 7065 on Friday and advance to their first regional final in six years.
Donovyn Hunter added 11 points for the thirdseeded Beavers (27-7), who will face overall top-seed South Carolina on Sunday.
Sonia Citron scored 22 points and Maddy Westbeld added 19 for secondseeded Notre Dame, which finishes the season at 28-7. Hidalgo, who came in averaging 22.9 points, was held to just 10 points on 4 of 17 shooting, matching a season low in scoring.
She also missed about four minutes at the start of the second quarter after officials ordered her to remove a stud from her nose.
Oregon State led by a point at halftime, but opened the second half on and 11-2 run, capped by a layup from Gardiner that forced an Irish timeout.
The Irish came back, taking a 59-57 lead on a pull-up jumper from Anna DeWolfe with just over 4 minutes left in the game.
But a 3-pointer from Donovan put Oregon State back in front for good.
Hidalgo's off-balance shot with a minute made it 65-63, before Gardiner found Beers underneath with 26 seconds left to stretch it to four.
Talia von Oelhoffen blocked a 3-point attempt from Westbeld and sank two foul shots on the other end.
Notre Dame has been using a six-player rotation since losing 6-foot-4 forward Kylee Watson, who tore an ACL in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament.
Oregon State capitalized on their height advantage early, throwing the ball into the paint. The 6-2 Beers and 6-3 Gardiner combined for 14 of the Beaver's 17 first-quarter points and Oregon State led by three after 10 minutes.
The short-handed Irish also dealt with early foul trouble. DeWolfe picked up two in the first quarter and Westbeld had three by halftime.
Citron took over for the Irish, scoring nine secondquarter points, but Oregon led 32-31 at the break.
Kamilla Cardoso scored 22 points and topseeded, unbeaten South Carolina held off a spirited Indiana rally to win and advance to the Albany 1 Regional Final.
South Carolina is three wins away from completing the 10th perfect season in NCAA Division I women's basketball history. Next up for the Gamecocks is third-seeded Oregon State, which knocked off Notre Dame earlier Friday.
Coach Dawn Staley's Gamecocks (35-0) had run through their first two games in March Madness, winning by 52 and 47. They faced a much bigger challenge from fourth-seeded Indiana (26-6).
South Carolina built a 22-point lead in the third quarter before Indiana got going behind Sydney Parrish, who led the team with 21 points.
Aaliyah
Moore had 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, Shaylee Gonzales added 15 points, and top-seeded Texas used a smothering defense to roll past fourthseeded Gonzaga in the Portland 4 Regional semifinal.
Overlooked among the other No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, the Longhorns looked every bit the part of a title contender this March Madness, stymieing Gonzaga's high-scoring offense and flustering the Bulldogs into an awful night at the offensive end.
Texas (33-4) won for the 15th time in 16 games and never made it easy for the Bulldogs. Their size was too much for Gonzaga to handle and the Longhorns defense held Gonzaga to just three made field goals and forced nine turnovers in a dominant first half.