Sunday, March 31, 2019
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Saturday’s tournament games
GRENSBORO REGIONAL SEMIFINALS
No. 1 Baylor 93, No. 4 South Carolina 68
GREENSBORO, N.C.
Baylor reached the Elite Eight for the fifth time in six years with another dominant performance, leading by as many as 30 points in a victory over South Carolina. Didi Richards scored a career-high 25 points, and Lauren Cox added 17 points and 14 rebounds for the No. 1 overall seed in the women’s NCAA Tournament. The Bears shot 52 percent to win their 26th straight game and blow out South Carolina for the second time this season. Kalani Brown had 18 points and 10 boards, and Juicy Landrum and Chloe Jackson each finished with 12 points for the Bears (34-1). Baylor will play second-seeded Iowa (29-6) on Monday night with the winner advancing to the Final Four. Behind the elite front line of the 6-foot-4 Cox and the 6-7 Brown, the Bears dominated both the lane and the glass. Baylor built a 54-30 rebounding advantage, held the Gamecocks to two second-chance points and outscored them by 30 in the paint. Te’a Cooper scored 17 points and Mikiah Herbert Harrigan added 16 for the fourth-seeded Gamecocks (23-10). They tried to make things interesting, pulling to 64-48 on Bianca Cuevas-Moore’s free throw with 2:31 left in the third quarter.
No. 2 Iowa 79, No. 3 N.C. State 61
GREENSBORO, N.C.
Megan Gustafson had 27 points and 12 rebounds to lead Iowa past North Carolina State. Hannah Stewart added 16 points and 10 rebounds. Gustafson, who averages a Division I-best 28 points while also ranking second in rebounding, finished with her 33rd double-double to match the NCAA’s single-season record. She made 10 of her 13 shots. They helped the second-seeded Hawkeyes (29-6) earn their first Elite Eight appearance since 1993. Iowa shot 54 percent and took command by hitting eight straight shots during a Gustafson-led 20-8 run that came after N.C. State pulled to within five midway through the third quarter. Alexis Sevillian bookended the burst with 3-pointers, with the second of those giving the Hawkeyes their largest lead to that point at 63-46 with 8 minutes left. Freshman Elissa Cunane had 14 points and 11 rebounds, Kiara Leslie had 16 points and DD Rogers added 12 points for the third-seeded Wolfpack (28-6), who shot just 35 percent.
CHICAGO REGIONAL SEMIFINALS
No. 1 Notre Dame 87, No. 4 Texas A&M 80
CHICAGO
Arike Ogunbowale scored a career-high 34 points, Jessica Shepard added 24 points and 14 rebounds, and defending national champion Notre Dame beat Texas A&M in the Sweet 16 for the second straight year.
Ogunbowale scored 12 in the final 6:45 to help the top-seeded Fighting Irish (33-3) advance to the Elite Eight of the women’s NCAA Tournament for the eighth time in nine years. Shepard dominated down low, and Notre Dame got a sweet repeat to go with its 12th straight win. Chennedy Carter led Texas A&M (26-8) with a season-high 35 points in another impressive NCAA performance. The sophomore guard came in averaging just over 30 points in five career tournament games and came out connecting again, nailing 7 of 12 3-pointers. Kayla Wells scored 18.
No. 2 Stanford 55, No. 11 Missouri State 46
CHICAGO
Alanna Smith and Stanford outlasted Missouri State for a victory on in the NCAA Tournament, sending the cold-shooting Cardinal back to the Elite Eight for the third time in four years. Stanford shot a season-low 25 percent (17 for 68) in one of its worst offensive performances of the season. But Smith and Anna Wilson supplied just enough scoring, and the Cardinal used their superior length to hold the 11th-seeded Lady Bears to 25.4 percent shooting (16 for 63), also a season low for the last double-digit seed left in March. Next up for No. 2 seed Stanford (31-4) is defending national champion Notre Dame on Monday in the Chicago Regional final. Danielle Gitzen had 14 points and eight rebounds for Missouri State, which had won seven in a row. Jasmine Franklin finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Associated Press