What to observe for Stanford vs. South Carolina within the Final Four of 2021 NCAA women’s basketball tournament
Three of the No. one seed have command serve up to now, and 2 of them can advance to play one another on weekday night because the Stanford Cardinal fight the South Carolina Gamecocks within the initial game of the 2021 Women’s Final Four.
Game date: weekday, April 3rd
Game time: 6:00 p.m.
TV channel: ESPN
Location: Alamodome, urban center, TX
First Round: Defeated No. sixteen Beehive State natural depression 86-44
Second Round: Defeated No. eight Oklahoma State 73-62
Third Round: Defeated No. five Missouri State 89-62
Fourth Round: Defeated No. a pair of metropolis 78-63
Leading scorer: Kiana Williams (14.5 ppg)
Key stat: The Cardinal haven’t lost since succeeding Pac-12 losses on Jan twenty-second.
SAN ANTONIO — Sixth-seeded Lone-Star State went cold at the worst doable moment, failing to muster a reputable threat to the South geographical region. Louisville had a transparent shot at Stanford, however, the top-seeded Cardinal came back — so some — within the last half.
Both Stanford and South geographical region, No. one seed in AN N.C.A.A. women’s basketball tournament field that has commanded a good share of an issue for groups at the highest, stirred on to the ultimate Four on Tues night to affix another No. 1 seed, UConn, and third-seeded Arizona.
Stanford claimed the last spot within the national semifinals with a 78-63 defeat of Louisville, once trailing by twelve points at the break. South geographical region sailed within the spherical of eight with a 62-34 convince Lone-Star State.
In the final sign of uselessness once a run that enclosed upsets of U.C.L.A. and Maryland, Lone-Star State scored zero points within the fourth quarter — missing all fifteen of its shots. The Longhorns shot twenty-three p.c for the sport.
“When we have a tendency to got knocked down fourfold this season, they happened up stronger,” South geographical region Coach Dawn Staley same in an exceeding tv interview once the sport, touching on the Gamecocks’ four losses this year. “And that’s the mark of a real champion.”
Louisville’s Danu Evans place up to ten of her twenty-four points within the half-moon whereas the Cardinals unbroken Stanford below twenty-eight p.c shooting within the half.
Zia Cooke and Destanni Henderson repeatedly fed Victoria Saxton within the paint, weaving through Texas’ ill-famed defense with ease. Cooke LED with sixteen points, and more than half-dozen rebounds, and three assists. Henderson had twelve points and seven assists, whereas Saxton had twelve points and eight rebounds.
The Longhorns got into gear in short within the third quarter as additional and additional TX fans trickled into the audience when work hours, bolstering the cheers and outcries that bounced around the cavernous construction walls at the Alamodome.
Audrey Warren, WHO LED TX with thirteen points, scored 2 of her — and also the team’s — 3 3-pointers within the third quarter. And at one purpose, TX came inside ten points of South geographical area on a second-chance basketball shot by Lauren Ebo.
But that was as shut because the Longhorns got when the South geographical area took AN early 15-point lead and scored fourteen points off TX turnovers. trying exhausted and downtrodden when Warren scored their final points within the third quarter, the Longhorns let the South geographical area celebrate early with a giant run whereas they continuing to look at their shots bounce off the rim, not adding one purpose to their score within the final 10-minute amount.
“It was arduous on behalf of me to not get too excited,” South Carolina’s Cooke aforesaid of the half-moon in a very decision with reporters when the sport.
The Longhorns and Gamecocks had not antecedently met since 2016, but TX Coach Vic Schaefer and Staley have — as well as for the national title in an urban center in 2017, once Schaefer was work Mississippi State. They terminated UConn’s 111-game streak to induce there, however, the South geographical area came out on high for its sole championship. Staley beat Schaefer in twelve out of their fifteen conferences whereas they were Southeastern Conference foes. “I continually expect to enjoy Vic attributable to what he puts into his reconnaissance reports, his game-planning, and his scheming,” Staley told reporters on a weekday.
Even while not the pandemic, TX went through an important transition this summer once Schaefer took over for old coach Karen Aston. Players recalled troubled to induce to understand one another and their coaches throughout video calls and restricted practices, and aforesaid that has helped them bond and peak at the correct time inside the controlled setting originated for the tournament.
It was a comparatively quiet night for South geographical area sophomore forward Aliyah Beantown and TX junior center Charli mineworker, WHO had each averaged double-doubles this tournament and went head-to-head on a weekday night. Boston, WHO is up for several player-of-the-year awards, had ten points and eight rebounds; mineworker, WHO is projected to be the No. one decide within the W.N.B.A. draft, was a command to four points when missing eight of ten shots.
Boston additionally had a slow beginning throughout South Carolina’s round-of-16 game against Georgia technical school however picked it up within the half wherever she scored all nine points. however, in this game, her teammates stepped in, LED by Cooke on the perimeter with seventeen points in a very 76-65 win.
With its powerhouse defense, TX was additionally able to hold No. two seed Maryland to its lowest score of the season in a very 64-61 upset to advance to the spherical of eight by limiting the Terrapins’ possessions and forcing eleven turnovers.
The fans helped too, Schaefer aforesaid. The university, set in Austin, is concerning eighty miles from the metropolis, the hub for the tournament wherever most of its games are staged. “I thought our fans provided an excellent setting for each group,” Schaefer aforesaid weekday.
South geographical area can play either top-seeded Stanford or Louisville, a No. 2 seed, within the Final Four. The Cardinal (singular respect to Stanford’s red color) and also the Cardinals (pluralized for Louisville’s bird mascot) were scheduled to play weekday night for the last spot within the national semifinals. On a weekday night, No. 1-seeded UConn and No. 3-seeded Arizona squeezed past their opponents to line up one semi. each semifinal square measure is scheduled for Fri night.
Stanford and Louisville had solely met once before, once Louisville knocked the Cardinal out of the 2018 N.C.A.A. tournament within the spherical of 16.