Baylor women roll past Louisville, into Elite Eight
OKLAHOMA CITY — Baylor gave Louisville no shot at an upset this time.
Nina Davis scored 21 points to help top-seeded Baylor defeat Louisville 97-63 on Friday and advance to the Elite Eight.
The Lady Bears were a No. 1 seed in 2013 when they lost to Louisville in the Sweet 16 in Oklahoma City. This time, Baylor never trailed, and the game was tied for just 13 seconds — when it was scoreless. The Lady Bears led 25-9 at the end of the first quarter.
“We got off to a quick start, which is something we needed to do, something that we were focusing on,” Davis said. “We were just getting out running. Everyone was running out on fast breaks. They were feeding me the ball and that’s the kind of game we like to play. We like to push the ball and play up-tempo.”
Beatrice Mompremier and Alexis Prince each scored 14 points for Baylor (33-3), which advanced to play Mississippi State today for a spot in the Final Four. The Bulldogs defeated Washington 75-64 in the early game Friday night.
Asia Durr scored 21 points for Louisville (29-8), but she made just 6 of 21 shots.
“Starting off in the first quarter, I mean, I started off too hyped,” Durr said. “As the game went on, I calmed down. We started to get a few stops here and there, but we didn’t shoot the ball too well.”
Louisville shot 30 percent.
“They played well and unfortunately we did not,” Louisville coach Jeff Walz said. “We did not put up a performance that resembled anything I’d seen from our ballclub in the last month.”
The Lady Bears led by 18 at one point in the first half and were up 43-31 at the break. Baylor continued to roll and led 72-45 at the end of the third quarter.
“Guys, we’re on a roll,” Baylor coach Kim Mulkey told the media. “We’re playing good basketball.”
Stanford 77, Texas 66
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Stanford has become so accustomed to comebacks that the question wasn’t whether it could overcome a halftime deficit to Texas, but how patient it would be in erasing it.
The Cardinal responded with an uneven but effective enough effort to get to the Elite Eight.
Erica McCall had 23 points and 12 rebounds, Karlie Samuelson scored 15 points and Stanford outlasted Texas on Friday night to reach the Lexington Region final of the NCAA Tournament.
The second game this season between the schools ended with another Cardinal win despite the team shooting 42 percent and committing 14 turnovers. But second-seeded Stanford (31-5) made 8 of 14 in the third quarter and held Texas to 33 percent to grab a 54-49 lead entering the fourth and eventually extend it to double digits by making 7 of 8 free throws during one late stretch.
Stanford eventually closed out its fourth comeback in five games and another example of its grit.
“I’m really proud of our second-half effort,” Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer said. “We really had to battle,
The Cardinal also out-rebounded the third-seeded Longhorns 41-35 to earn its second straight Elite Eight appearance, and will face top-seeded Notre Dame in today’s regional final. The Irish routed No. 5 seed Ohio State 99-76 in the other semifinal.
But Stanford’s play coming out of the break trailing
36-29 was key in gutting out the win. Consecutive 3-pointers by Samuelson and Brittany McPhee (12 points) got the Cardinal started on a 23-11 run capped by back-to-back 3s by Samuelson for a
52-47 lead. Stanford continued getting the baskets and rebounds it needed for its seventh straight win.
“That just shows our heart,” McCall said. “No matter how far down we get, we’re going to come back and fight with every rebound, every shot.”
Ariel Atkins scored 18 points, Joyner Holmes had
15 and Kelsey Lang had 12 rebounds for the Longhorns
(25-9), who had won five of six.