NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: Stanford Second-Round Report

By Kecia Bailey: SPM CA Writer
Posted Tuesday, March 25, 2008

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Washington And Stanford Move On

George Washington’s Late Charge Earns Greensboro Trip
The contrasting images on the floor told the story. As the horn sounded, a jubilant Colonials bench stormed the floor with wide-eyes and broad smiles. On the other end of the emotional spectrum, some Golden Bears walked around bewildered, in disbelief at how quickly the game had changed. Cal’s junior forward Ashley Walker lay prone on the floor near the George Washington basket where the season ending shot had tenths of a second earlier had nestled in through the nets.

After 40 minutes of high energy post-season basketball, the sixth-seeded George Washington defeated the third-seeded California Golden Bears 55-53 to advance to the Sweet 16 in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Head coach Joe McKeown said the George Washington defensive game plan was to limit Cal’s post game and force them to take shots from the outside. Cal’s guards junior Alexis Gray-Lawson, and sophomores Natasha Vital and Lauren Grief took the challenge and the Golden Bears shot 6-10 from the perimeter in the first half.

Cal took an eight point lead into the locker room 31-23.

George Washington’s defensive adjustments in the second half, coupled with cold shooting proved to be Cal’s undoing. After shooting 42 percent from the floor and 55 percent from beyond the arc in the first half, the Bears struggled to knock down shots in the second half, shooting 26 percent from the floor and 22 percent from the perimeter.

“In the second half they switched it (the defense) up, we tried to get inside-outside touches and we just didn’t knock down as many outside shots.” Cal head coach Joanne Boyle said.

While struggling offensively themselves the Colonials were able to make a charge in the first eight minutes of the second half to erase Cal’s lead and tie the game at 36 with 12:06 to go. Cal regrouped and withstood the mounting Colonials attack, methodically working on both ends of the floor to build their largest lead of the second half, 51-44 with 4:08 left.

With time running down, the Colonials reached back on their tournament experience in close games.

“We were behind the whole game,it felt like, and we just kept battling” coach McKeown said.

A three-point basket by junior guard Antelia Parrish nine seconds later would ignite the Colonials’ final push of the game. Cal tried to nurse its two-point lead, but the defense lost senior guard Sarah-Jo Lawrence allowing her to score an easy basket to tie the game 53-53.

Lawrence said, “We have so much experience being in close game towards the end, you just want to attack in those situations when the time is running down or when their defense isn’t set…(I) just got to the rim and luckily there was nobody there so I could finish easily”

With a Colonials trap descending on her, Vital was pinned against the sideline near the Cal bench and though both she and her coach were trying to call a timeout, she was instead called for a traveling violation, leaving George Washington with six seconds to avoid overtime. With two seconds left, senior guard Kimberly Beck launched a shot that missed with the rebound settling into the waiting hands of Lawrence who quickly put a shot back up as the time expired.

“I knew when the last shot went up there was still time to get a rebound if it didn’t go in…luckily it came right to me and put it in and made it.” Lawrence said.

The mandatory video review by the officials only seemed to either prolong the inevitable agony or delay the celebration. The shot stood.

With her post-mate Devanei Hampton drawing much of the Colonial defensive attention, Walker made the most of her opportunities scoring a game high 19 points, going 6-10 from the floor and a perfect 7-7 from the free-throw line. She was joined in double figures by Gray-Lawson who had 14.

Cal finished their season 27-7, a record setting tally for single-season victories.

Antelia Parrish led George Washington with her fourth double-double of the season, scoring 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Lawrence added 13 and junior center Jessica Adair added 11.

The win improved George Washington’s record to 27-6 and earned them a fourth trip to the Sweet 16. They will face second-seeded Rutgers in Greensboro on Saturday, March 29. The game will be televised by ESPN.

Goodbye Maples...Hello Spokane
Big stars know the right time to make a curtain call and often know the way to make it with style and flair. After an electrifying thirty-eight minute offensive performance Monday night, Stanford’s senior guard Candice Wiggins made her final appearance on the Maples Pavilion court a memorable one. In Monday night's second-round matchup, the #2 seed Stanford Cardinal defeated the seventh-seeded UTEP Miners 88-54 to advance to the Sweet 16.

Following last year’s disappointing 68-61 second-round loss to Florida State on their home floor, Stanford considered Monday night’s game as an opportunity to get things right. “This was a year in the making,” Wiggins said about the opportunity avenge last year’s loss and advance off their home court to the Sweet 16. “You could look in my teammates’ eyes and tell that they were ready to go.” Wiggins added.

After an early exchange of baskets and scoring by the two teams, UTEP notched up the game’s tempo and displayed the blistering shooting prowess that allowed them to handle Western Kentucky in their first-round game. UTEP led the Cardinal 13-8 after four minutes of play, but that would be the Miners' final lead of the night. The Cardinal embarked on an 11-0 run to take a six-point 19-13 lead of its own, fueled by seven points from Wiggins. She was just getting warmed up. Wiggins would finish the half with 24 points on 9-16 shooting.

“We played some quality basketball for 15 minutes and gave Stanford a test in the first half, and then it slowly got away from us,” UTEP head coach Keitha Adams said after the game.

The second half brought a heightened defensive intensity from the Cardinal and UTEP had trouble getting shots to fall. The Miners shot 25 percent from the floor in the second half going 8-32.

“Stanford did an excellent job defensively with their game plan and executing. We tried to be aggressive and drive to the hole, but you can’t score when the ball’s not going in the basket.” senior guard Natasha Lacy said.

Meanwhile, Candice Wiggins was still on fire, scoring another 20 points in the second half. All night, she scored off back door cuts, jumpers in the lane, from the free throw line and from the perimeter -- nearly at will.

“We tried to be physical with her but that didn’t work because she gets to the free-throw line; we tried playing off her, but she hits the threes [or] she goes backdoor … She was unconscious” Lacy said.

Wiggins left the floor of Maples for the final time in her career with a little over three minutes left in the game. The ovation she received from the partisan crowd of Cardinal faithful was deafening for both her performance that night and for what continues to be a record-setting career. Her curtain call was a stunning 44 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists masterpiece. She set a career record in points and tied a school record for points in a game with her 44 on the night. She trailed only Texas Tech’s Sheryl Swoopes (47) and Drake’s Lorri Bauman in the NCAA record books for single-game scoring performances in the tournament.

“Her last game at Maples, she just wanted to top it all off,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said.

Sophomore center Jayne Appel followed up her career night on Saturday with 20 points against UTEP, going a perfect 9-9 from the floor. Freshman forward Kayla Pedersen added a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

The Miners were lead by senior Izabela Piekarska’s 17 points in her final game as UTEP’s all-time leading scorer. Sophomore guards Jareica Hughes (12) and Timika Williams (10) rounded out the double-digit Miner scoring.

UTEP concludes its historic season with a 28-4 record following their first tournament appearance and first tournament appearance Saturday night.

With the win Stanford’s record improves to 32-3 and they advance to the Sweet 16 for the 15th time in school history and first time since 2006. The Cardinal will face the sixth-seeded Pittsburgh Panthers at the Spokane Arena in Spokane, Washington on Saturday March 29th. ESPN will televise the game.