Exciting Start to Final Four night, Stanford advances

At halftime it looked as if Stanford was going to easily advance to the National Championship as they were up 13 at half. The Cardinal never trailed but by the end of the game, the score was much closer. Nnemkadi Ogwumike had given Stanford the lead early, and then took control again in the final minute securing her team a spot in the National Championship game. She scored the first eight, and the last seven points of the game. Ogwumike totaled 38 points, and 16 rebounds.

Stanford will face either Connecticut or Baylor on Tuesday night in the Finals. If the Cardinal can upset the predicted winner, UConn, it will be their first national championship since 1992. It will be a tough game as UConn has dominated all opponents, winning every game by no less than about 10 points. The Huskies gave Stanford their only loss of the season. Stanford is also the last team to beat UConn, in the 2008 Final Four. Clearly it will be quite the rematch, assuming UConn wins this next game.

Oklahoma got close to the Cardinal, but couldn’t quite get the lead. They got within 66-62 and 67-64, but Ogwumike knew exactly what to do to keep the Huskies lead.

Ogwumike got a little help from Jayne Appel who finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Kayla Pederson with 12 points and 9 rebounds. Stanford went 1 of 15 from behind the arc and missed nine free throws. This was the second straight game for Stanford that has been a little too close for comfort. Last round they needed a buzzer beating layup to put away Xavier. It’s going to have to be a better game for the Cardinal on Tuesday if they want to win a National title.

This is the second season in a row that Oklahoma has lost in the Final Four. Although without Courtney and Ashley Paris, and Whitney Hand, it is impressive that they made it as far as they did.

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• Filed Under:  
• Basketball, Sports, W College Hoops

• Tags:
• ncaa
• womens basketball
• stanford
• final four
• oklahoma
• March Madness

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