Women's March Madness Roundup: N.C. State rallies to upset Stanford

PORTLAND, Ore. — Unrattled by Stanford's halftime lead, North Carolina State answered with a big third quarter and shut down All-American Cameron Brink for a spot in the Elite Eight.

Aziaha James had 29 points and the third-seeded Wolfpack outscored the No. 2 Cardinal 28-10 in the third quarter and went on to win 77-67 on Friday night.

Saniya Rivers added 13 points and seven rebounds for the Wolfpack (30-6), who are headed to the Elite Eight for the third time overall and second time in the last three years.

Brink fouled out with 8:10 left in the game. She finished with 13 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks in her final game for Stanford (30-6). Kiki Iriafen led the Cardinal with 26 points and 10 rebounds.

Stanford, under Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer, was vying for its 23rd appearance in the Elite Eight. They had reached that milestone in five of the last seven years.

N.C. State went on a 13-2 third-quarter run capped by a pair of 3-pointers from James to go up 49-45. The Wolfpack led 55-47 going into the fourth quarter and led by as many as 15 points down the stretch.

James opened the final period with a 3-pointer that beat the shot clock.

Stanford was physical at the start. Brink had six rebounds and three blocks in the first quarter alone, but the Cardinal held a narrow 12-11 lead.

Hannah Jump led all scorers with 10 points in the first half for Stanford. Iriafen played just seven minutes because of foul trouble but had eight points and seven rebounds, and the Cardinal ended the first half on a 9-2 run to lead 37-27.

Brink picked up her third foul with 5:35 left in the third quarter and went to the bench. Soon thereafter N.C. State tied the game at 43 on Zoe Brooks' layup before James made back-to-back 3-pointers.

(1) SOUTH CAROLINA 79, (4) INDIANA 75

ALBANY, N.Y. — Kamilla Cardoso scored 22 points and top-seeded, unbeaten South Carolina held off a spirited Indiana rally to win 79-75 on Friday and advance to the Albany 1 Regional Final of the women's NCAA Tournament.

South Carolina is three wins away from completing the 10th perfect season in NCAA Division I women's basketball history. Next up for the Gamecocks is third-seeded Oregon State, which knocked off Notre Dame earlier Friday.

Coach Dawn Staley's Gamecocks (35-0) had run through their first two games in March Madness, winning by 52 and 47. They faced a much bigger challenge from fourth-seeded Indiana (26-6).

South Carolina built a 22-point lead in the third quarter before Indiana got going behind Sydney Parrish, who led the team with 21 points.

The Hoosiers, who were trying to pull off the biggest comeback in NCAA Tournament history, got within 74-72 on Mackenzie Holmes' layup with 1:08 left.

After a timeout, Raven Johnson calmly sank a 3-pointer from the wing 15 seconds later to restore a bigger cushion for the Gamecocks. Johnson scored 14 points.

Holmes then hit another layup to make it 77-74.

The Gamecocks then hit only two of four free throws in the final 21 seconds to leave the door open for a miraculous comeback, but Indiana couldn't convert on the offensive end, missing two contested 3-pointers in the final 15 seconds.

South Carolina looked like it was going to steamroll another opponent. It led 34-28 midway through the second quarter before going on a 15-4 run to close the half up 49-32. All but two of those points came on the inside.

On the defensive end, Cardoso bottled up Holmes. She missed her first five shots before finally hitting a runner with less than a minute to go in the half. Holmes finished with 12 points.

The lead ballooned to 22 points early in the third quarter before the Hoosiers used a 10-0 run to get within 61-50 with just over three minutes left in the period. After the Gamecocks extended the advantage back to 15, Indiana closed within 65-55 at the end of the period.

(3) OREGON STATE 70, (2) NOTRE DAME 65

ALBANY, N.Y. — Timea Gardiner scored 21 points, Raegan Beers added 18 points and 13 rebounds and Oregon State frustrated Notre Dame star Hannah Hidalgo to beat the Irish 70-65 on Friday and advance to their first regional final in eight years.

Donovyn Hunter added 11 points for the third-seeded Beavers (27-7), who will face either overall top-seed South Carolina or Indiana on Sunday.

Sonia Citron scored 22 points and Maddy Westbeld added 19 for second-seeded Notre Dame, which finishes the season at 28-7. Hidalgo, who came in averaging 22.9 points, was held to just 10 points on 4 of 17 shooting, matching a season-low in scoring.

She also missed about four minutes at the start of the second quarter after officials ordered her to remove a stud from her nose.

Oregon State led by a point at halftime, but opened the second half on an 11-2 run, capped by a layup from Gardiner that forced an Irish timeout.

The Irish came back, taking a 59-57 lead on a pull-up jumper from Anna DeWolfe with just over 4 minutes left in the game.

But a 3-pointer from Donovan put Oregon State back in front for good.

Hidalgo’s off-balance shot with a minute made it 65-63 before Gardiner found Beers underneath with 26 seconds left to stretch it to four.

Talia von Oelhoffen blocked a 3-point attempt from Westbeld and sank two foul shots on the other end.

Notre Dame has been using a six-player rotation since losing 6-foot-4 forward Kylee Watson, who tore an ACL in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament.

Oregon State capitalized on their height advantage early, throwing the ball into the paint. The 6-2 Beers and 6-3 Gardiner combined for 14 of the Beaver’s 17 first-quarter points and Oregon State led by three after 10 minutes.

The short-handed Irish also dealt with early foul trouble. DeWolfe picked up two in the first quarter and Westbeld had three by halftime.

Citron took over for the Irish, scoring nine second-quarter points, but Oregon led 32-31 at the break.

(1) TEXAS 69, (5) GONZAGA 47

PORTLAND, Ore. — Aaliyah Moore had 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, Shaylee Gonzales added 15 points, and top-seeded Texas used a smothering defence to roll past fourth-seeded Gonzaga 69-47 on Friday night in the Portland 4 Regional semifinal.

Overlooked among the other No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, the Longhorns looked every bit the part of a title contender this March Madness, stymieing Gonzaga’s high-scoring offence and flustering the Bulldogs into an awful night at the offensive end.

Texas (33-4) won for the 15th time in 16 games and never made it easy for the Bulldogs. Their size was too much for Gonzaga to handle and the Longhorns' defence held Gonzaga to just three made field goals and forced nine turnovers in a dominant first half.

Shay Holle’s corner 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the half gave the Longhorns a 37-18 halftime lead and Texas was on its way to its first Elite Eight appearance since the 2021-22 season.

No. 3 seed North Carolina State, which rolled past second-seeded Stanford, awaits Texas on Sunday in the regional final. Texas has not reached the Final Four since 2003.

Holle added 12 points and Texas dominated despite a quiet night from Big 12 player of the year Madison Booker. Booker was slowed by foul trouble in the first half and finished with six points and eight rebounds in 25 minutes.

Yvonne Ejim led Gonzaga (32-4) with 14 points, but picked up her first foul 30 seconds into the game and struggled with foul trouble before eventually fouling out. Brynna Maxwell added 13 points, but the winningest season in school history for Gonzaga finished with a whimper.

The Bulldogs shot just 26.5 per cent and the 47 points were the fewest since last year's NCAA Tournament first-round loss to Mississippi when the Zags managed just 48 points. Gonzaga entered the game as the best 3-point shooting team in the country at 40.1 per cent, but went 4 of 22 from beyond the 3-point line with most of their looks challenged by the size of the Longhorns’ lineup. Gonzaga's perimeter combo of Kayleigh and Kaylynne Truong were a combined 3 of 18 shooting and 1 of 12 on 3s.

Gonzaga was seeking its second Elite Eight appearance in school history and first since 2011.

Gonzaga made one spurt in the third quarter, cutting a 21-point lead to 12, but Gonzales’ third 3-pointer pushed the lead back to 15 and it was back to 21 by the end of the quarter.