A pair of seedlings in Stanford and South Carolina will go into battle for a spot in the national title game at stake.
TV schedule: Friday, April 2, 6 pm ET. ESPN
Arena: The Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas
While the UConn Huskies are seen as big favorites in the Women’s Final Four, there are a couple of quality competitors on the other side in Stanford and South Carolina, a pair of No. 1 seeds that took care of business in their respective regions.
South Carolina (26-4), was dominant in the Hemisfair region. Women Gamecocks easily dealt with Mercer and Oregon State the first weekend, before being tested a bit on Sweet 16 against Georgia Tech. They were certainly not tested at Elite 8 against Texas, maintaining a strong lead all the time entering the fourth period.
So coach Dawn Staley and South Carolina made history. They overcame the Longhorns by 10 to 0 throughout the period, achieving nothing against the opponent in the last 10 minutes of the game. Gamecocks have a strong defense, but even that is impressive. Zia Cooke, who leads the team in most goals of the season, added 16 points and led all the top scorers.
Cooke (15.6 ppg) is part of a three-headed monster that paves the way for Gamecocks. His defense partner and point guard Destanni Henderson averages 12.0 ppg and leads the team with 5.1 bps and 41% three-point shots. The team’s big star is Aliyah Boston, a 6’5 pivot with an average of 13.8 ppg and 11.4 rpg, in addition to more than two blocks per game. She is arguably the best female defender in NCAA women’s basketball, as Texas recently discovered.
But she and the rest of the team will have a big task in preventing the No. 1 seed overall in the Women’s Tournament at Stanford Cardinal (29-2). His way to the Final Four came through the Alamo region, beating Utah Valley, Oklahoma State and Missouri State to reach Elite 8.
The cardinal faced serious problems against the runner-up, who lost 12 points in the interval. However, Stanford’s attack proved too much for Louisville to take the 40 minutes, overcoming them in the second half by 52-25 to win the victory by 78-63. Lexie Hull had 21 points and nine rebounds, while Ashten Prechtel came off the bench with 16 points in a perfect 6/6 shot. Haley Jones, who leads the team in rebounds for the season, contributed 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Compared to South Carolina, Stanford Women is a little more balanced across its list. Kiana Williams leads the team with 14.5 ppg, one of the four players with an average of two digits. Two more arrive with more than seven points per game, while the numbers of rebounds and passes are divided over the rotation. This high level of depth allowed the Cardinal to pass through the difficult Pac-12, and makes them fully capable of dropping the remaining 1 seeds in the tournament.
It can be argued that South Carolina will have the two best players in this game (Cooke and Boston), while Stanford will have four of the next five best players. Considering that the head coach battle between Dawn Staley (South Carolina) and Tara VanDerveer (Stanford) is a balanced confrontation, depth will reach against the power of the stars.
If the cardinal manages to get Boston in trouble from the inside, they will have a real way to win this game. Otherwise, I have South Carolina arriving late to reach the national title game.
Prediction: South Carolina 73, Stanford 68