Staley, players preview Final Four

When Samuelson turned her ankle in the second quarter it did not have an immediate spiraling effect on Stanford’s offense.

In doing so, Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley earned her first win against Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer. In 1990 Vanderveer was coaching the Cardinal when they recorded a win over Virginia in the semifinals, Staley was the sophomore guard at the time. She’s also hall of famer and was recently named Team USA women’s basketball head coach. Staley is back in the Final Four as a coach for the second time in three years. “We have seen them so many times that they probably know us better then we know ourselves”, Wilson said.

Overall, the Cardinal defense performed well on the night while holding SC to 36 percent from the field largely behind a defensive focus on Wilson and junior guard Kaela Davis who has led the Gamecocks’ backcourt. USC will face the victor of UConn and Mississippi State on Sunday for the national title.

SC point guard Tyasha Harris missed two key free throws against Arizona State earlier in the NCAA Tournament, and the freshman was determined to make amends.

“It was rough, frustrating”, said senior Erica McCall of the team’s second-half shooting. Later in the 3rd quarter the Cardinal went cold, with a 4-minute stretch with no points while SC had an 11 point run. “It also allowed us to branch out and recruit some other players nationally, because if [Wilson’s] considering the University of SC, other ones may follow suit”. “We sped the game up and got playing at a pace that benefited our style of play”. The power for the Gamecocks surely came in the third-quarter where they went on 13-0 run.

But Stanford answered as Alanna Smith made a layup and 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions to cut South Carolina’s lead to three. Stanford did not go away though, cutting the lead to three a minute later. “We kept shooting, unfortunately they didn’t go in”.

Leading up to the game, Staley had thought about her special relationship with VanDerveer – from winning the 1996 US Olympic gold medal in Atlanta to their ongoing communication throughout this season.

Stanford senior forward Karlie Samuelson left the game in the second quarter after a grisly-looking ankle injury, which could have in part fueled the Cardinal lag. Tyasha Harris hit a jumper to put the Gamecocks up before a Cuevas-Moore put them up eight.

A jumper by Brittany McPhee gave Stanford life after it made just 2 of its first 19 shots of the quarter.

“Right now it’s painful”, Cardinal guard Brianna Roberson said. She tried to come back in the second half but limped for 10 minutes and didn’t attempt a shot.

“She couldn’t move”, VanDerveer said.

“Her pushing the ball gave us a lot of energy”, McCall said of Sniezek. We wanted her to play. When the teams met in the Sweet 16 a year ago, UConn won by 60 points. She talks, she makes big shots. “No matter how much we were down I felt like we were going to make a comeback”. However, the most surprising performance was from Allisha Gray who finished with a team high 18 points. Stanford provided the final response of the quarter, scoring four of the last five points of the half to head into the locker room with a 29-20 lead. SC regained the lead and led at the quarter 14-12.

Gamecocks junior Kaela Davis had been exceptional in the tournament but struggled on Friday, managing only six points on 2-for-15 shooting.

SC head coach Dawn Staley believes the keys to winning the first national title for the Palmetto State in women’s college basketball will be something that doesn’t necessarily appear in the box score. Stanford is 4-9 in its 13 national semifinal appearances.

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