MISSOULA, Mont. - Stanford dodged Upset Saturday here and moved one game away from its third straight women's Final Four.
The top-seeded Cardinal routed No. 4 seed Virginia 91-69 in the West Regional semifinals behind 22 points from All-America guard Kate Starbird. A near-capacity crowd watched at the University of Montana's 8,950-seat Dahlberg Arena, most being Stanford backers. The Cardinal is the only actual West Coast team here.
In Monday's regional final, Stanford will play No. 2 seed Georgia, a 66-52 winner over Vanderbilt late Saturday night.
Stanford, a heavy favorite to advance to the Final Four in Cincinnati next weekend, entered the game after seeing a rash of upsets earlier in other regions earlier Saturday: North Carolina, Louisiana Tech and Alabama all lost to lower seeds, and top-ranked Connecticut was nearly upset by Illinois.
Early on, it seemed Stanford might be the next giant to topple. Virginia raced to an 8-2 lead as Stanford missed its first nine
field-goal attempts. But then Starbird hit a jumper to start a 15-0 scoring binge, and Stanford grabbed a 17-8 lead.
Pesky Virginia, known for its speed and defense, fought back to 17-16 before Stanford opened some space again.
Virginia, lacking Stanford's inside muscle and overall depth, slipped into a 44-35 hole by halftime. The closest Virginia got in the second half was eight points, 56-48, but Stanford was ahead by at least 10 for most of the way and gradually wore the Cavs out with their depth.
Jamila Wideman added 19 points for Stanford and three others scored at least 10: Naomi Muliauaopele (13), Kristin Folkl (12) and Vanessa Nygaard (10).
''We were taking it to our strength,'' coach Tara VanDerveer said. ''Kate hurt them with her outside shooting and Jamila hurt them with her penetration.''
Guard Tora Suber was Virginia's only consistent threat with 22 points.
Stanford (33-1) set a school record with its 24th straight win, something its 1990 and '92 national champions never did. The Cardinal's only loss this season was at Old Dominion 83-66 on Dec. 17.
Virginia (23-8), which was leading the nation in field-goal defense (.337) and was holding opponents to 55 points per game, could not match the offensive firepower of Stanford. Stanford was averaging 84 points and outscoring opponents by 24 per game.
Stanford prevailed despite its best player, Starbird, being hobbled by a week-old ankle sprain. The slender 6-foot-2 Starbird showed no limp and plenty of shooting range firing in 14 points (including four three-point shots) to pace the Cardinal in the first half.
Starbird, top vote-getter on this year's Associated Press All-America team and the leading candidate for Player of the Year, averages 20.9 points per game. Tall and thin and a self-described ''nerd,'' she does not look the part of superstar but simply kills teams with her open-court ballhandling and flat, unconventional jump shot.
Georgia 66, Vanderbilt 52
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Kedra Holland-Corn scored 18 points
and Tracy Henderson hit 15 of her 17 points in the second half for Georgia (25-5).
Vanderbilt, which lost to Georgia 71-45 on Feb. 14, made it interesting this time with a late rally, but the result was the same.
Rachel Powell and Holland-Corn hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Holland-Corn hit two free throws to give Georgia a 57-44 lead with 2:50 remaining.
WOMEN'S BRACKET
