MISSOULA, Mont. - Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer sat in the media room here Monday night and watched part of Tennessee's upset of Connecticut on ESPN. Minutes later, her team took the floor and emphatically avoided UConn's fate.
Stanford found itself in an early nine-point hole before rallying to vaporize Georgia 82-47 in the West Regional finals, earning a trip to the Final Four this weekend in Cincinnati. It will be Stanford's third straight Final Four, as it seeks its first national title since 1992.
''I thought we played really hard,'' Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. ''Georgia is an excellent team, and we had to have a game like this to beat them.''
No. 1 seed Stanford (34-1) carries a 25-game winning streak to the Queen City. Georgia (25-6) was denied its own third straight trip to the Final Four. The Lady Bulldogs beat Stanford in last year's national semifinals.
Center Olympia Scott led Stanford with 21 points. All-America guard Kate Starbird added 16 and reserve forward Kristin Folkl had 14, as Stanford's depth proved too much. Georgia had only one player score in double figures, guard Kedra Holland-Corn with 11.
Stanford found itself in a 16-7 hole early.
Almost as quickly, Stanford righted itself to grab a 38-22 halftime lead, outscoring Georgia 31-6 over the final 13 minutes of the first half. The Lady Bulldogs went over 12 minutes without a field goal at one juncture, thanks mainly to Stanford's rugged interior defense.
Once Stanford started getting rebounds and kicking up its famous transition game, Georgia was gasping for air at the high altitude (3,200 elevation) University of Montana setting. The Cardinal
out-pointed Georgia 13-4 in fast-break points in the first half.
Stanford built its lead to as much as 37 points after halftime, as Georgia seemed to give up once its fate was sealed.
Stanford has a five-headed inside monster with 6-2 center Scott (16.2 ppg), 6-1 forward Vanessa Nygaard (12.1), 6-4 forward Naomi Mulitauaopele (10.4), 6-2 forward Folkl (9.4), and 6-4 forward Heather Owen (5.6).All ar e tall and solidly built, with the slender 6-2 Starbird (20.9 ppg) and 5-6 point guard Jamila Wideman orchestrating things.
Georgia hoped to match Stanford's starters on the inside with second team All-America La'Keshia Frett (6-foot-3, 16.5 ppg) and honorable mention All-America Tracy Henderson (6-foot-3, 16.0 ppg). But, outside of second-team All-America guard Holland-Corn (17.5 ppg), the Lady Bulldogs had no one else averaging over 10 points.
Notre Dame 62, George Washington 52
Old Dominion 53, Florida 51
Tennessee 91, UConn 81
FINAL FOUR WEEK EVENTS
TIM SULLIVAN COLUMN
GEORGIA (47)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Frett 30 4-12 0-0 1-2 1 2 8
Walker 21 0-1 0-0 1-5 0 3 0
Henderson 23 2-6 3-4 0-4 0 5 7
Powell 29 1-4 1-2 0-2 4 2 4
Holland-corn 34 4-14 3-6 0-6 2 3 13
Irwin 18 1-8 0-0 0-2 0 1 3
Antvorskov 11 1-2 0-0 1-3 0 2 2
Bush 10 1-5 0-1 3-3 0 2 2
Decker 19 3-7 0-0 0-3 0 3 8
Lott 5 0-0 0-0 0-3 0 0 0
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TOTALS 200 17-59 7-13 6-33 7 23 47
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Percentages: FG-.288, FT-.538. 3-Point Goals:
6-17, .353 (Powell 1-2, Holland-corn 2-6, Irwin
1-5, Decker 2-4). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked
shots: 2 (Henderson, Decker). Turnovers: 17
(Powell 5, Holland-corn 4, Decker 2, Antvorskov,
Bush, Frett, Henderson, Irwin, Walker). Steals:
10 (Holland-corn 3, Bush 2, Henderson 2, Frett,
Powell, Walker).
STANFORD (82)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Scott 24 8-12 5-7 3-9 0 2 21
Nygaard 26 3-5 0-0 2-6 4 1 7
Mulitauaopele 20 3-9 3-4 0-5 0 0 9
Wideman 33 3-6 2-4 0-6 6 2 8
Starbird 35 5-9 3-3 0-1 4 2 15
Peterson 1 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 2
Batastini 4 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 2
Gbzlazeh 1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
Mcnamee 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Flores 10 0-1 2-2 0-0 0 1 2
Smith 7 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 1 0
Folkl 23 5-11 4-5 2-7 3 1 14
Benton 3 0-2 0-0 1-2 0 1 0
Harrington 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Owen 9 0-1 2-2 0-3 0 2 2
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TOTALS 200 29-60 21-27 8-42 19 14 82
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Percentages: FG-.483, FT-.778. 3-Point Goals:
3-9, .333 (Nygaard 1-2, Wideman 0-1, Starbird
2-4, Flores 0-1, Benton 0-1). Team rebounds: 5.
Blocked shots: 1 (Starbird). Turnovers: 14 (Scott
3, Folkl 2, Wideman 2, Benton, Flores,
Mulitauaopele, Nygaard, Owen, Peterson,
Starbird). Steals: 9 (Wideman 4, Starbird 2,
Batastini, Folkl, Owen).
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Georgia 22 25 - 47
Stanford 38 44 - 82
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Technical fouls: None. A: 5,975. Officials:
Violet Palmer, Ron Dressander, Ralph South.
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