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Another tournament game, and another rematch for the Stanford Cardinal Women's basketball team. This time they will take on Conference rival the Washington Huskies in the Elite 8. The Winner will advance to the Final Four. On Friday night Stanford defeated the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame in the Sweet Sixteen to advance. The Washington Huskies took down the Kentucky Wildcats 85-72. The Huskies are a seven seed the Cardinal a four seed.
Previous Meetings:
The Cardinal and the Huskies have already played twice this season once back on January 29th with Stanford winning 69-53. The second contest was earlier this month in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Tournament. In the second meeting the Huskies had the advantage winning 73-65.
Washington players To watch:
For Washington Guard Kelsey Plum is the third highest scorer (26.2 ppg) in the nation. Plum is also Washington's all-time leading scorer and sixth all-time in the Pac-12 conference. Most pertinently she is leading scorer of the 2016 NCAA Tournament. She dropped another 23 points on Kentucky in the Sweet Sixteen and in short, Stanford will have to find an answer to Plum.
Plum is not the only Husky that can get the job done though as Washington has a pair of dominant Forwards. Chantel Osahor who plays forward/center is a rebounding machine averaging just shy of a double double per game (9.9 pts 11.0 rebounds). Osahor recorded 19 points and 17 rebounds against Kentucky. Talia Walton scores about 16 points per game and is Washington's all-time leader in blocked shots. Walton was red hot against Kentucky scoring 30 points on the Wildcats.
Stanford players to watch:
Washington is not the only team with great forwards, however as Erica McCall is playing very well for Stanford and has been critical to the Cardinal's success. McCall scored a carer high 27 points against Notre Dame and is playing with plenty of confidence. Forward Kaylee Johnson is a solid defender that can rebound. Johnson scored 17 against the Irish with another 12 rebounds. McCall and Johnson will have her hands full against the likes of Osahor and Walton.
How to Watch:
Time: 10:00m am PST
TV: ESPN
Stream: WatchESPN