After picking up her 1,000th career victory earlier this season Stanford Women’s basketball coach Tara VanDerveer has led her team to the 2017 Final Four. The Cardinal defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 76-75 after trailing by as many as 16 points earlier in the game.
The Cardinal trailed big in the first half when they were outscored in the second quarter 23-7. The team began their comeback in the third quarter outscoring the Irish 24-12 in the frame. By the time the fourth quarter began it was a 1-score game where it would stay for virtually the entire fourth quarter.
With 52 seconds left in the game and Stanford trailing 72-73 Alanna Smith hit a layup to give the Cardinal the lead. All of 13 seconds later Lindsay Allen hit a jumper for Notre Dame to retake the lead for the Irish.
With 36 seconds to go Tara VanDerveer called a timeout to talk it over with her team. Out of the timeout it was Alanna Smith again sinking another layup to put the Cardinal up 76-75.
The Irish would setup for the last shot. Lindsay Allen would went for the jumper to give Notre Dame the victory but Alanna Smith made another clutch play this time on the defensive side. The ball was blocked out of bounds and Notre Dame would maintain possession down one with roughly 2 seconds to go. This time Arike Ogunbowale would take the shot for the Irish but Stanford’s Erica McCall was there to knock it away securing the victory for the Stanford women’s basketball team.
Brittany McPhee was the leading scorer in the game with 27 points. Guard Karlie Samuelson put in 15 points for the Cardinal and Alanna Smith scored 15 points off the bench including the final four points for Stanford.
This will be Stanford Women’s basketball’s 13th trip to the Final Four. The Cardinal will take on either Florida State or South Carolina on Friday.
Comments
Fantastic comeback for the Cardinal
McPhee was awesome and the team played well in the 1st, 3rd, and 4th quarters. Ogunbowale was excellent for ND in the first half until Stanford decided to actually try to stop her penetration—and I think force her to go left as she’s very strong going to her right. I felt the refs favored ND through a lot of the game but Stanford hung in there and made some real changes in the second half.
The postgame comments about wanting to play one more game with best friends were heartwarming.
Played at 9 AM in the morning is very tough for a West Coast team and I was pleasantly surprised that Stanford could weather the storm and make it to the Final Four. Way to go, Tara and co!
By worldblee on 03.26.17 2:23pm
Correction
This article originally said this is the Cardinal’s 11th trip to the Final 4. Coach Tucker straightened me out, its actually their 13th. Thanks Coach.
By nickdempsey on 03.26.17 5:30pm
Impressive comeback
They’ve been doing it all season long in big games, but at the time I thought 16 points would be an insurmountable deficit against a team the quality of Notre Dame. But they locked in on defense, did a better job on the boards, and took and made better shots.
Stanford caught a break in that ND’s best post player took a season-ending injury a few games ago, but it’s still not like it was a one-person team. Any of their starters can score.
Can’t say I thought that this was a Final Four team during the course of the season, but they’re a gritty, (predominantly) veteran, resilient bunch who have been able to crank it up a notch in the crunch.
Also nice for the conference that there’ll be 2 Pac-12 teams in the Final Four after Oregon takes down some so-so team from the Nutmeg State
By Cardinal&Orange on 03.26.17 7:56pm
impressive overall year for the Pac-12 – but in the end, Stanford is still the program to go the deepest. A testament to how great a coach VanDerveer is and how well prepared this team is.
By majordanby on 03.28.17 9:07am
Good first half for Stanford vs. South Carolina
Barring Karlie Samuelson’s ankle injury of course. I can’t watch the game since it’s blacked out on ESPN2 for me but at least I have the Stanford radio feed.
By worldblee on 03.31.17 5:22pm
ESPN3
It’s on there, and they look good. I don’t know if it’s the gameplan that Tara changed (earlier than usual) or if South Carolina is just that clangy – a lot of their shots are either massive bricks or airballs.
Sniezek has been on a roll as well.
By RedOscar on 03.31.17 5:32pm
Not so good in the second half without Karlie...
By worldblee on 03.31.17 6:17pm
Ran out of gas
Losing Karlie was huge, and everyone else looked tired halfway through the 3rd.
Maybe Tara should’ve subbed more to keep the starters fresher at the end. Hindsight. Also, she’s won a few more games than I have (just a few).
Still, outstanding season, to say the least. I didn’t expect them to get this far. And so many big-time comebacks — what a gritty squad.
By Cardinal&Orange on 03.31.17 6:31pm