Round1: Cardinal weathers the Hurricane

The Tulsa Golden Hurricane blew into Maples Pavilion on a five-game winning streak playing with such urgency and skill that, for 25 minutes, an upset seemed all too likely. Those 25 minutes began with three Cardinal turnovers in 45 seconds and ended with a tenuous 2-point Cardinal lead.

Then the Cardinal shifted into "One and Done" mode, went on a 16-3 run and finally got the game under control. Thy held on to their double-digit lead for the rest of the second half and won 72-56.

Chiney was heavily guarded throughout the game, but still managed to put up a shot every two minutes, on average, and make 72% of them for a total of 29 points. No double-double today — she had only eight rebounds (the most by a player on either team was nine).

Amber was seriously harassed by Tulsa's star player, 5'6" guard Taleya Mayberry on almost every trip down the floor for 38 mintues. She didn't have much success getting the ball inside and tallied only three assists. But she scored 14 points herself, including one three-pointer. She also tallied six rebounds, a block and a steal and turned the ball over only two times.

Taylor played a great 37 minutes today. She sparked the Cardinal with a three-pointer halfway through the first half that gave them their first lead. She scored a total of nine points and added two assists and three rebounds.

Jos was strong on offense and defense. She had nine points, two assists, seven rebounds, three blocks and a steal.

Mikaela had some trouble defending the quick, little Tulsa players and got in foul trouble, so played for only ten minutes. She made good use of her limited time to grab eight rebounds.

Sara contributed two three-pointers and Bonnie contributed one to the Cardinal victory.

There was a good turnout for the Stanford/Tulsa game — I estimate about 5500. The attendance dwindled to less than a thousand for the second game between Michigan and Villanova.

The Wolverines and Wildcats were well matched in a low-scoring, strong defensive game. Michigan held a modest lead for most of the game (Villanova closed the margin to four with four minutes left to play), then pulled away at the end for a 62-50 victory. (Click here for the AP game report.)

So it's Stanford vs Michigan in the second round on Tuesday.

Here are reports of the Stanford/Tulsa game:

• Strong second half pushes No. 4 Stanford past Tulsa, 72-56 by Janie McCauley (Associated Press)
• Stanford women beat Tulsa in 1st round by Tom FitzGerald (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Stanford women defeat Tulsa in first round by Elliott Almond (Mercury News)
• Stanford overcomes Tulsa to head into second round by Tom Taylor (The Stanford Daily)
• A big second half puts Stanford women into the second round by Rick Eymer (Palo Alto Online)
• Tulsa's valiant effort against No. 1 seed Stanford falls short 72-56 from Tulsa Athletics
• Top-seeded Stanford averts disaster by Michelle Smith (espnW)

The box score and play-by-play,

Stanford postgame quotes from Tara, Taylor and Chiney.

Tulsa postgame quotes from coach Mossman, Taleya Mayberry and Tiffani Cuisnard.

Video Cardinal Land Tournament Edition: Episode 2 — game highlights, postgame press conference and snippets from the locker roon.

A gallery of great photos by Nhat V. Neyer (Mercury News),

A gallery of photos by Norbert von der Groeben (Stanford Photo),

And photos by Ben Margot (Associated Press):

Chiney fights against a triple-team

Chiney finds a clear path to the basket

Amber shoots through the defense

Jos on defense

Now what?

Sara & Taylor celebrate a good shot

Go Cardinal! Go!!