March 09, 2014

Pac-12 Tournament, Semifinals

Stanford 68, USC 72

The Trojan's superior defense left the Cardinal struggling, looking tired and indecisive, for most of the game.

The two teams exchanged a small lead throughout the first half and were tied 32-32 at the break. The Trojans took the lead and built it to ten points in the second half.

With five minutes left to play, Mikaela stole the ball and passed it to Lili, who was fouled on her attempted shot and then made both free throws. The pace of the game increased considerably — frantic play in the next couple of minutes led to a half dozen missed shots by each team. So, with three minutes left to play, the Cardinal was ahead 60-57 and a victory began to seem possible. However, ...

Mikaela and Chiney had done a great job of shutting down the Trojan's leading scorer, Cassie Harberts — at this point she had four fouls and three points. But in those last three minutes, she took control, scored ten points and killed the Cardinal hopes.

The Trojan offense was unexpectedly led by Alexyz Vaioletama who scored 19 points, among them her season-high three treys (of five attempts). Ariya Crook eluded Lili's and Amber's dogged defense occasionally and added 15 points.

Chiney managed to make only a bit less than half of her attempted shots, but still finished with 30 points and is now tied with Candice Wiggins as Stanford's all-time high career scorer. She also grabbed 21 rebounds and blocked five shots, but it wasn't quite enough to lead her team to victory.

Here are game reports and commentary:

And the box score and play-by-play

Oregon State 70, Washington State 60

Here are game reports:

And the box score and play-by-play

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