Stanford FBC: Stories of the Season: Pac-12 Tournament: Quarterfinals

Anticipation

Stanford alum Chiney Ogwumike returns to KeyArena, impressed by deep conference, by Jen Cosgriff (Pac-12)
Women’s basketball’s sights set on 12th conference title, by Lorenzo Rosas (Stanford Daily)
Beavers will face Golden Bears for second straight game, by Steve Gress (Gazette-Times)
Beavers prepare for first round in Pac-12 tournament from Seattle, by Keenan Puncocher (Daily Barometer)
Women’s basketball ready for postseason push as Pac-12 tournament starts, by Reed MacDonald (Daily Bruin)
With records out of the way, Washington focuses on NCAA, Pac-12 tournaments, by Tim Booth (Associated Press)
Washington's Mike Neighbors is trusting in the process, by Anne Marie Anderson (Pac-12)
Despite scoring record and fame, Kelsey Plum is locked in on one goal for Huskies, by Percy Allen (Seattle Times)

#1 Oregon State 65, #8 California 47

Cal started this game stony-cold, with a field-goal percentage of just 14 during the first quarter, which ended with OSU up 20-7 — and the Cal 7 all by Anigwe. An easy romp for OSU, surely?

But in the second quarter Cal suddenly found the range, hitting several layups and threes, bringing their field-goal percent up to 30 from that low of 14. Cal also went to a zone defense, and OSU stalled out, so the score difference was as low as four points before the half ended with OSU up just 9, 33-24.

Cal's brief summer of good shooting soon passed (they finally shot 32% to OSU's 42%) and OSU closed out the game. Of the two stars, Christine Anigwe had 26 points and so did Sidney Wiese. Cal had no other player in double digits, but OSU had Pivec with 17 and Gulich with 12, and there would be the reason for the win.

Here are game reports:

Sydney Wiese powers Oregon State past Cal, the Associated Press game recap
Wiese scores 26 to lift Beavers over Bears, the OSU Athletics game recap
Cal comes up short against Oregon State, the Cal Athletics game recap

The game highlights video

And the game statistics

#4 UCLA 77, #5 Arizona State 68

The first quarter of this game was a disaster for ASU. ASU simply couldn't hit a basket for long minutes, or stop UCLA. The quarter ended with UCLA up 25-7, and that was basically the game.

In the second half ASU found some offense and closed the gap to nine in the fourth quarter, but at no point was UCLA in serious danger. Jordin Canada scored 24 points, had three steals and seven assists, mostly dished to Monique Billings who ended up with 19.

Here are game reports:

UCLA holds off Arizona State comeback to advance, the Associated Press game recap
UCLA Advances to Pac-12 Semifinals, the UCLA Athletics game recap
No. 25 Sun Devil WBB Unable to Complete Comeback in Pac-12 Quarterfinal Loss vs. No. 15 UCLA, the ASU Athletics game recap

The game highlights video

And the game statistics.

#2 Stanford 66, #7 Washington State 36

Stanford took control of the game in emphatic fashion: a layup by Bird, a three by Bri, a jumper by Brittany, and a three by Karlie, forcing WSU to call a timeout after less than four minutes with the score 10-0.

The timeout didn't help; Stanford continued scoring freely. When WSU made its first basket, seven minutes into the game, it marked a 21-2 Stanford run.

Tara began substituting freely in the second quarter, with Nadia, Alexa and DiJonai getting minutes.

At the half, Stanford led by 20, 39-19, and although Tara rested her starters through much of the second half, the Cougars couldn't close the gap.

In the end, all available players (Mikaela did not make this trip) had some time on the floor.

Karlie led all scorers with 21 points, including four of ten three-pointers (and four assists). Brittany had 12 points, two blocks and six assists. Bird had eight points, nine rebounds and two blocks. Alanna had eight points and a block.

Here are game reports:

No. 10 Stanford tops Washington St 66-36 in Pac-12 tourney, the Associated Press game recap
Cougs time in Seattle comes to an end at the hands of Stanford Washington State Athletics game recap
Stanford women roll into Pac-12 semifinals, by Jim Hoehn (San Francisco Chronicle)
No. 2 seed Stanford downs WSU 66-36 in quarterfinal round of Pac-12 women’s basketball tournament, by Stefanie Loh (Seattle Times)
WBB: Stanford 66 WSU 36 from (The CARDboard)

The game statistics,

The game highlights video,

A postgame video interview of Karlie,

A postgame video interview of Bird by Chiney,

The postgame press conference with Tara, Karlie and Kaylee,

And a gallery of photos by Eric Evans Photography

#3 Washington 69, #6 Oregon 70

In a stunning upset, the Oregon Ducks squeaked out a win over the feared Washington Huskies and national scoring leader Kelsey Plum.

We noted in the story of Oregon's previous game that they needed to play a strong game against Washington if they were to get any seeding in the NCAA field of 64. The immediately prior game, a Stanford blowout win over WSU, set expectations low. Surely the Huskies would, like Stanford, come out hot and roll over the lower-seeded team.

The Huskies did not come out hot. In fact the two teams played neck-and-neck throughout the first half. When the score was tied 13-13 at the first media timeout; when the first quarter ended with Oregon ahead 17-22; and when the half ended with Oregon still ahead 31-32, fans were looking at each other and shaking their heads. When would Washington's powerful scoring machine take over?

It began to seem as if the Huskies were taking over the game in the third quarter when Washington finally opened a two-possession lead and stayed ahead by six or seven to the end of the quarter. During this quarter, Kelsey Plum became only the third player in NCAA history to score 1,000 points in a single season.

Early into the fourth quarter, Washington opened its biggest lead, nine points, 60-51. About this point in the game, Chantal Osahor set a PAC-12 record for rebounds in a tournament game. (In the end, she had 27 for the game.)

Also about this point in the game, Lexi Bando started to get hot. In a key sequence of events, the scoring was as follows:

Bando makes a three; 60-54
Plum layup; 62-54
Bando jumper; 62-56
Plum jumper; 64-56
Bando three; 64-59
Plum misses a three
Bando three; 64-62
Sabrina Ionescu jumper ties the game at 64-64

Then, at 5:04 in the fourth quarter, Washington called time.

In the following minutes, the teams traded the lead until another Bando jumper brought the Ducks within one point, 69-68. A sequence of turnovers and fouls followed without a score. Then, with just seven seconds remaining, the Huskies committed a fifth foul to put the Ducks in the bonus, and Sabrina Ionescu went to the line to shoot two.

Everyone in the sold-out crowd in Key Arena was standing, the great majority of them cheering for the Huskies. In the midst of deafening noise, Ionescu sank a first free-throw to tie the score 69-69; and a second to give the Ducks the lead 69-70. The Huskies inbounded the ball for the final possession and Kelsey Plum's attempted shot was deflected by Oregon's Ruthie Hebard.

Plum had 34 points and her record, but her last score came with seven minutes still to play. She missed her last seven attempts, including the final shot.

For Oregon, Bando and Ionescu combined for 41 points, Ruthie Hebard had 13 and Maite Cazorla had 12. It is worth noting that both Ionescu (who played for 40 minutes) and Hebard (who played for 32) are freshmen.

Here are game reports: