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

Anticipation

No. 16 Women’s basketball battles USC in second round of Pac-12 Tournament by Jose Saldana (Stanford Daily)
Four teams emerge victorious from Round One, video by Pac-12
Oregon State women's basketball needs Pac-12 tournament wins by Gary Horowitz (Statemsman Journal)
Beavers, Sun Devils meet for the third time by Steve Gress (Corvallis Gazette-Times)
Top-seeded Oregon Ducks open Pac-12 tournament by Andrew Greif (The Oregonian)
Jordin Canada has quietly become the driving force for UCLA's women's basketball team by Ben Bolch (Los Angeles Times)

#1 Oregon 84, #9 Colorado 47

The Buffalo defense that strangled Utah yesterday rolled right off the Ducks’ backs today.

At the half Oregon led 45-18. They were then shooting 55% and had twice the rebounds, 23-11.

In the second half the Duck stampede continued; their field goal percentage reached 66% before they began subbing. Colorado made little headway even against the Oregon B-team as the Ducks rolled to an easy win.

Here are game reports:

Big runs, long-range shooting propel Oregon past Colorado, the Pac-12 game recap
Ducks take care of business, 84-47, the Oregon Athletics game recap
Buffs Fall To Oregon In Pac-12 Quarterfinals, the Colorado Athletics game recap

The game highlights video

And the game statistics

#4 UCLA 77, #5 California 74

Cal was in sight of a win in this close, exciting game but couldn't close the door in the final minutes.

Down by eleven early in the third quarter, Cal came back to tie and reached a two-point lead going into the fourth quarter.

It was 65-all at 4 minutes, 67-all at three minutes, and 69-all at the two-minute mark.

But the Bears gave the Bruins extra possessions via a couple of unfortunate fouls and fell behind by three. The last minute seemed to take ten minutes to play out by the wall clock, but UCLA made their free throws to seal the outcome.

Here are game reports:

UCLA fends off resilient Cal team, advances to semifinals, the Associated Press game recap
No. 9 UCLA Advances to Pac-12 Semifinals, the UCLA Athletics game recap
Bears drop heartbreaker to Bruins, the California game recap

The game highlights video

And the game statistics

#2 Stanford 69, #7 USC 59

Stanford had an excellent first quarter, while USC had a spell of poor shooting. That first quarter ended with a nice 11-point lead for the Cardinal -- and the game could have been called right there with no change to the outcome.

For the remaining 30 minutes the two teams played about even, with the Trojans occasionally pulling to within eight or six, and the Cardinal finding timely responses to get back to a ten or eleven-point lead. This was more than a bit agonizing for fans, who have too often seen bad results from letting another team hang around instead of putting them away. But Stanford held on to close out the game on that initial lead.

Kiana led Stanford with 18 points, including two timely three-point shots and a late drive and layup, each of which helped to squelch a USC threat. She was 4-8 from beyond the arc and 6-12 overall.

Alanna, despite having her minutes limited by fouls, had 14 points. Marta had 10 points, and Brittany had seven.

DiJonai came off the bench to get 13 points, including a buzzer-beating half-court shot at the end of the first quarter.

Alyssa played only a few minutes, but had one key score. In the closing seconds of the third quarter, with USC holding for the last shot, DiJonai stole the ball and got it to Alyssa, who put up a buzzer-beating three of her own.

It's worth noting that the team hit 17 of 22 free-throw attempts, including hitting the first nine straight.

Here are game reports:

Stanford advances with 69-59 win over USC, the Associated Press game recap
Stanford to the Semis, the Stanford Athletics game recap
USC Women Fall In Pac-12 Quarterfinals To No. 16 Stanford , the USC Athletics game recap
Freshman Williams leads Stanford over USC and into Pac-12 semifinals by Tom FitzGerald (San Francisco Chronicle)
WBB: Stanford 69 U$C 59 from The CARDboard

The game highlights video

A video interview of Kiana

The video press conference with Tara, Kiana and DiJonai

A gallery of photos by Eric Evans Photography

And the game statistics

#1 Oregon State 51, #6 Arizona State 57

The Beavers allowed the Sun Devils to carry out the tournament's second upset, losing a tight, defensive contest in the final minute.

Throughout the game, ASU was out-rebounding OSU, but not shooting as well. Through most of the third quarter the teams traded a one-point edge back and forth.

A crucial moment came when, with 45 seconds on the clock, the Beavers inbounded the ball and the Sun Devils managed a held-ball, which was effectively a steal as the possession arrow gave the ball to them.

The game had featured remarkably few fouls (in contrast to the preceding Stanford-USC game) and now the Beavers had four fouls to commit before getting the ball. They did get the ball once but couldn't capitalize, and ASU made their free throws as the game wound down.

Here are game reports: