SOUTH CAOLINA VS. TEXAS STANFIRD VS. LOUISVILLE

As expected, No. 1-seeded South Carolina was able to cool off 6th-seeded Texas, but in game two of the women’s Division I Elite Eight contest at the Alamodome in San Antonio, No. 1 overall seeded Stanford had to rally to overcome 3rd-seed Louisville and set up the Final Four.

In the Monday Elite Eight games, No.1-seeded Connecticut nipped 2nd-seeded Baylor, 69-67, and 3rd-seeded Arizona, with a red-hot fourth quarter, eliminated 4th-seeded Indiana, 66-53, to set up the Huskies (28-1) against the Wildcats (20-5) in the Friday Final Four.

The other one has the Gamecocks versus the Cardinal, but it took a rousing comeback by Stanford to secure its spot.

After South Carolina (25-4) used its stifling defense to shut down Texas, 62-34, and gain its third semifinals by blocking 14 shots and outscoring the Longhorns, 10-0 in the final quarter, it was Louisville coming up with key outside shots and grabbing an early 12-4 lead that increased to 16-4. Then, after the Cardinal cut the Cardinals’ first-quarter lead to four, it trailed again by 12 midway through the third quarter.

But that’s where Stanford (29-2) began playing creating turnovers, making shots it couldn’t do before against the tight Louisville defense, and scored 13 consecutive points to take its first lead since early in the game. The teams then traded baskets the rest of the quarter and the Cardinals (26-4) led 50-48 heading in the fourth quarter.

But it was the Cardinal that responded. It scored the first 10 points in the last 10 minutes to go ahead 58-50, with the run capped by senior Kiana Williams’ 3-pointer after the San Antonio native, the team’s leading scorer, had a rough start this game by missing 11 of her first dozen shots. But when she make good on four shots in a row, it upped the lead and maintained it until the final buzzer.

With just over three minutes left, the Stanford lead was 68-60, but Williams hit a step-back 3 that sealed the victory and she wound up with 14 points. Senior guard Dana Evans, the Louisville All-America, had the game-high 24 points, but had little help from her teammates, whose total points were a tournament low for them, but they relied on their defense that was allowing only 46 points a game and had held opponents to 29.5 shooting.

So the Cardinals held Stanford to but 26 points in the first half and led 36-26 behind 10 points from Evans. But once the Cardinal got into gear, the shots were falling, the rebounds in its favor, and all but Evans being stymied but its defense to send Stanford against South Carolina in the other Final Four.

Texas (20-6) mounted a comeback in the third quarter after trailing since the start. The Longhorns got within 34-28 before the Gamecocks went on another run behind Zia Cooke, Destanni Henderson, Victoria Saxton and Laticia Amihere, and held Texas to 23 percent shooting and a dismal four quarter.

It was a balanced South Carolina offense as Cooke led the way with 16 points, Henderson and Saxton 12 each, and Amihere tallied 10 points, took down eight boards, and blocked 14 shots.