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MA ForpelESPN.com
STAMFORD, Calif. — South Carolina’s No. 1 Gamecocks survived Sunday’s overtime play between the top two women’s basketball teams, beating the No. 2 Stanford Cardinals 76-71 in a packed Maples Pavilion. I broke it.
It was the third one-on-one. Two games in NCAA women’s basketball history went into overtime. Others were 2021 South Carolina vs. UConn Huskies (UConn won) and 1992 Stanford vs. Tennessee Lady Volunteers (Tennessee won).
In a matchup between two previous national champions, the Cardinals nearly beat the No. 1 team on their home court four times in a row. The program has previously beaten Maples top-ranked Tennessee (2007) and he UConn (2010, 2014). Stanford entered the fourth quarter where he led 54-44, but in the period he lost 17-7.
Stanford also made two serious mistakes in the final ten seconds of extra time. Inbounds he is the technical when Kiki his Iliafen called a timeout that the Cardinals didn’t have, as well as his five-second infraction when he tried to throw a pass.
Cardinal manager Tara Vandelbier said: “It was very disappointing to not be able to finish the job when we were leading.
Instead, South Carolina had 16 straight wins against ranked opponents. This is her second longest streak in SEC history.
Sunday’s game matched two senior players currently expected to be top-two picks in the 2023 WNBA Draft: South Carolina’s Aaliyah Boston and Stanford University’s Hayley Jones.
Boston, who was named last season’s National Player of the Year, had 14 points and 13 rebounds, including a tie with 2.1 seconds left in regulation. With his 28.8 seconds remaining in overtime, Boston was his second foul out in his career and first foul out of him since his freshman season. By that point, however, South Carolina had regained the lead.
“In the huddle, coach [Dawn Staley] He kept saying, ‘We have to fight,'” Boston said. we are very resilient. ”
Jones had 11 points, nine rebounds and six assists. However, Cardinal junior forward Cameron Brink was the star of the game, scoring 25 points, five rebounds and blocking four of his shots. She fouled out with 3:01 left in overtime.
