No. 1 Stanford women beat Duke to reach Final Four

March 27, 2012 RSS Feed Print

"What I really liked about this game is we got contributions from different people," VanDerveer said.

Gray, with another 50 or so family and friends cheering the guard who grew up about 75 miles north in Stockton, converted a three-point play with 10:46 remaining to pull Duke within 52-44, but the Cardinal answered yet again. Toni Kokenis rolled in a 3 on the other end.

Selby, who had a quiet night until midway through the second half, made a three-point play with 9:48 to go to keep her team close. But Duke missed three key scoring opportunities the next time down.

The Blue Devils switched to a zone in the second half after that same move worked so well in a 74-47 rout of St. John's, but Orrange and Kokenis successfully drove and dished — and they also handled Duke's trap press. Kokenis had eight of Stanford's 21 assists.

"First, we allowed them to get 81 points. We're not going to beat a team if it doesn't start on defense," Gray said. "They're a very strong group. If one doesn't have the shot the other one is looking for them."

Elizabeth Williams, Duke's star 6-foot-3 freshman playing with a stress fracture in her lower right leg, quickly scored to make it 48-39. She scored 12 points while playing much of the game in foul trouble.

Stanford got a scare with 6:51 left in the first half when Nneka Ogwumike scored on a drive to make it 30-16 and then turned into Kathleen Scheer's right elbow. She briefly went down and took a seat for all of 1:23.

Stanford began the game 7 for 11 and had assists on each of those baskets, and the Cardinal limited Duke to one attempt thanks to Chiney Ogwumike's six rebounds in the opening 8½ minutes. Stanford held a 9-3 rebounding advantage after getting outboarded 38-36 against South Carolina two nights earlier. That became a focus for both teams in this game.

Duke was held to just 39.7 percent from the field, going 3 for 14 from 3-point range. That was a big change for a Blue Devils team that had shot above 50 percent in the first half of its previous six games, and went 53.7 percent overall Saturday night to follow up its season-best 65.6-percent performance from the field in a 96-80 second-round win over Vanderbilt in which they dished out 28 assists.