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Mar. 24, 1997
Great Scott, Stanford Returns to NCAA Final Four, 82-47
MISSOULA, Mont. -- Olympia Scott had 21 points and nine rebounds as top-seeded Stanford held second-seeded Georgia without a basket for 11:30 in the first half and rolled to an 82-47 rout in the West Region Final at Missoula, Montana.
The Cardinal (34-1), who are two-time national champions, moved into their third straight Final Four and sixth in 11 tournament appearances. They will face Old Dominion in the first national semifinal game in Cincinnati on Friday. The game will be a rematch of a regular-season game in which Old Dominion handed Stanford its only loss of the season.
The victory avenged an 86-76 loss to the Bulldogs in a national semifinal game last year.
"There was definitely revenge on our mind, said guard Jamilla Wideman. "We wanted to go to Cincinnati so bad and they were the team standing in the way of that goal."
Naismith Player of the Year Kate Starbird added 15 points for Stanford and Kristin Folkl added 14 points off the bench.
The Cardinal held Georgia to 28 percent shooting (17-of-59) from the floor for the game.
"Our number one priority was that we control the game with defemse, said Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer. "We got into transition and the people on our team did a great job of of concentrating and following the game plan."
Kedra Holland-Corn, who ended the scoring drought with 1:07 to play in the first half, finished with 13 points and was the only player in double figures for Georgia (25-6).
"I thought we certainly made some poor decisions which resulted in turnovers and helped Stanford regain some momentum, said coach Andy Landers of the first-half run. "They repeatedly took it low, we got into foul trouble there. I thought for the most part we did what we needed to do defensively. They were very, very good."
VanDerveer is seeking a national championship less than a year after leading the United States to a Gold Medal at the Summer Olympics at Atlanta.
The Cardinal have won their four tournament games by an average of 33 points.
GEORGIA (47)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Frett 30 4-12 0-0 1-2 1 2 8
Walker 21 0-1 0-0 1-5 0 3 0
Henderson 23 2-6 3-4 0-4 0 5 7
Powell 29 1-4 1-2 0-2 4 2 4
Holland-corn 34 4-14 3-6 0-6 2 3 13
Irwin 18 1-8 0-0 0-2 0 1 3
Antvorskov 11 1-2 0-0 1-3 0 2 2
Bush 10 1-5 0-1 3-3 0 2 2
Decker 19 3-7 0-0 0-3 0 3 8
Lott 5 0-0 0-0 0-3 0 0 0
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TOTALS 200 17-59 7-13 6-33 7 23 47
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Percentages: FG-.288, FT-.538. 3-Point Goals:
6-17, .353 (Powell 1-2, Holland-corn 2-6, Irwin
1-5, Decker 2-4). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked
shots: 2 (Henderson, Decker). Turnovers: 17
(Powell 5, Holland-corn 4, Decker 2, Antvorskov,
Bush, Frett, Henderson, Irwin, Walker). Steals:
10 (Holland-corn 3, Bush 2, Henderson 2, Frett,
Powell, Walker).
STANFORD (82)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Scott 24 8-12 5-7 3-9 0 2 21
Nygaard 26 3-5 0-0 2-6 4 1 7
Mulitauaopele 20 3-9 3-4 0-5 0 0 9
Wideman 33 3-6 2-4 0-6 6 2 8
Starbird 35 5-9 3-3 0-1 4 2 15
Peterson 1 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 2
Batastini 4 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 2
Gbzlazeh 1 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
Mcnamee 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Flores 10 0-1 2-2 0-0 0 1 2
Smith 7 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 1 0
Folkl 23 5-11 4-5 2-7 3 1 14
Benton 3 0-2 0-0 1-2 0 1 0
Harrington 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Owen 9 0-1 2-2 0-3 0 2 2
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TOTALS 200 29-60 21-27 8-42 19 14 82
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Percentages: FG-.483, FT-.778. 3-Point Goals:
3-9, .333 (Nygaard 1-2, Wideman 0-1, Starbird
2-4, Flores 0-1, Benton 0-1). Team rebounds: 5.
Blocked shots: 1 (Starbird). Turnovers: 14 (Scott
3, Folkl 2, Wideman 2, Benton, Flores,
Mulitauaopele, Nygaard, Owen, Peterson,
Starbird). Steals: 9 (Wideman 4, Starbird 2,
Batastini, Folkl, Owen).
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Georgia 22 25 - 47
Stanford 38 44 - 82
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Technical fouls: None. A: 5,975. Officials:
Violet Palmer, Ron Dressander, Ralph South.