Round Four - Stanford University Athletics

No. 6 Stanford (31-4, 15-3 Pac-12)
vs. No. 3 Notre Dame (33-3, 14-2 ACC)
Monday, April 1 • 8 p.m. CT/6 p.m. PT
Wintrust Arena • Chicago, Ill.
Television • ESPN2
Audio • GoStanford.com
Live Statistics • NCAA.com
Complete Release (PDF)
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Stanford is making its 20th overall trip to the Elite Eight and 12th in the last 16 years.
This will be the sixth all-time meeting between the two schools and fourth in the NCAA Tournament.
In 2017, the Cardinal eliminated the Irish in the Elite Eight at Rupp Arena, 76-75, snapping a 17-game Notre Dame winning streak. Alanna Smith's layup with 23 seconds left capped Stanford's comeback from a 16-point deficit in the second half and Erica McCall swatted a last-second shot from Arike Ogunbowale to seal it.
The fourth quarter alone featured six ties and 12 lead changes, with Smith twice giving Stanford the lead with clutch layups.
Brittany McPhee put up 27 to lead all scorers and Smith and Karlie Samuelson each added 15. The Cardinal shot 12-of-26 on 3-pointers, with Samuelson and McPhee each making five. Not bad, considering Stanford shot 2-of-15 overall in the second quarter while getting outscored 23-7.
A year prior, Stanford knocked out Notre Dame in the Sweet 16 at Rupp Arena, 90-84, to snap the Irish's 26-game winning streak. Erica McCall scored a career-high 27, Kaylee Johnson had a 17-point, 12-rebound double-double and Stanford shot 55.9 percent (33-of-59) overall and 55 percent (11-of-20) from 3-point range.
Notre Dame eliminated Stanford in the Sweet 16 in Oklahoma City, 81-60, in 2015. Lindsay Allen scored 24 of her career-high 28 points in the first half, while Jewell Loyd scored 17 of her 21 after the break. Bonnie Samuelson had 17 and Erica McCall and Amber Orrange each added 12 for Stanford.
Stanford had won the two previous matchups with Notre Dame, beating the Irish in Maples Pavilion, 97-67, on Dec. 2, 1990 and then doing the same in South Bend, 88-76, on Nov. 24, 1991.
Sonja Henning led the Cardinal to the first victory with an 18-point, 12-assist double-double. Julie Zeilstra added 16 points and Molly Goodenbour and Val Whiting each contributed 12. Stanford was 9-of-19 from deep, a season-high for 3-point makes, while Notre Dame was 0-of-4.
In the 1991 meeting at Notre Dame, Val Whiting posted one of her 14 double-doubles that season with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Chris MacMurdo led the Cardinal with 22 points and Molly Goodenbour chipped in 16 and handed out eight assists. Stanford tallied a season-high 19 steals and forced Notre Dame into 30 turnovers, also a season-high for any opponent. Current Stanford associate head coach Kate Paye was a freshman on that squad playing in her second career game.
Stanford moved to 20-6 all-time in the Sweet 16 by beating Missouri State, 55-46.
The Cardinal won despite shooting 25.0 percent (17-of-68) and 10.3 percent on 3-pointers (3-of-29).
The 55 points tied the program's fewest in an NCAA Tournament win. Stanford beat Xavier, 55-53, in the Elite Eight in Sacramento, Calif. on March 29, 2010.
The 25.0 percent shooting is Stanford's lowest in the tournament in the last 20 years and also the worst for any team in an NCAA Tournament win over that span (records since 1999-00).
Stanford is leading tournament teams in field goal percentage defense, holding its opponents to a combined 31.1 percent shooting (57-of-183). The Cardinal is also holding teams to an average of 54.3 points in its three tournament wins, which is fourth behind Louisville (42.7), Mississippi State (53.3) and Oregon (53.7) [numbers through the Sweet 16].
Stanford is in the midst of a 12-game winning streak, its longest since it won 21 straight during the 2013-14 season. It's tied with Notre Dame for the third-longest active stretch in the country behind Baylor (26) and Connecticut (16).
Stanford has 20+ wins for the 18th straight season and 30+ wins for the 15th time. The Cardinal won 30 or more games for seven straight years from 2008-14. Its last 30-win campaign was the season of its most recent Final Four appearance in 2016-17.
Stanford, which has advanced to the Final Four in seven of the last 11 seasons, is 200-49 (.803) in games away from Maples Pavilion since 2007-08 (road/neutral), one of only three schools to have more than 180 road and neutral wins along with Connecticut (235) and Notre Dame (200).