Mar. 28, 1997
Stanford Comes Up a Point Short in National Semifinals of NCAA Tournament, 83-82 (OT)
CINCINNATI -- Clariesse Machanguana poured in 18 points after a scorelessfirst half and Ticha Penicherio had the final three points inovertime as Old Dominion edged Stanford, 83-82, in the nationalsemifinals of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament atCincinnati.
Old Dominion posted its 33rd straight win and defeated Stanfordfor the second time this season. The Lady Monarchs (34-1)advance to the national title game in their first Final Foursince capturing the championship in 1985. They will faceTennessee in Sunday's final.
Penicherio made one of two free throws with 50.4 seconds left togive Old Dominion an 83-82 lead. After Penicherio missed a freethrow with 17 seconds left, Stanford had three chances to win.Jamila Wideman missed from the lane, Vanessa Nyggard could notput in the rebound and Wideman missed again as time expired.
"I think there was contact, but there was contact all game,"Wideman said of the final sequence. "I just didn't get thecall."
Charmin Smith made two free throws with 10 seconds left to thegame, 76-76. Penicherio missed a short jumper as regulationended.
"This is everything that we worked on since the beginning of theseason," said Penicherio. "We sat down and said we have got togo to the Final Four. We've got to win the nationalchampionship. We were confident because we beat them before. We just played our game and we won."
Old Dominion was down by as many as 15 points in the first half,making this the biggest comeback in Final Four history. Stanford, whose two losses this season came against OldDominion, was beaten in the semifinals for the third straightyear.
"My team is very disappointed," said Stanford coach TaraVanDerveer. "We came out at the beginning and did a good job ofplaying the way we wanted to. Unfortuately, we didn't take careof the ball."
Naismith Award winner Kate Starbird scored 21 points in thefirst half to help Stanford to a 37-30 lead at the break. Butshe was held to five points in the second half.
"I was just a little too hot in the first half and went cold inthe second," said Starbird. "It's easy to relax when you have abig lead. When they caught up, I think I really just wenttight."
Kristin Folkl added 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for theCardinal (34-2) before fouling out with 1:48 left in the secondhalf. Wideman added 13 points.
Penicherio scored 18 points for Old Dominion and Nyree Robertschipped in with 17.
Old Dominion outscored Stanford in the paint, 61-38. TheCardinal also committed 29 turnovers, one more than in the firstmeeting between the teams.
STANFORD (82) fg ft rb min m-a m-a o-t a pf tpScott 42 4-10 3-4 2-10 1 4 11Nygaard 19 1-7 0-0 1-3 0 0 2Mulitauaopele 20 3-5 0-0 2-3 0 1 6Wideman 45 4-11 3-4 2-5 6 3 13Starbird 45 7-14 8-8 1-4 3 4 26Flores 4 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 2Smith 23 1-2 2-2 2-4 3 2 4Folkl 24 8-8 2-3 4-10 2 5 18Owen 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0_______________________________________________TOTALS 225 29-58 18-21 14-39 16 20 82_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.500, FT-.857. 3-Point Goals:6-17, .353 (Nygaard 0-5, Wideman 2-3, Starbird4-8, Smith 0-1). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots:2 (Scott, Folkl). Turnovers: 29 (Scott 6, Nygaard5, Starbird 5, Folkl 4, Wideman 4, Flores 2,Mulitauaopele 2, Smith). Steals: 6 (Folkl 2,Scott 2, Starbird, Wideman).OLD DOMINION (83) fg ft rb min m-a m-a o-t a pf tpAndrade 37 3-9 5-6 4-7 5 5 11Machanguana 42 9-16 0-2 5-8 0 3 18Roberts 31 8-10 1-2 6-8 1 5 17Himes 17 1-1 0-0 1-2 1 1 2Penichiero 43 7-19 4-7 2-5 6 1 18Eller 9 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0Eblin 19 1-8 2-3 1-1 0 0 5Small 13 1-4 0-0 1-4 1 0 2Diaz 14 5-8 0-0 0-0 0 3 10_______________________________________________TOTALS 225 35-75 12-20 20-35 14 18 83_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.467, FT-.600. 3-Point Goals:1-12, .083 (Andrade 0-1, Penichiero 0-3, Eblin1-6, Diaz 0-2). Team rebounds: None. Blockedshots: 2 (Roberts 2). Turnovers: 14 (Machanguana4, Himes 2, Penichiero 2, Roberts 2, Andrade,Eblin, Eller, Small). Steals: 17 (Andrade 5,Roberts 3, Diaz 2, Eller 2, Machanguana 2, Eblin,Penichiero, Small)._______________________________________Stanford 37 39 6 - 82Old Dominion 30 46 7 - 83_______________________________________Technical fouls: None. Officials: Sally Bell,Carla Fujimoto, Ray Bomeli.