ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Oregon State’s bigs played huge and the Beavers held Notre Dame star Hannah Hidalgo in check on Friday to advance to the program’s first regional final in six years.
Timea Gardiner scored 21 points and pulled down 11 rebounds, while Raegan Beers added 18 points and 13 boards in the 70-65 win over the second-seeded Irish.
Donovyn Hunter added 11 points for the third-seeded Beavers (27-7), who will face either overall top-seed South Carolina on Sunday.
Oregon State shot 60% from the floor, while keeping Notre Dame to 36% and outrebounding the Irish 42-24.
Sonia Citron scored 22 points and Maddy Westbeld added 19 points Notre Dame, which lost for the first time in 11 games and finishes the season at 28-7.
Hidalgo, who came in averaging 22.9 points, was held to just 10 points on 4-of-17 shooting, matching a season low in scoring.
SOUTH CAROLINA 79, INDIANA 75
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Kamilla Cardoso scored 22 points and top-seeded, unbeaten South Carolina held off a spirited Indiana rally to win and advance to the Albany 1 Regional Final of the women’s NCAA Tournament.
South Carolina is three wins away from completing the 10th perfect season in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history. Next up for the Gamecocks is third-seeded Oregon State, which knocked off Notre Dame earlier Friday.
Coach Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks (35-0) had run through their first two games in March Madness, winning by 52 and 47. They faced a much bigger challenge from fourth-seeded Indiana (26-6).
South Carolina built a 22-point lead in the third quarter before Indiana got going behind Sydney Parrish, who led the team with 21 points.
The Hoosiers, who were trying to pull off the biggest comeback in NCAA Tournament history, got within 74-72 on Mackenzie Holmes’ layup with 1:08 left.
N.C. STATE 77, STANFORD 67
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Aziaha James had 29 points and third-seeded North Carolina State earned its third trip to the women’s Elite Eight with a victory over second-seeded Stanford.
Saniya Rivers added 13 points and seven rebounds for the Wolfpack (30-6), who fell behind by 10 points but rallied in the third quarter and led by as many as 15 points in the fourth quarter.
AP All-American Cameron Brink fouled out with 8:10 left in the game. She finished with 13 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks in her final game for Stanford (30-6). Kiki Iriafen led the Cardinal with 26 points and 10 rebounds.
Stanford, under Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer, was vying for its 23rd appearance in the Elite Eight. They had reached that milestone in five of the last seven years.
TEXAS 69, GONZAGA 47
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Aaliyah Moore had 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, Shaylee Gonzales added 15 points, and top-seeded Texas used a smothering defense to roll past fourth-seeded Gonzaga in the Portland 4 Regional semifinal.
Overlooked among the other No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, the Longhorns looked every bit the part of a title contender this March Madness, stymieing Gonzaga’s high-scoring offense and flustering the Bulldogs into an awful night at the offensive end.
Texas (33-4) won for the 15th time in 16 games and never made it easy for the Bulldogs. Their size was too much for Gonzaga to handle and the Longhorns defense held Gonzaga to just three made field goals and forced nine turnovers in a dominant first half.
Shay Holle’s corner 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the half gave the Longhorns a 37-18 halftime lead and Texas was on its way to its first Elite Eight appearance since the 2021-22 season.
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket/ and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
