SB Nation Seattle - Women's NCAA Bracket 2011: Scores And Results From March Madness

NCAA Women's Tournament 2011 Scores: Texas A&M Finally Overcomes Baylor To Advance To First Final Four

2011-03-30T03:51:45Z

March Madness began a bit late in the NCAA women's basketball tournament, but once it did it was two number one seeds that suffered most.

After the top-seeded Tennessee Lady Vols fell to the Notre Dame Fight Irish yesterday, Texas A&M finally found a way to beat the Baylor Lady Bears 58-46 in the Dallas region in a game that was competitive, but not necessarily pretty.

Although Baylor played marginally better in the second half, they were also beat on the boards primarily by Adora Elonu who finished with a game-high 10 rebounds to go with eight points. But the most consistent factor working against Baylor in this game was their inability to establish any rhythm offensively as they committed turnovers on just under 28 percent of their possessions in a rather slow and grinding game.

That shouldn't necessarily come as a surprise - TAMU has played Baylor close this season and the main difference between this game and their Valentine's Day meeting is that Baylor never really found that spark despite cutting the lead to seven with under five minutes left. Brittney Griner did lead Baylor with 20 points and nine rebounds, but Baylor's young guards struggled against the pressure from TAMU's more experienced guards both in terms of making crisp passes and getting to the basket off the dribble.

And although they don't get nearly the respect they deserve nationally, TAMU guards and Sydney Carter and Sydney Colson were almost entirely responsible for that outstanding defensive effort. While Colson led the defensive charge with a game-high five steals, Carter added three steals and was outstanding offensively with a game-high 22 points.

So was this an upset? This was a game that really could have gone either way. When it got closer down the stretch, you had to wonder whether TAMU would let flashbacks of past losses interfere and crumble under the pressure of the moment. Instead, TAMU's experience won out and whether the odds of beating a team a fourth time really mattered or not, the fact is that TAMU was so close in those previous matchups that it became clear that they were worthy of a Final Four berth, as described at SBN's Swish Appeal after their February loss.

NCAA Women's Tournament 2011 Scores: Texas A&M Takes A 32-21 Halftime Lead On Baylor

2011-03-30T02:16:11Z

The big story all tournament has been how unfair it was to the Texas A&M Aggies that they would have to face their Big XII conference rival Baylor Lady Bears for the right to go to the Final Four.

After one half, it appears that it might be more unfair to Baylor as TAMU is up 32-21 by using the same aggression on both ends of the floor.

Defensively, TAMU's combination of backcourt pressure and strong play on 6-foot-8 center Brittney Griner in the post created 10 turnovers and generally kept Baylor out of rhythm. But the bigger story is Baylor's inability to hit shots as a result of that lacking rhythm, shooting only 26.9 percent from the field in the first half while TAMU shot 41.2 percent.

Leading the way for TAMU was Sydney Carter who had a game-high 15 points in the first half, including 2-for-3 shooting from beyond the arc. Tyra White contributed seven rebounds as well, including all five of TAMU's offensive rebounds.

As might be expected, rebounding is where Baylor did well in the first half winning that battle 21-16, with Brittney Griner leading the way with a team-high six to go along with a team-high 10 points on 3-for-10 shooting. But a major factor for Baylor might not have been foul trouble for Baylor's versatile glue player Melissa Jones who scored the team's first four points and plays a major role in the team moving the ball. Given that TAMU has played Baylor well in previous games without Danielle Adams playing well - she also played limited minutes due to picking up two early fouls - Jones might be a bigger loss than Adams.

NCAA Women's Bracket 2011: UConn Advances To Final Four As Moore Gets 3000th Point

2011-03-30T01:10:21Z

The story of the Connecticut Huskies blowing out the Duke Blue Devils in January was simply impossible to avoid as a backdrop for this game.

Who knew that UConn would nearly repeat it with a 75-40 blowout with a trip to the Final Four on the line.

The bottom line is that this is just a bad matchup for Duke - against any team as disciplined and methodical as UConn, Duke's defense is unable to rattle UConn which limits their transition scoring opportunities and forces them to score in the half court. In the second half, they shot slightly better at 28 percent. Yet UConn caught fire, shooting 72 percent in the second half while also dominating the boards 16 to 5.

All of that with essentially a six player rotation.

But when one of those six is Maya Moore, great things are possible: Moore was her typically outstanding self with 28 points, 10 rebounds, seven steals and two blocks as she scored her 3000th point.

Freshman Bria Hartley stepped up for 14 points, six rebounds, and six assists.

Duke obviously wasn't able to score a whole lot, but senior point guard Jasmine Thomas finished her season with heart, scoring 17 points, grabbing six boards and making six assists.

UConn will take on Notre Dame next in a fourth meeting on the season, which UConn is winning 3-0.

NCAA Women's NCAA Tournament Score: UConn Takes A 30-20 Halftime Lead Over Duke

2011-03-30T00:05:35Z

As described by Holly Tanneyhill of SBN's Swish Appeal, Duke Blue Devils coach Joanne P. McCallie didn't want to focus much on their 36-point loss to the Connecticut Huskies back in January.

However, it's not as though her disinterest in talking about changes the problem.

UConn Relies On Freshmen To Advance While Duke Just Wants To Forget The Past - Swish Appeal
The question remains on what has changed with Duke to allow them the ability to ‘punch back’ this time?

Duke does routinely go 11 players deep and Connecticut’s short bench has been well chronicled. The issue is that with playing so many people Duke has a hard time maintaining any sense of offensive flow and that has led to their less than impressive numbers on the offensive end. Their Sahara-type droughts on the offensive end have been their Achilles heal with every loss this season, in addition to their come from behind victory over Marist in the 2nd round.

Early on in tonight's rematch against UConn it looked like the same problems would manifest themselves as Duke got down 10-4 early and couldn't seem to make a shot. And their 23.5 percent first half shooting is certainly nothing to get excited about and didn't help as they trail 30-20 at the half.

But Duke recovered by preventing UConn from getting second chance shots while hitting the boards hard themselves and winning the offensive rebounding battle 7 to 2. Nevertheless, with UConn shooting 48.3 percent, Duke is going to have to close the scoring efficiency gap to have a chance at a different outcome, independent of margin of victory.

One obstacle for Duke to hurdle on their quest for the Final Four, is that Maya Moore is leading the way 13 points, nine rebounds, and five steals. Her two first half fouls could help against a UConn team that goes only six deep, but Duke will have to stay aggressive in attacking the basket to make that happen. Duke has three players tied for a team-high six points.

NCAA Women's Bracket 2011: Stanford Ends Gonzaga's Magical Run To Advance To Final Four

2011-03-29T03:18:20Z

As much talent as the Stanford Cardinal have, coach Tara VanDerveer didn't simply win the Women's Basketball Coaches' Association Coach of the Year talent on the backs of her talent.

And in Stanford's 83-60 win over the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the Elite Eight, Vandersloot proved just how good a coach she is.

As they typically do, Stanford exploited Gonzaga's weaknesses in the paint and took sat in a zone to force them to take jumpers rather than allowing point guard Courtney Vandersloot to carve up their defense. After Gonzaga hung in there during the first half, Stanford's post play was simply overwhelming in the second half and while their suffocating defense held Gonzaga to 23 percent shooting from the field and helped the visitors extend their lead to over 20 points, which at least proved insurmountable if not demoralizing.

In the second half, the Cardinal got even more dominant on the offensive boards with what seems small at a 7 to 4 advantage, but ended up being a 38 percent advantage. Nneka Ogwumike led Stanford with 23 points and 12 rebounds, while sister Chiney stepped up big in the second half for a double-double as well with 18 points and 16 rebounds.

Meanwhile, Courtney Vandersloot continued her outstanding play with 25 points, nine assists, and only one turnover but outside of she and Kayla Standish, the rest of the team was held to 8-for-32 shooting.

NCAA Women's Elite Eight Halftime Score: Vandersloot Leads Gonzaga To Within Nine Of Stanford

2011-03-29T02:16:51Z

Gonzaga Bulldogs point guard Courtney Vandersloot did all she could to get her team within nine points of the top-seeded Stanford Cardinal in their Elite Eight meeting in Spokane.

Scoring 16 points in a row at one point, Vandersloot finished the half with what is now becoming a routine 21 points - including 3-for-5 3-point shooting - five assists, and one turnover.

But while some analysts have focused on the importance of point guard Jeannette Pohlen to Stanford's chances at advancing, the Cardinal are up 47-38 because of their play in the paint - although Stanford only has one more offensive rebound than Gonzaga, they have gotten 17 percent more of the available offensive rebounds in the first half on their way to a hot 62.5 percent shooting first half.

No less surprising than Vandersloot's dominant play for Gonzaga, Nneka Ogwumike leads Stanford with 15 points on 7-for-8 shooting and four rebounds while versatile forward Kayla Pedersen has a game-high five rebounds in addition to six points.

In addition to figuring out how to stop Stanford on the boards, Gonzaga will have to find someone other than Vandersloot to step up: she and forward Kayla Standish have combined for 31 of their 38 points.

NCAA Women's Bracket 2011: Notre Dame Advances To Final Four With 73-59 Win Over Tennessee

2011-03-29T01:46:08Z

A commenter on the game thread at SBN's RockyTopTalk probably explained the Tennessee Lady Vols' 73-59 loss to Notre Dame in the Elite Eight best: "All the problems of the Baby Vols on display here. Lack. Of. Focus. Lack. Of. Execution."

It pretty much sums up a year in which Lady Vols fans had high hopes but their own mistakes often did them in. Tonight, Tennessee's inability to establish themselves inside was ultimately the big story in the game. Whether you attribute that to Notre Dame defense or poor play by Tennessee's perimeter players, the bottom line is that while Notre Dame packed it in, Tennessee settled for jumpshots and in shooting only 32.8 percent for the game - including 4-for-19 from the three point line - never forced the defense to do anything different.

But Notre Dame isn't a one-dimensional defensive team either - Skylar Diggins had a strong game after a rocky start with 24 points, four steals, and four assists while Natalie Novosel had 17 points, five assists, and one turnover. Tennessee was led by Taber Spani and Shekinna Stricklen with 13 points apiece.

For more on this game, visit the summary from Dayton at SBN's Swish Appeal. Discuss it with Lady Vols fans at SBN's RockyTopTalk.

NCAA Women's Bracket 2011: Baylor, Texas A&M Advance To Elite Eight For A Highly Anticipated Fourth Matchup

2011-03-28T05:43:27Z

Figuring out how to stop 6-foot-8 Baylor Lady Bears center Brittney Griner with a roster that relies most heavily on players under 6-foot-1 might remain one of the great mysteries of basketball for some time.

The Green Bay Phoenix had few sustainable answers in their first-ever trip to the Sweet Sixteen in their 86-76 loss to Baylor this afternoon in Dallas.

Griner went off for a career-high 40 points showing off just how difficult she can be to stop as she continues to develop among the most lethal turnaround jumpers in women's basketball and begins to crash the offensive boards a little harder. Yet as evidenced by the final score, Green Bay fought hard in this one and was within three points early in the second half, which is an accomplishment all on its own. Green Bay, which relies more heavily on ball movement than anyone in the tournament, got big games from seniors Celeste Hoeswisch and Kayla Tetschlag who combined to score 47 points but that simply wasn't enough when Griner is playing like that.

With the win, Baylor advances to the Elite Eight where the Texas A&M Aggies were awaiting after swiftly dispatching the Georgia Bulldogs with an early 29 to 4 lead en route to an easy 79-38 win. Georgia alum and former Dallas Cowboys player Herschel Walker spoke to the Bulldogs before the game, but apparently that didn't work out too well, as SBN's Dawg Sports lamented after the game.

Georgia Bulldogs Booted from NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament by Texas A&M Aggies - Dawg Sports
I don’t know what Herschel Walker said in his pregame speech to Andy Landers’s Lady Bulldogs before their NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament showdown with Texas A&M, but, whatever it was, we need to make absolutely sure the Goal Line Stalker never says it again, because his inspirational message failed utterly, as Georgia fell to the Aggies by a 79-38 margin.

However, what flattening Georgia might indicate more clearly than a failure of Walker's motivational speaking abilities is that Texas A&M is an extremely strong second-seed - some have even suggested a fifth top-seed - and that they are as prepared as anyone to handle Baylor after losing three times already and playing outstanding basketball to get to the Elite Eight.

Some people might feel that these two teams shouldn't have met before the Final Four, but the game could end up being among the most exciting of the tournament.