Game 396 - (2) Stanford women vs. (1) South Carolina

NCAA Tournament national semifinals
March 31 at American Airlines Arena in Dallas, TX
ESPN2

Two huge things in this game, which South Carolina won 62-53 to advance to its first-ever national title game:

1. A'ja Wilson was the best player on the floor. The junior All America grabbed 19 (!) rebounds, eight on the offensive end, and added 13 points, four assists and three blocked shots. She started a bit slowly, as did most of the Gamecocks, but caught fire as her team turned a nine-point halftime deficit into the lead for good with a dominant third quarter.

The Gamecocks trailed 29-20 at the break, then used a 13-0 run to out-score the second-seeded Cardinal 21-8 and hold them to 4-of-21 shooting in the third.

2. Thanks in large part to an ankle injury suffered midway through the second quarter, Karlie Samuelson was a non-factor. Samuelson was the nation's leading 3-point shooter coming into the night (49%), but played sparingly and missed both of her long range attempts. The Cardinal as a team shot just 4-of-14 from behind the arc.

There were other key factors, of course, none bigger than the work of Allisha Gray. The South Carolina junior guard scored a game-high 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting, including a huge shot with 4:13 to go in the game, falling away on the baseline for a banked in bucket that turned into a three-point play and a 53-45 lead.

Marta Sniezek had a really nice first half off the bench for Stanford, scoring eight points and handing out four assists. But the sophomore guard, like most of the Cardinal in the second 20 minutes, struggled, and was held scoreless with just two more assists.