No. 1 South Carolina edges No. 2 Stanford in OT

STANFORD, Calif. -- The No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks survived successful an overtime conflict of the top-two-ranked teams successful women's hoops connected Sunday, defeating the No. 2 Stanford Cardinal 76-71 astatine a sold-out Maples Pavilion.

It was the 3rd No. 1-vs.-No. 2 crippled successful NCAA women's hoops past to spell into overtime; the others were South Carolina vs. the UConn Huskies successful 2021 (won by UConn) and Stanford vs. the Tennessee Lady Volunteers successful 1992 (won by Tennessee).

"Great coaching, the players did a large job, the assemblage was electric," South Carolina manager Dawn Staley said. "This is what women's hoops is about. This crippled lone helps some teams."

In a matchup of the past 2 nationalist champions, the Cardinal astir bushed a No. 1 squad connected their location tribunal for the 4th clip successful a row. The programme antecedently defeated top-ranked Tennessee (2007) and UConn (2010, 2014) astatine Maples. Stanford led 54-44 going into the 4th fourth but was outscored 17-7 successful that period, during which the Cardinal didn't people for the archetypal 6 minutes.

Stanford besides made 2 captious mistakes successful the past 10 seconds of overtime, with a five-second usurpation arsenic Haley Jones tried to propulsion an inbounds walk and a method erstwhile Kiki Iriafen called a timeout the Cardinal didn't have. The nonaccomplishment snapped Stanford's 56-game location winning streak erstwhile starring astatine halftime, dating backmost to a 2017 nonaccomplishment to Western Illinois.

"It was precise disappointing to person the pb that we had and not decorativeness the job," Stanford manager Tara VanDerveer said.

Instead, South Carolina won its 16th consecutive crippled against a ranked foe. It is the second-longest streak successful SEC history, down Tennessee (22, successful 1997-98). The Gamecocks besides rallied past twelvemonth to triumph their regular-season crippled against Stanford, winning that 1 65-61 astatine South Carolina successful December 2021.

Sunday's crippled matched 2 seniors presently projected arsenic the apical 2 picks successful the 2023 WNBA draft: South Carolina's Aliyah Boston and Stanford's Haley Jones.

Boston, past season's nationalist subordinate of the year, had 14 points and 13 rebounds, including the tying handbasket with 2.1 seconds near successful regulation. With 28.8 seconds near successful overtime, Boston fouled retired for conscionable the 2nd clip successful her vocation and archetypal clip since her freshman season. But by that point, South Carolina had regained the lead.

"In the huddle, manager [Dawn Staley] kept saying, 'We've got to fight," Boston said. "I deliberation it volition boost our confidence, but it shows we request to deed first. We're precise resilient."

Jones had 11 points, 9 rebounds and six assists. But Cardinal inferior guardant Cameron Brink was the prima of the game, finishing with 25 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. She fouled retired with 3:01 near successful overtime.

The 6-foot-4 Brink is the lone Stanford subordinate implicit the past 20 seasons to grounds astatine slightest 25 points and 4 blocks against a top-five foe.

"She is processing into thing beauteous special," Staley said of Brink, who was 8 of 13 from the floor, making 2 3-pointers. "The 3's conscionable elevate her game. Her quality to enactment the shot connected the level and get to the basket. And not conscionable making shots, but her quality to unit you to foul her."

Still, it was Boston and the Gamecocks' seat -- which outscored Stanford's seat 34-9 -- that prevailed.

"They sent a double, and they were precise aggressive," Boston said. "My teammates stepped up and were hitting shots, driving and attacking, and uncovering the holes successful their defense."