South Carolina Misses Chance To Win At Buzzer and Stanford Advances To National Championship

  • Kyle Murphy
  • April 03, 2021
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0 By. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

After South Carolina forced a turnover with eight seconds left during a game against Stanford in the Final Four, the team was unable to convert two lay-ups in the last two seconds and were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament as Stanford escaped with a 66-65 victory to advance to the National Championship. Brea Beal missed the first lay-up and Aliyah Boston attempted to put back an offensive rebound but missed in what was an intense ending to a competitive game.  

Stanford was up by five points with 1:43 left in the game, but South Carolina put up a strong comeback effort. Destanni Henderson scored 6 straight points which gave the Gamecocks a 65-64 lead, their first of the second half, with 40 seconds left.  The lead was short-lived because on the next possession, Haley Jones secured an offensive rebound for Stanford and made a jump shot from the wing to give Stanford back their lead, 66-65, with 32 seconds left in the fourth quarter.  

Ms. Jones led Stanford in scoring with 24 points and Lexie Hall had 18 points. Zia Cooke had a game high of 25 points and made five three pointers. Ms. Henderson had 16 points while Ms. Boston had 11 points, 16 rebounds and 4 blocks for South Carolina in the loss.   

South Carolina started the game on a 13-4 run with Aliyah Boston contributing 5 of those points, including a three-pointer. However, Stanford quickly recovered and closed the quarter on a 9-0 run and scored the first basket of the second quarter to take a 17-15 lead. Stanford was able to build their lead over the course of the second quarter and led 31-25 at halftime. 

The teams stayed close for the third quarter with Stanford building its lead as high as seven before South Carolina rallied to tie the game. Stanford was either ahead or was tied in the fourth quarter before Ms. Henderson’s three-pointer with 41 seconds left in the game.

Stanford extended their winning streak to 19 games with the victory.

 

 

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