NCAAW
Graham Hays, ESPN.com 8y

Team efforts lift Pac-12 pair Stanford, UW to Elite Eight

Women's College Basketball, Stanford Cardinal, Washington Huskies, Notre Dame Fighting Irish

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- As Washington players made their way onto the dais for a news conference after a Sweet 16 game against Kentucky, it quickly became evident that the placard bearing Kelsey Plum's name had gone missing. The ensuing search stretched from momentary to awkward, Plum standing off to one side while everyone around her was seated.

In an effort to help, or at least speed things along and get a laugh, Washington's Chantel Osahor leaned into a microphone and, in her best emcee impersonation, intoned, "Ladies and gentleman, Kelsey Plum."

Yet the All-American who ranks fourth in the nation in scoring wasn't the one in need of an introduction. It was instead Osahor and teammate Talia Walton who introduced themselves to a great many people in recent days, first in an upset win at Maryland a week ago and Friday in seventh-seeded Washington's 85-72 win against No. 3 seed Kentucky on one of that team's twin home courts.

Given the seeds and the settings, they are as impressive as any back-to-back upsets in tournament history.

And while Stanford needs no introduction when it comes to the NCAA tournament, it wasn't an Ogwumike or Jayne Appel or Kate Starbird or Val Whiting in the spotlight when the fourth-seeded Cardinal knocked their Pac-12 counterpart off the top of the headlines a couple of hours later by defeating top-seeded Notre Dame 90-84. It was instead Erica McCall, a junior who played seven minutes the last time the Cardinal played in the Final Four, and Karlie Samuelson, who played even less in that 2014 semifinal.

Osahor, Walton, McCall and Samuelson. The fourth and fifth seeds in their own conference tournament.

Just who everyone expected to break the bracket wide open, right?

"I think we're showing the country that Pac-12 basketball is strong," McCall said.

And then some.

When Washington last made the Elite Eight, it ran into a force of nature against Southwest Missouri State's Jackie Stiles. The NCAA's all-time leading scorer went for 32 points in Spokane. The Huskies went home.

Washington is going back to the Elite Eight with a chance to reach its first Final Four because it didn't ask or need one of the best scorers in the game to produce that kind of night.

Plum was plenty good, totaling 23 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds. But Walton led the Huskies with 30 points on 14-of-25 shooting, while Osahor put up 19 points and 17 rebounds and served as the fulcrum for both the team's offensive and defensive efforts.

By halftime, Walton and Osahor had 30 points. And that was their slow half.

"A lot of the focus initially was on Kelsey," Kentucky senior captain Janee Thompson said of an understandable defensive effort. "But they really stepped it up for their team and made plays every time Washington needed something. It seemed like it was [Osahor] or [Walton], and they wanted it."

Walton was a marvel, almost impossible to defend at 6-foot-2 and as comfortable backing someone down on the block for a fadeaway jumper as she was facing up and taking them off the dribble or spotting up from the 3-point line. A Seattle-area product and four-year starter at Washington after one redshirt season, Walton has always been a scorer with erratic efficiency. But in a "Talia zone," as coach Mike Neighbors described it, there was nothing inefficient or erratic about the way she dissected the Wildcats.

A player who had little reason to expect she would ever play in a regional final when she transferred home, she had the game of her life in the biggest game of her life. It was the reward for someone who, Neighbors said, didn't take the easy road that many choose these days.

"They look around and look for greener pastures," Neighbors said. "Talia didn't only stay, she kept improving her body, working at it. She's become a great student Everybody on our campus has touched that kid's life. ...

"And that's kind of who she's been. She's been a great leader for us, so tremendous."

But Washington didn't win because Walton and Osahor were individually brilliant. To suggest the win was the equivalent of a lightning strike misses something meaningful. The Huskies got hot from the field, but they also bated Kentucky into testing its luck from the 3-point line against a zone defense. They forced the home team to search and struggle for openings. It was a five-person effort.

"Most people don't have near as many zone plays as they do man plays," Neighbors said. "It helps us in our preparation. We don't have to prepare as long, and we know that we can't be on the floor as long. It's become a confidence thing. I mean, if you were to ask me, I don't know how we run back in transition and get in zone. I have no clue. I've been to a thousand clinics, and people tell me you can't do it. But this group finds a way to do it."

For her part, McCall didn't catch the Fighting Irish off guard. They knew from film that it was a different player they faced than the one who took the court in the Sweet 16 a season ago for the Cardinal in a meek loss. But that is kind of the point. McCall didn't need to catch Notre Dame off guard. She is good enough to come through the front door these days.

"She has definitely improved her face-up game," Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. "But just her release -- she could shoot while she was guarded. She wasn't always wide open. I thought she did a really good job of just mixing up her shots and moved well without the ball."

A day earlier, Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer lauded McCall as the most improved player in the nation. After the win, the coach pointed to a USA Basketball experience as one of the turning points. Playing for her country in the World University Games, McCall missed two free throws late in a semifinal against Japan that could have won the game (the U.S. eventually won in double overtime). Sent to the line with a four-point lead and a little more than a minute to play Friday, she hit both free throws.

"I don't know that, honestly, I've coached any player that loves it more than she does," VanDerveer said. "I think that her improvement is based on the work and time she's put into it, but also because she's so passionate."

And yet once again it is a disservice to the upset to chalk it up to a couple of individual performances or the good fortune of Samuelson's 3-point heave that banked in with 90 seconds to play and Stanford suddenly clinging to a three-point lead.

McCall credits assistant coach Kate Paye with a scouting report that put the Cardinal in position to do what they did. Among the objective, limit Notre Dame in transition. The top seed was credited with no fast-break points and just 10 points off turnovers.

The Cardinal also wanted to limit Brianna Turner, doubling her when possible without tempting fate against a very good 3-point shooting team around her. It worked long enough, which is really all that can be asked against a player like Turner.

So for the first time since 1992, two Pac-12 teams meet in the Elite Eight. And what we were really introduced to on a wild night at Rupp Arena were not just individual stars, but two teams far more worthy of their places in Sunday's game than of the name Cinderella.

^ Back to Top ^