Women’s NCAA Tournament Fresno Region Sweet Sixteen Breakdown
The top seeds for the most part held to form with Stanford, Duke, and St. John’s all holding serve as number one, two, and three seeds respectively. The only diversion was a battled tested South Carolina team that won at Mackey Arena knocking off Purdue by double digits. With three teams having to travel west it will be intriguing to see which Eastern based team in this Region battles their way to the Elite Eight and get the chance to go to Denver and a berth in the Final Four.
#1 Stanford vs #5 South Carolina
Both squads come into this contest overcoming difficult travel challenges. Stanford had to travel east to Norfolk, Virginia for the opening weekend, and South Carolina had to overcome a difficult task of winning on Purdue’s home court. These two teams conquered those obstacles in fine form and bring a diverse matchup to the table. The Cardinal are your high octane offensive squad with the Oguwmike sisters. They took down a very strong defensive West Virginia team in the second round buoyed by Joslyn Tinkle’s 3 point shooting and Nneka Oguwmike’s usual top flight performance to offset her sister Chiney playing only 13 minutes. Amber Orrange, the freshman in the backcourt, stepped up during the Norfolk Regional and has been gaining in confidence as the season has progressed. This offensive depth will be tested by the defensive prowess of the Gamecocks as they held Purdue to 61 points on their home floor in a resounding 72-61 victory to advance to the Sweet 16.
The travel for The Gamecocks coming westward will be interesting to see how it effects them since the game on Saturday will be tipping off 11:30 pm eastern time. South Carolina won’t be intimidated playing Stanford in Fresno which is only a four hour bus ride from the Palo Alto Campus. In the end the backcourt play of Toni Kokenis taking care of the basketball, and the overall experience of the Stanford squad in the Sweet Sixteen setting should be enough to outlast a very feisty South Carolina squad. But the Gamecocks should keep the game interesting for the majority of the contest and hold the tempo down in the 60s or low 70. Look for Stanford, to punch their ticket to the Elite Eight on Monday night.
#2 Duke vs #3 St. John’s
This has the feel of a very fun matchup. Duke took care of business on Vandy’s home floor with a resounding victory. St. John’s has overcome the second round bugaboo by knocking off Oklahoma in Norman through strong defensive play. The Red Storm is much healthier than Duke, as Elizabeth Williams is still recovering from a stress fracture in her lower leg and was under her season averages in the opening weekend of the tourney. It will be a homecoming for Chelsea Gray as she hails from Stockton, which is about 80 miles away from Fresno. The depth for St. John’s offensively is tough to stop with Da’Shena Stevens, Nadirah McKennith, Shenneika Smith, and Eugenia Smith. Combine that with the confidence gained from beating the likes of UConn, Georgetown, Louisville, West Virginia and Oklahoma in the last several weeks and I look for the Red Storm to continue their run. St. John’s is healthier and a little bit more versatile between the perimeter and the post and a win will lock down a showdown with Stanford. The game just sets up right for an upset.
