Women's NCAA Tournament Fresno Regional 2nd Round Breakdowns
The higher seeds held serve in round one as expected in the Fresno Regional of the 2012 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. The biggest storyline heading into the round of 32 is the injury status of Elizabeth Williams for Duke, who is dealing with a stress fracture in lower right leg played 24 minutes in the first round against Samford and ground out 11 points in an easy victory for the Blue Devils.
#1 Stanford vs #8 West Virginia
This game is the ultimate clash of styles. The Cardinal are a very athletic squad lead by the Oguwmike sisters, Nneka and Chiney. The Mountaineers are one of the best lock down physical defensive teams in the country and won’t be intimidated playing Stanford as they have battled UConn and Notre Dame tooth and nail. On February 12, Coach Mike Carey’s squad knocked off Notre Dame at South Bend 65-63. Stanford has had problems with physical teams like Arizona State in the Pac-12 Tourney semifinal. This game is going to be close and down to the wire and I would not be shocked one bit if West Virginia pulled the upset, but I think Stanford escapes with a single digit hard fought low scoring victory in the 60s.
#4 Purdue vs. #5 South Carolina
The Boilermakers come into this game with the home-court advantage. However, the Gamecocks have won in Knoxville over Tennessee so they do have experience in winning in a hostile environment. Courtney Moses of Purdue went off for 29 points in the opener against South Dakota State nailing 9 three point shots. It’s going to take another strong outside shooting performance to open the inside up as South Carolina is relentless on defense. Purdue will need to get Brittany Rayburn more active offensively in this game. South Carolina rolled easily over Eastern Michigan 80-48 in the opening round. They shot 53.3 percent from the field en route to producing their highest point total of the season. Defensively, they held Tavelyn James down to 11 points. This game is very close on paper and unless South Carolina struggles from the field offensively, the tempo of the game should be fairly low in the 50s or 60s. I think South Carolina escapes with a razor close upset victory on the Boilermakers home court.
#3 St. John's vs. #6 Oklahoma
The Red Storm had a lot of struggles with underdog Creighton in the opening round. It took a Naidrah McKenith coast to coast layup with 0.1 seconds left to secure the win. St. John’s is playing with their highest seed ever in the NCAA Tourney as a number three seed. Now, they get a chance to get out of the second round with a game against sixth seeded Oklahoma on their homecourt. McKenith, led the Red Storm with 21 points, and they will need a another strong performance on Tuesday night as Oklahoma comes in with a lot of momentum as they destroyed Michigan 88-67 in the first round on Sunday. The Sooners sprinted to a 14-4 lead and never looked back. Aaryn Ellenberg led the Oklahoma attack with 28 points including a 21 point explosion in the second half as the Wolverines did not have an answer for her all game long. In addition, Whitney Hand, stepped up like you would expect from a top flight veteran player with a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds. On paper, you would think St.John’s has the edge with better personnel, but the Sooners are 8-1 on their home court in the NCAA Tournament. Sherri Coale, the Oklahoma head coach is a veteran of the tourney who knows how to get her teams ready to play. Oklahoma escapes with a close victory to pull the upset on their home court.
#2 Duke vs. #7 Vanderbilt
This game has some interesting twists to it. You have Vandy playing at home with what should be a very vocal home crowd. With Duke, the injury situation with Elizabeth Williams is a very intriguing x factor. Is she going to be effective enough to help Duke down low in a dominating fashion? The last time Duke was a high seed on the road they lost at Michigan State in East Lansing. Christina Foggie of Vanderbilit will be the best scoring player on the floor. She was held in check by Middle Tennessee State with seven points in 38 minutes. Jasmine Lister stepped up big with 19 points going the distance of 40 minutes in the opening round. Duke, had little trouble with Samford, Chelsea Gray will need to step up big if Williams is hampered at all during the game. This should be a fantastic 40 minute battle and I am going with Duke barely escaping by three over Vanderbilt. A Commodore victory, however is definitely a strong possibility.
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