Boston joins South Carolina past Stanford in the top-2 ranking

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Bree Hall hit a 3-pointer with 42 seconds left in overtime, Aliyah Boston overcame early foul trouble to 28, including a jumper with two seconds left in regulation, and No. 1 and the defending champion. South Carolina rallied past Stanford 76-71 in the second half on Sunday in a dramatic first-half showdown.

Victor Saxton missed both free throws with 24.3 seconds left, but a jumping ball moments later gave the Gamecocks possession (4-0). Stanford got another chance with 10 seconds left on Agnet Emma-Nnopu’s steal but Haley Jones couldn’t get the ball tied before a 5-second violation.

Stanford (5-1) then had another chance, receiving a technical with 3.4 seconds left after no timeout was called on the bench.

Cameron Brink scored Stanford’s first four points of overtime and finished with 25 points, five rebounds and four blocked shots, but fouled out on a shot with three minutes remaining.

Stanford managed seven points in the fourth quarter.

Jones made his first two shots with 12.5 seconds left in the fourth after Bianchini Beal’s 3-pointer with 14 seconds left and South Carolina had a one-plus chance.

Hall of Fame Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer led Stanford’s team to the top of the afternoon, but was unable to win as the winningest women’s basketball coach for her 1,163rd career victory.

VanDerveer and South Carolina coach Aurora Staley they wore a white long-sleeve T-featuring Brittney Griner’s name and image in support of the WNBA star who was imprisoned in Russia.

Ashten Prechtel came off the bench to block five shots and grab seven rebounds as Stanford saw its 17-game home winning streak end at Maples Pavilion, which held a standing-room only sellout crowd of 7,233 for a nationally televised game.

Zia Cooke’s layup with 7:54 left in the fourth got the Gamecocks within 54-50, then neither team scored for nearly the next four minutes. Both missed high scoring chances against a lackluster defense.

Cooke’s next basket at 2:54 ended the field goal drought. Averaged a team-leading 16.5 points, scored 13 points, but shot only 3 of 13.

Brink made 5 of his first 7 shots and had 12 points after the first quarter.

RETRACT

The joint parties met in Columbia last year in December with the same ranks. The top-ranked team has won the last nine in a row.

The Cardinals triumphed in both meetings on their home floor.

Stanford beat South Carolina 56-55 in the 2021 national semifinals before Arizona 54-53 to edge the program’s first title since 1992.

In November 2010 — 12 years ago this week and early in the season’s stalemate at South Carolina — VanDerveer was brought to the visiting room for an interview with the Gamecocks after a 70-32 rout of Stanford.

AUTHORITY GRINER

A video message board was played in support of Griner before tipoff. There was also a moment of silence, which is standard practice only this season at Stanford home games for Griner.

A large board

South Carolina: The Gamecocks shot 2 of 7 from long range in the first half and had just three assists. … South Carolina has been one of the nation’s top rebounding teams, and is third on the offensive glass coming in at 505% shooting. The Gamecocks led 22 in the first half and 47-41 in the game, but had several opportunities in the crunch time.

Stanford: The Cardinal shot 64.3% (9 of 14) in the opening 10 minutes to lead 21-11. No team has scored more than 77 points against the Cardinal since the end of the 2019-20 season – a span of 75 games since an 89-56 loss to Oregon in the 2020 Pac-12 tournament title game. Stanford committed 11 first-half turnovers, and taking care of the ball had been VanDerveer’s main focus leading into the game. Stanford … several former stars were in the game, including the Hull twins, Lacie and Lexie, Jerome Alyssa and former guards Anna Wilson. Stanford’s home winning streak was the fifth-longest active streak in the country.

THEN

South Carolina: At Cal Poly on Tuesday. The goal is for the young Cal Poly program, who also played at Stanford on Wednesday.

Stanford: Team Florida University Gulf Coast on Friday at the Rainbow Wahine Showdown in Honolulu, Hawaii.

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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter .com/AP_Top25