Stanford women reach their 12th straight Sweet 16

Alanna Smith had 23 points and 14 rebounds, helping second-seeded Stanford overcome a slow start and advance to the Sweet 16 for a 12th straight year by holding off No. 7 seed BYU 72-63 in a physical second-round NCAA Tournament matchup Monday night at Stanford.

Smith found her shooting stroke in the second half playing her final game at Maples Pavilion while Kiana Williams added 13 points for Stanford (30-4). Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer called on her team to relax in the second half and Stanford began clicking to win its season-best 11th straight game. The Cardinal move on to face 11th-seeded Missouri State on Saturday in the Chicago Regional semifinals.

DiJonai Carrington scored 14 of her 19 points in the second quarter for Stanford, whose win gave the Pac-12 Conference five teams in the Sweet 16 for the second time - also in 2017 - with the Cardinal joining Arizona State, Oregon State, Oregon and UCLA. This is the fourth straight year at least four Pac-12 teams made it to regional semifinals.

The Cardinal pulled away using a 16-0 run in the third quarter as scrappy BYU (26-7) missed 10 straight shots during that decisive stretch. The Cougars went ahead 35-34 on a 3 by Shaylee Gonzales with 7:50 left in the quarter before the Cardinal took charge.

Gonzales scored 32 points for the West Coast Conference champion Cougars, who received a spirited pep talk from Hall of Fame quarterback and former BYU star Steve Young during this tournament run.

Brenna Chase, averaging 12.9 points as the team’s third-leading scorer, missed her first eight shots before two late 3s and wound up with eight points.

Stanford matched up well with 6-foot-7 Sara Hamson in the post. Hamson had four blocked shots in the first-round win against Auburn but just one Monday.

The Cardinal began 5 for 19 to 5 of 15 by BYU, with Stanford freshman Lacie Hull finishing the night 0 for 8 and missing all seven from deep. Twin sister Lexie started 0 of 4 before a baseline 3 at the 7:26 mark of the third. Williams connected from deep at 6:34.

Smith missed her first five 3-point tries before connecting from the baseline with 2:22 left in the third and finished with three 3s.

Carrington took a hard, face-first fall when tripped by Gonzales driving to the basket with 5:05 left in the first half but was fine.

The teams had played once in the past 27 seasons, a 55-52 BYU win on Nov. 13, 2006, in the preseason Women’s NIT at Maples.

Coffee’s moment

Stanford senior Shannon Coffee, a reserve center, used her sign language skills - she just completed her fifth quarter of courses - to sign the national anthem before her final home game.

Her teacher was in the stands wearing a pin featuring Coffee’s photo.

Coffee hit a late 3 from the top of the arc as fans chanted “Coffee! Coffee!” She had five points, three rebounds and two assists in 16 minutes.

Big picture

Stanford reached 30 wins for the 15th time in program history and first since reaching the Final Four two years ago.

The Cardinal won their 18th straight NCAA game on their home court, improving to 38-4 all-time in tournament games at Maples Pavilion. Stanford’s last home defeat in the NCAA Tournament was 68-61 to Florida State in the second round of the 2007 tournament - also the last time the Cardinal didn’t advance past the second round.

Baylor races past Cal

Juicy Landrum scored 20 points with four 3-pointers and No. 1 overall seed Baylor advanced to the women’s NCAA Sweet 16 for the 11th season in a row with a 102-63 win over California at Waco, Texas.

The Big 12 champion Lady Bears (33-1) were trailing late in the first quarter before a 25-2 run turned their third NCAA meeting in six seasons against Cal into yet another lopsided win. They have a 25-game winning streak.

Chloe Jackson, the first graduate transfer to play for Baylor, scored eight of her 18 points in that big run and finished 8-of-12 shooting. Freshman NaLyssa Smith had 13 points and Lauren Cox had 10 on 5-of-6 shooting.

Cal (20-13) led 16-14 after All-Pac-12 center Kristine Anigwe made a jumper, her only made field goal of the first half, with 1:14 left in the first quarter. Baylor then scored 15 points in a row to start the bigger game-turning spurt.

Anigwe finished with 13 points on 4-of-17 shooting and five rebounds. It was the first time the 6-foot-4 senior didn’t have a double-double - she had been the only player, men or women, with a double-double in every game this season until then.

Kianna Smith led Cal with 18 points. Recee Caldwell, a grad transfer who before going to UCLA and then Texas Tech was verbally committed to Baylor, scored 12 points.

Kalani Brown, Baylor’s 6-7 senior playing her final game in the Ferrell Center, finished with eight points, eight rebounds and three assists in the matchup of two of the nation’s best centers. Brown had a putback basket for the first basket of the game with Anigwe on her back and another defender fronting her.

When Baylor was making its big run in the second quarter, Brown had the ball in the lane when she twisted and passed over Anigwe’s shoulder to DiDi Richards flashing behind her for a wide-open layup that made it 35-18.

Baylor led 46-27 at the half after Landrum hit a buzzer-beating 3.

It was the third time in six seasons the Golden Bears won a first-round game in Waco and had to face Baylor. They lost by 19 points in 2014 and fell by 40 two years ago.

Anigwe had two fouls in the game’s first 6½ minutes, which changed how aggressive she could be - at least for a few minutes. She had two more fouls in a 22-second span early in the third quarter and came out of the game briefly, but the game was already lopsided by then.