STANFORD, Calif.—One year after suffering an upset loss to Mississippi in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on its home floor at Maples Pavilion, Stanford’s women’s basketball team barely avoided the same fate Sunday night.
The Cardinal, seeded second in the Portland 4 Regional, needed a career-high 41 points, 16 rebounds, and three blocked shots from junior Kiki Iriafen to get past seventh-seeded Iowa State, 87–81 in overtime.
Even Iriafen’s heroics were almost not enough. With All-American Cameron Brink in foul trouble and on the bench much of the game before finally fouling out in the fourth quarter, Stanford also needed a huge performance in overtime from Brooke Demetre to survive.
Demetre hit a 3-pointer with 18 seconds left to put the Cardinal ahead 83–81, then rebounded an Iowa State missed layup and hit two free throws with 11 seconds left to help seal the win. Stanford (30–5) will play the winner of Monday’s game between third-seeded North Carolina State and No. 6 Tennessee in the Sweet 16 on Friday in Portland, Ore.
The game was tied 50–50 after three quarters, and Iowa State’s Addy Brown knotted the game again at 66–66 with a layup with 1:11 left in the fourth quarter. Both teams missed shots over the next minute, sending the contest to an extra period.
Two free throws by Iriafen gave the Cardinal an 80–78 lead with 53 seconds left. Brown’s 3-pointer with 31 seconds to play put Iowa State on top before Demetre took over.
Senior Hannah Jump added 15 points for Stanford. Brink, the Pacific–12 Conference player of the year and defensive player of the year, had just eight points before fouling out with 2:11 left in regulation.
Emily Ryan had a career-high 36 points for Iowa State (21–12), which also got 18 points from Brown and 10 from freshman Audi Crooks.
Stanford recovered from an early deficit by scoring the first seven points of the second period to knot the game at 23 with 5:21 left before halftime. There were seven lead changes and two ties in the quarter, with the Cyclones closing the period with a layup and two free throws by Ryan to seize a 33–31 advantage at the break.
Iriafen led all scorers before halftime with 16 points, while Ryan had 15.
Iowa State led by as many as four points in the third quarter, but the Cardinal rallied to tie the game at 48 on Nunu Agara’s driving layup with 2:16 to play in the period. After a pair of free throws by Crooks put the Cyclones back in front, Iriafen drove for a layup that sent the game into the fourth quarter tied at 50.
