Cardoso helps South Carolina remain perfect with win over Indiana in Sweet 16 – MASHAHER

Kamilla Cardoso scored 22 points and top-seeded, unbeaten South Carolina held off a spirited Indiana rally to win 79-75 on Friday in New York and advance to the Albany 1 Regional Final of the women’s NCAA Tournament.

South Carolina is three wins away from completing the 10th perfect season in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history. Next up for the Gamecocks is third-seeded Oregon State, which knocked off Notre Dame earlier Friday.

Coach Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks (35-0) had run through their first two games in March Madness, winning by 52 and 47. They faced a much bigger challenge from fourth-seeded Indiana (26-6).

South Carolina built a 22-point lead in the third quarter before Indiana got going behind Sydney Parrish, who led the team with 21 points.

The Hoosiers, who were trying to pull off the biggest comeback in NCAA Tournament history, got within 74-72 on Mackenzie Holmes’ layup with 1:08 left.

After a timeout, Raven Johnson calmly sank a 3-pointer from the wing 15 seconds later to restore a bigger cushion for the Gamecocks. Johnson scored 14 points.

Holmes then hit another layup to make it 77-74.

South Carolina looked like it was going to steamroll another opponent. It led 34-28 midway through the second quarter before going on a 15-4 run to close the half up 49-32. All but two of those points came on the inside.

On the defensive end, Cardoso bottled up Holmes. She missed her first five shots before finally hitting a runner with less than a minute to go in the half. Holmes finished with 12 points.

The lead ballooned to 22 points early in the third quarter before the Hoosiers used a 10-0 run to get within 61-50 with just over three minutes left in the period. After the Gamecocks extended the advantage back to 15, Indiana closed within 65-55 at the end of the period.

Oregon State stifles Notre Dame

Timea Gardiner scored 21 points, Raegan Beers added 18 points and 13 rebounds and Oregon State frustrated Notre Dame star Hannah Hidalgo to beat the Irish 70-65 on Friday in Albany, N.Y., and advance to their first regional final in eight years.

Donovyn Hunter added 11 points for the third-seeded Beavers (27-7).

Sonia Citron scored 22 points and Maddy Westbeld added 19 for second-seeded Notre Dame, which finishes the season at 28-7. Hidalgo, who came in averaging 22.9 points, was held to just 10 points on 4 of 17 shooting, matching a season low in scoring.

She also missed about four minutes at the start of the second quarter after officials ordered her to remove a stud from her nose.

Oregon State led by a point at halftime, but opened the second half on and 11-2 run, capped by a layup from Gardiner that forced an Irish timeout.

The Irish came back, taking a 59-57 lead on a pull-up jumper from Anna DeWolfe with just over four minutes left in the game.

But a 3-pointer from Donovan put Oregon State back in front for good.

Hidalgo’s off-balance shot with a minute made it 65-63, before Gardiner found Beers underneath with 26 seconds left to stretch it to four.

Notre Dame has been using a six-player rotation since losing 6-foot-4 forward Kylee Watson, who tore an ACL in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament.

Oregon State capitalized on their height advantage early, throwing the ball into the paint. The 6-2 Beers and 6-3 Gardiner combined for 14 of the Beaver’s 17 first-quarter points and Oregon State led by three after 10 minutes.

The short-handed Irish also dealt with early foul trouble. DeWolfe picked up two in the first quarter and Westbeld had three by halftime.

Citron took over for the Irish, scoring nine second-quarter points, but Oregon led 32-31 at the break.