Gators thumped in third round of WNIT

By Phil Kegler, Special to the Times
In print: Friday, March 28, 2008

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ADVERTISEMENT [AP photo] Guard Sha Brooks and Florida, pictured earlier this month against Tennessee, ended its season 19-14.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Junior guard Shayla Fields scored a career-high 31 and senior Khadijah Whittington added 13 and 17 rebounds as N.C. State routed Florida 80-55 in the WNIT third round Thursday. The Wolfpack advanced to face St. John's in the quarterfinals at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Florida ended its season at 19-14 after going 9-22 in 2006-07, but the positives were hard to come.

The Gators' shooting woes continued, going 2-for-11 from behind the 3-point line after going 1-for-17 in Monday's win over Florida Gulf Coast.

Junior guard Sha Brooks scored 16, sophomore Jennifer Mossor added 11, and Depree Bowden had 10 in her final game for the Gators.

"For all that we've accomplished and for how far we've come and all the positives we have to look back on, it's just not a fitting end to the season," Florida coach Amanda Butler said.

Stanford wants
to hit the road

STANFORD, Calif. — Stanford can't wait to get out of town. Forget the comforts of home — they only provided added pressure for this bunch.

Now that the Cardinal has moved past the homecourt hex that haunted the program twice in five years, it has much bigger plans: winning two more games in the NCAA Spokane Region to finally get back to the Final Four.

"Being at home, you have to be perfect, in the perfect scenario," superstar senior Candice Wiggins said Wednesday. "That can be complicated and the pressure can get to your head. Going to Spokane is going to feel like we're really in a tournament."

Last March, that very pressure hit Stanford in its shocking second-round loss to Florida State at home in Maples Pavilion, where Minnesota also upset the Cardinal in 2003.

Not this time, thanks to Wiggins and Co.

Second-seeded Stanford (32-3), on a 20-game winning streak and coming off its fifth straight Pac-10 tournament title and eighth consecutive regular-season crown, faces sixth-seeded Pittsburgh on Saturday in Washington state.

"I think in a lot of ways it helps us be a lot more relaxed," coach Tara VanDerveer said. "People might think there's this great home advantage when you play here, but in a lot of ways there's a lot more pressure on our team."

Stanford would love nothing more than to ride Wiggins all the way to Tampa and the Final Four. It would be the first for the school since 1997. For a team that knocked off No. 1 Tennessee in December and hasn't lost since being swept by UCLA and USC in Los Angeles in early January, Stanford would consider it falling short not to go to Florida.

Information from Times wires was used in this report.

		Sweet 16		Elite Eight	Final Four	Championship
		Sat.-Sunday		Mon.-Tues.	April 6	April 8
GREENSBORO, N.C. Region		1	Connecticut
			Sun., noon, ESPN
		5	Old Dominion
		6	George Wash.
			Sun., 2:30, ESPN2
		2	Rutgers
						Final Four in Tampa
SPOKANE, WASh. ReGION
		1	Maryland
			Sat., 9, ESPN
		4	Vanderbilt
		6	Pittsburgh
			Sat., 11:30 ESPN2
		2	Stanford

Final Four	Elite Eight	Sweet 16
April 6	Mon.-Tues.	Sat.-Sunday
		1	North Carolina	New orleans REGION
			Sat., noon, ESPN
		4	Louisville
		3	Oklahoma St.
			Sat., 2:30, ESPN
		2	LSU
				Oklahoma city REGION
		1	Tennessee
			Sunday, 9:30 ESPN2
		5	Notre Dame
		3	Duke
			Sunday, 7 ESPN2
		2	Texas A&M