LAS VEGAS – On Thursday March, 3 the quarterfinals of the women’s basketball Pac-12 tournament were played. Here is how the quarterfinals shook out and the matchups for the semifinals on Friday, March 4.
No. 4 Arizona vs. No. 5 Colorado
The University of Colorado Boulder defeated Arizona by a score of 45-43 in a defensive battle. Colorado was once again led by Mya Hollingshed who scored her second double-double in a row with 19 points and nine rebounds and Jaylyn Sherrod who had 8 points and three assists.
Arizona was led by Lauren Ware who was the only player to score in double digits for the Wildcats with a career high 15 points and eight rebounds. Shaina Pellington was the only other player for Arizona who scored more than 4 points with 9 of her own.
Colorado’s 45 points was the least by a winning team in Pac-12 history with three wins of 46 points being the previous record.
“Not a great game for women’s basketball, right? No one wants to see 20-20 or 10-10 for 10 minutes. But I think we both are very defensive-oriented teams and both were not hitting the three,” Arizona head coach Adia Barnes said.
Colorado will play No.1 Stanford on in the semifinals Friday, March 4 at 7:00 PM MST
No. 8 Oregon State vs No. 1 Stanford
Stanford defeated Oregon State handily by a score of 57-44. Haley Jones for Stanford almost had a triple-double with 20 points, 14 rebounds and six assists. Cameron Brink scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds.
Oregon State never took the lead in the game and went down 16-2 at the end of the first quarter. Ellie Mack and Emily Codding both scored 13 points and made a run to end the half 18-27, capped off by a deep buzzer beating three from Mack but by then Stanford had taken control of the game.
“I think Anna [Wilson] really got it going defensively and helped us in the first half, and Haley really got her offense going in the second half. We got out in transition. She knocked down shots that are great shots for her. And we had a lot of different contributions from different people,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said.
Stanford will play Colorado in the semifinals at 7:00 PM MST.
Related: Pac-12 women’s basketball tournament round one recap
No. 2 Oregon vs No. 7 UCLA
Oregon defeated UCLA in what felt like a Sweet Sixteen matchup 63-60 with both teams clicking offensively. This game came down to the wire with 14 lead changes and seven ties throughout the game. Nyara Sabally had a 15 point and 15 rebound double-double as well as Sedona Prince scoring 12 and Endyia Rogers scoring 16.
UCLA had two players score 18 points, Iimar’I Thomas and Jaelynn Penn but no one else on the team scored more than six points.
“I thought Nyara tonight, 15 and 15, hitting the two big free throws there late. That’s getting it done, man and she played like an All-American when we really needed her the most. Sedona, you were pretty damn close yourself, kid, right behind her,” Oregon Head coach Kelly Graves said.
Oregon will play No. 6 Utah in the semifinals at 9:30 PM MST.
No. 3 Washington State vs No. 6 Utah
Utah pulled off the upset to blow out Washington State 70-59. In the first quarter Utah jumped out to a 29-13 lead and never looked back, ending the half up 45-25. Utah was led by Jenna Johnson who scored 19 points on 7-11 shooting. Brynna Maxwell was the team’s second leading scorer with 11 points.
Washington State had the lead in the game for a total of 56 seconds and was led by Bella Murekatete who scored 18 points and Tara Wallack who scored 16. The Leger-Walker sisters were defended well, combining for 10 points and 11 assists.
“I think it’s super fun to be part of a team with absolutely no ego from the staff to the players. I’ve never been part of a team where everyone is so genuinely happy for everyone’s success and everyone’s goal is the same. It’s just to do things at Utah that haven’t been done before,” Maxwell said.
Utah did just that reaching their first semifinal in program history and will face off against No. 2 Oregon at 9:30 PM MST.
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