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

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 70, Notre Dame 65

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.

NC State 77, Stanford 67

Aziaha James had 29 points and third-seeded North Carolina State earned its third trip to the women’s Elite Eight with a 77-67 victory over second-seeded Stanford on Friday night in Portland.

Saniya Rivers added 13 points and seven rebounds for the Wolfpack (30-6), who fell behind by 10 points but rallied in the third quarter and led by as many as 15 points in the fourth quarter.

AP All-American Cameron Brink fouled out with 8:10 left in the game. She finished with 13 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks in her final game for Stanford (30-6). Kiki Iriafen led the Cardinal with 26 points and 10 rebounds.

Stanford, under Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer, was vying for its 23rd appearance in the Elite Eight. They had reached that milestone in five of the last seven years.

Texas 69, Gonzaga 47

Aaliyah Moore had 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, Shaylee Gonzales added 15 points, and top-seeded Texas used a smothering defence to roll past fourth-seeded Gonzaga 69-47 in the Portland 4 Regional semifinal.

Overlooked among the other No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, the Longhorns looked every bit the part of a title contender this March Madness, stymieing Gonzaga’s high-scoring offence and flustering the Bulldogs into an awful night at the offensive end.

Calgary’s Yvonne Ejim led Gonzaga (32-4) with 14 points, but picked up her first foul 30 seconds into the game and struggled with foul trouble before eventually fouling out.