LAS VEGAS — Haley Jones scored 19 points, Cameron Brink added 16 and No. 2 Stanford won its second straight Pac-12 tournament with a 73-48 rout of Utah on Sunday.
The Cardinal (28-3, 17-0) shut down the Utes defensively in the second half to pull away in what was a two-point game at halftime. The reigning national champions held Utah (20-11, 8-8) to 7-of-33 shooting in the second half and had a 40-12 advantage in the paint to win their 15th Pac-12 tournament in 21 tries.
The Cardinal stretched their winning streak to 20 straight games heading into the NCAA Tournament, where they’ll undoubtedly be a No. 1 seed. Stanford is 30-1 all-time against the Utes.
Utah was without forward Peyton McFarland, who injured her knee against Washington State on Thursday, and struggled against Stanford’s length inside, particularly in the second half.
Brynna Maxwell had 16 points to lead the Utes, who went 2 for 13 from 3 in the second half as Stanford pulled away.
The Cardinal breezed into their 19th Pac-12 title game, beating Oregon State and Colorado by a combined 39 points in Las Vegas. The 71-45 win over the Buffaloes was the 1,000th for coach Tara VanDerveer at Stanford and the Cardinal’s 33rd straight against Pac 12 opponents.
Stanford looked like it was primed for another runaway, using an 11-1 run to build an early 12-point lead. The Cardinal held Utah scoreless for more than 3 1/2 minutes until Maxwell hit a turnaround jumper at the first quarter buzzer and led 21-11.
The scrappy Utes weren’t going to let it be that easy.
Utah reached its first Pac-12 championship game by getting hot at the right time, hitting a combined 24 3-pointers in wins over California, Washington State and Oregon in Las Vegas.
The Utes took advantage of three Stanford players on the bench with two fouls and started to hit from 3-point range in the second quarter to get back in it. Utah went 4 of 5 from the arc — Dru Gylten hit one from 10 feet behind it — and used an 8-0 run to pull within 32-30 at halftime.
Jones, Brink and Lacie Hull returned in the third quarter and so did Stanford’s defense. The Cardinal held Utah scoreless for nearly 4½ minutes to push the lead to 52-43 after three quarters.
The Cardinal ran away from the Utes in the fourth. Hull hit a pair of 3-pointers during a 16-1 run that stretched Stanford’s lead to 71-46 and the Cardinal kept up the pressure cut down the nets for the second straight year in Las Vegas.
Kentucky 64, No. 1 South Carolina 62: In Nashville, Tenn., Dre’una Edwards hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 4.2 seconds left, and the Wildcats rallied from 15 points down to upset top-ranked South Carolina to win their first SEC women’s tournament championship since 1982.
Kentucky hadn’t even reached the final game since 2014. The seventh-seeded Wildcats (19-11) won their 10th straight game with this the biggest yet after knocking off sixth-ranked LSU and No. 18 Tennessee to get to the championship.
Kentucky's Dre'una Edwards hits the winning shot to beat South Carolina in SEC title game Sunday. The Wildcats ended the contest on an 11-0 run.
The Wildcats not only snapped South Carolina’s 18-game winning streak this season, they also ended the Gamecocks’ search for a third straight SEC tournament title for the regular season champs with Kentucky’s fourth win in as many days.
South Carolina (28-2) led 45-30 with 4:45 left in the third quarter seemingly minutes away from cutting down the nets again. But the Gamecocks didn’t score after Aliyah Boston’s jumper with 5:04 remained that put them up 62-53.
The Wildcats closed the game on an 11-0 run.
No. 3 NC State 60, Miami 47: In Greensboro, N.C., Third-ranked North Carolina State completed its chase to a third straight ACC Tournament championship, ending Miami’s upset-filled run.
Elissa Cunane had 17 points and eight rebounds despite exiting the game for a stretch in the second half with an apparent left-ankle injury for the top-seeded Wolfpack (29-3). She returned to grind through the final minutes and was named the tournament’s most valuable player for a second straight year.
Raina Perez added 12 points and Diamond Johnson had 11, while Kayla Jones had 10 rebounds. The Wolfpack also got valuable minutes from backup post Camille Hobby when Cunane was sidelined, with Hobby scoring eight.
No. 5 Baylor 82, Texas Tech 57: In Waco, Texas, NaLyssa Smith had a career-high 35 points with 12 rebounds in her senior day game for Baylor, and the Bears clinched the outright Big 12 women’s title in the regular-season finale Sunday.
The Bears (25-5, 15-3 Big 12) were guaranteed at least a share of their 12th consecutive Big 12 title and 13th overall after an 87-62 win at ninth-ranked Iowa State last Monday. Baylor had to beat Texas Tech for the outright championship after the Cyclones ended their regular season with win Saturday night at West Virginia.
No. 7 UConn 71, Marquette 51: In Uncasville, Conn., Evina Westbrook scored 14 points and UConn cruised into the Big East title game.
The Huskies didn’t need much help from reigning national player of the year Paige Bueckers, who played 18 minutes and finished with two points, two rebounds and two assists. The sophomore was playing her fifth game since returning from a left-knee injury that kept her out more than two months.
No. 12 Iowa 74, No. 14 Indiana 67: In Indianapolis, Monika Czinano had 30 points and 10 rebounds and Caitlin Clark scored 18 as Iowa won its second Big Ten Tournament title in four yearsy.
The league’s regular-season co-champs have won seven straight games to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. It’s the first time Iowa (23-7) has claimed regular season and tourney titles in the same season.
Grace Berger finished with 20 points and Nicole Cardano-Hillary had 19 for Indiana (21-8), which was playing for the fourth straight day.
