The BulleTin • Friday, april 2, 2021 B5
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
TODAY
SATURDAY
TONIGHT
HIGH
69°
LOW
37°
Mild with clouds and
occasional sunshine
Cloudy and mild
ALMANAC
MONDAY
61°
34°
68°
36°
Mainly cloudy
TUESDAY
50°
29°
Clouds and sun
Mostly sunny
WEDNESDAY
59°
31°
TEMPERATURE
Yesterday Normal
Record
72°
54° 76° in 1921
34°
29°
9° in 1936
PRECIPITATION
24 hours through 5 p.m. yesterday
0.00"
Record
0.26" in 2019
Month to date (normal)
0.00" (0.02")
Year to date (normal)
1.18" (3.37")
Barometric pressure at 4 p.m.
29.89"
SUN, MOON AND PLANETS
Rise/Set
Today
Sat.
Sun
6:45am/7:34pm 6:43am/7:35pm
Moon 12:59am/10:00am 2:09am/10:52am
Mercury 6:23am/6:06pm 6:23am/6:12pm
Venus
6:55am/7:40pm 6:54am/7:42pm
Mars
9:39am/1:14am 9:37am/1:13am
Jupiter
4:58am/3:11pm 4:55am/3:08pm
Saturn
4:26am/2:08pm 4:22am/2:04pm
Uranus
7:47am/9:47pm 7:43am/9:43pm
Last
New
First
Full
Apr 4
Apr 11
Apr 19
Apr 26
Tonight's sky: Coma Berenices is a faint
constellation which lies between Bootes
and Leo.
Source: Jim Todd, OMSI
UV INDEX TODAY
10 a.m.
Noon
2 p.m.
4 p.m.
3
4
4
2
The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index ™ number,
the greater the need for eye and skin protection. 0-2 Low,
3-5 Moderate; 6-7 High; 8-10 Very High; 11+ Extreme.
ROAD CONDITONS
For web cameras of our passes, go to
www.bendbulletin.com/webcams
I-84 at Cabbage Hill: Mild today with clouds
and sun. Rather cloudy tonight.
US 20 at Santiam Pass: Clouds and sun
today. Partly to mostly cloudy tonight.
US 26 at Gov't Camp: A mix of clouds and sun
today. Mostly cloudy tonight.
US 26 at Ochoco Divide: Mild today; mostly
sunny, then becoming partly cloudy.
ORE 58 at Willamette Pass: Mild today with
clouds limiting sun. Partly cloudy tonight.
ORE 138 at Diamond Lake: A mix of clouds
and sun today. Fair weather tonight.
SKI REPORT
EAST: Mostly sunny
and warm Friday.
Partly cloudy and cool
tonight. Partly sunny
and warm Saturday.
NATIONAL
Hood
River
Yesterday
Today Saturday
Yesterday
Today Saturday
Yesterday
Today Saturday
City
Hi/Lo/Prec. Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W
City
Hi/Lo/Prec. Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W
City
Hi/Lo/Prec. Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W
Astoria
52/38/0.00 52/38/pc 55/41/c
La Grande
68/43/0.00 71/40/pc 67/41/c
Portland
68/47/0.00 62/42/pc 65/46/c
Baker City
71/35/0.00 73/35/pc 72/37/c
La Pine
67/24/0.00 65/33/pc 64/33/c
Prineville
70/25/0.00 72/35/c 64/34/c
Brookings
64/45/0.00 57/43/pc 54/44/c
Medford
78/40/Tr
74/43/pc 73/43/c
Redmond
73/30/0.00 70/33/c 69/32/c
Roseburg
77/41/0.00 66/41/c 68/41/c
Burns
73/17/0.00 71/33/pc 71/35/c
Newport
50/37/0.00 52/39/pc 54/42/c
Eugene
73/37/0.00 61/38/pc 64/41/c
North Bend
56/39/0.00 54/41/pc 57/43/c
Salem
70/40/0.00 61/38/c 64/41/c
Klamath Falls
69/24/0.00 69/34/pc 70/31/pc
Ontario
75/27/0.00 77/42/pc 77/47/pc
Sisters
67/25/0.00 68/34/pc 68/36/c
Lakeview
68/16/0.00 70/35/pc 69/35/pc
Pendleton
70/37/0.00 68/43/pc 65/46/c
The Dalles
74/33/0.00 66/41/pc 68/44/c
Weather(W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice, Tr-trace, Yesterday data as of 5 p.m. yesterday
NATIONAL WEATHER
-10s
-0s
0s
10s
20s
30s
40s
50s
60s
70s
80s
90s
100s
110s
NATIONAL
EXTREMES
YESTERDAY (for the
T-storms
Yesterday
City
Hi/Lo/Prec.
Abilene
69/38/0.00
Akron
34/30/0.09
Albany
40/33/0.66
Albuquerque
67/35/0.00
Anchorage
27/18/0.00
Atlanta
53/40/0.00
Atlantic City
51/46/0.43
Austin
69/35/0.00
Baltimore
48/40/0.30
Billings
73/37/0.00
Birmingham
54/37/0.00
Bismarck
67/17/0.00
Boise
75/36/0.00
Boston
49/44/1.12
Bridgeport, CT 50/43/0.36
Buffalo
37/31/0.01
Burlington, VT
36/33/0.38
Caribou, ME
40/37/0.88
Charleston, SC 64/56/0.17
Charlotte
54/42/0.03
Chattanooga
52/38/0.01
Cheyenne
62/24/0.00
Chicago
40/24/0.00
Cincinnati
38/30/0.02
Cleveland
32/28/0.24
Colorado Springs 65/21/0.00
Columbia, MO
49/26/0.00
Columbia, SC
59/48/Tr
Columbus, GA
58/44/0.02
Columbus, OH
36/30/Tr
Concord, NH
44/39/0.35
Corpus Christi
69/59/0.00
Dallas
70/42/0.00
Dayton
37/29/Tr
Denver
70/26/0.00
Des Moines
47/20/0.00
Detroit
37/25/Tr
Duluth
40/12/0.00
El Paso
72/46/0.00
Fairbanks
12/2/0.07
Fargo
53/14/0.00
Flagstaff
68/19/0.00
Grand Rapids
40/24/Tr
Green Bay
41/21/0.00
Greensboro
49/41/Tr
Harrisburg
46/38/0.20
Hartford, CT
48/43/0.30
Helena
73/30/0.00
Honolulu
83/71/0.06
Houston
72/46/0.00
Huntsville
52/35/0.00
Indianapolis
40/26/Tr
Jackson, MS
61/41/0.00
Jacksonville
66/57/0.00
Today
Hi/Lo/W
69/51/pc
41/25/s
38/23/c
73/48/s
25/17/pc
57/35/s
42/32/pc
72/49/pc
47/29/pc
72/44/s
58/32/s
72/34/pc
75/48/pc
43/29/pc
43/30/pc
40/25/pc
36/24/c
35/17/pc
55/34/s
54/30/s
55/31/s
69/38/s
52/39/s
49/29/s
40/29/s
74/44/s
60/40/s
55/29/s
59/34/s
46/26/s
41/20/pc
71/60/c
69/51/s
47/28/s
73/41/s
63/45/s
48/30/s
52/36/pc
85/55/s
14/14/sn
69/30/pc
63/37/pc
47/32/s
49/37/s
50/29/s
47/29/pc
42/27/pc
68/40/s
82/69/pc
69/46/s
55/31/s
49/32/s
61/35/s
58/38/s
Amsterdam
Athens
Auckland
Baghdad
Bangkok
Beijing
Beirut
Berlin
Bogota
Budapest
Buenos Aires
Cabo San Lucas
Cairo
Calgary
Cancun
Dublin
Edinburgh
Geneva
Harare
Hong Kong
Istanbul
Jerusalem
Johannesburg
Lima
Lisbon
London
Madrid
Manila
50/39/pc
66/53/s
70/56/pc
84/56/pc
98/81/pc
64/53/c
60/56/sh
54/36/s
65/51/t
65/41/sh
73/66/s
83/67/pc
70/50/pc
53/29/pc
77/73/t
50/36/s
53/33/pc
71/44/pc
78/55/s
84/75/pc
56/49/pc
53/49/pc
78/59/s
74/65/s
66/52/t
53/40/pc
65/45/t
95/76/s
Saturday
Hi/Lo/W
68/54/c
56/43/pc
50/32/s
77/51/s
33/31/sn
64/40/s
53/44/s
69/53/c
56/40/s
75/45/pc
65/39/s
75/38/pc
76/51/pc
49/34/s
52/38/s
48/37/pc
49/31/s
40/20/pc
62/38/s
60/36/s
64/37/s
73/43/pc
66/46/s
61/42/s
58/45/pc
75/48/s
68/49/s
61/36/s
65/39/s
59/43/pc
51/22/s
75/64/c
68/56/pc
61/43/pc
75/46/pc
71/45/s
60/41/pc
61/39/s
84/55/pc
33/29/sn
70/36/s
70/37/s
59/39/pc
64/38/s
58/36/s
56/39/s
53/33/s
70/41/pc
82/69/pc
70/54/c
64/38/s
62/43/s
67/43/pc
65/41/s
City
Juneau
Kansas City
Lansing
Las Vegas
Lexington
Lincoln
Little Rock
Los Angeles
Louisville
Madison, WI
Memphis
Miami
Milwaukee
Minneapolis
Nashville
New Orleans
New York City
Newark, NJ
Norfolk, VA
Oklahoma City
Omaha
Orlando
Palm Springs
Peoria
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Pittsburgh
Portland, ME
Providence
Raleigh
Rapid City
Reno
Richmond
Rochester, NY
Sacramento
St. Louis
Salt Lake City
San Antonio
San Diego
San Francisco
San Jose
Santa Fe
Savannah
Seattle
Sioux Falls
Spokane
Springfi eld, MO
Tampa
Tucson
Tulsa
Washington, DC
Wichita
Yakima
Yuma
Yesterday
Hi/Lo/Prec.
38/32/0.30
53/26/0.00
38/23/Tr
77/51/0.00
41/28/0.00
59/17/0.00
61/37/0.00
88/61/0.00
47/32/0.00
40/19/0.00
53/39/0.00
89/73/0.03
37/24/0.00
44/20/0.00
49/35/0.00
66/55/Tr
51/43/0.29
52/42/0.18
55/46/0.11
64/37/0.00
53/20/0.00
77/65/0.89
92/65/0.00
44/24/0.00
52/42/0.06
95/63/0.00
33/30/0.12
48/42/0.83
50/45/1.14
54/47/Tr
72/20/0.00
75/34/0.00
53/42/0.20
35/31/0.18
85/46/0.00
48/30/0.00
66/33/0.00
72/51/0.00
88/57/0.00
84/54/0.00
85/49/0.00
66/26/0.00
64/51/Tr
58/42/0.00
56/16/0.00
63/34/0.00
51/26/0.00
76/71/0.18
90/63/0.00
61/34/0.00
51/41/0.19
61/28/0.00
72/29/0.00
93/62/0.00
Today
Hi/Lo/W
40/25/c
67/47/s
47/31/s
87/63/pc
48/28/s
73/44/s
59/37/s
79/55/s
52/32/s
51/38/pc
57/37/s
76/63/pc
50/40/s
59/41/s
54/30/s
63/50/s
43/31/pc
44/30/pc
48/38/pc
67/47/pc
71/44/s
65/48/s
98/68/s
52/37/pc
43/30/pc
92/65/s
41/23/s
41/25/c
44/28/s
50/29/s
74/40/s
76/45/pc
49/29/s
38/23/pc
81/45/pc
57/39/s
74/48/s
72/52/pc
71/54/s
65/49/pc
74/47/pc
73/41/pc
59/34/s
55/41/c
68/37/s
62/39/c
60/39/s
69/48/s
89/58/s
68/48/s
48/33/s
68/46/s
68/37/c
94/58/s
Saturday
Hi/Lo/W
40/30/pc
72/51/s
60/38/pc
91/62/pc
59/38/s
76/47/s
65/45/s
76/54/pc
64/42/s
67/42/s
65/46/s
73/65/c
64/43/s
68/47/s
65/39/s
70/57/pc
54/42/s
56/41/s
55/43/s
70/51/s
75/47/s
70/51/pc
99/69/s
67/45/s
54/41/s
96/66/s
53/41/pc
47/28/s
50/32/s
59/38/s
77/44/pc
76/45/pc
57/38/s
49/37/pc
73/45/pc
70/50/s
78/55/s
71/57/c
71/54/pc
61/51/c
67/46/pc
75/43/s
65/39/s
57/43/c
74/45/s
61/42/c
65/46/s
74/55/s
91/61/pc
71/51/s
57/42/s
75/50/s
68/42/c
97/59/s
95/72/0.00
70/53/0.11
37/30/0.26
48/41/0.15
80/59/0.14
81/73/0.04
93/64/0.00
75/48/0.00
48/28/0.00
32/30/0.03
75/48/0.00
86/72/0.05
67/48/0.00
72/51/0.04
75/61/0.00
55/39/0.00
75/43/0.00
65/60/0.19
93/79/0.00
48/30/0.00
77/60/0.00
87/72/0.00
66/51/0.02
66/59/0.00
36/28/Tr
55/41/0.01
77/45/0.03
68/39/0.07
92/64/s
69/47/s
38/24/pc
45/29/sn
81/61/t
77/63/sh
91/62/pc
74/57/pc
49/27/pc
38/21/s
60/40/s
83/72/pc
66/47/pc
77/50/pc
73/61/pc
53/39/pc
74/57/pc
71/60/r
91/78/t
46/30/pc
75/60/pc
87/72/pc
63/59/sh
66/54/pc
40/23/s
51/40/c
61/42/sh
52/36/s
95/66/s
76/47/pc
47/32/s
46/31/pc
81/62/t
75/63/c
93/64/pc
71/57/pc
48/32/pc
48/32/pc
55/38/s
83/73/pc
65/46/pc
83/52/s
76/62/pc
50/36/c
62/48/r
71/51/c
89/77/t
45/33/pc
76/64/s
83/71/pc
66/53/pc
67/58/pc
48/34/c
49/40/r
50/35/pc
47/31/sh
INTERNATIONAL
48 contiguous states)
National high: 96°
at Anaheim, CA
National low: -3°
at Climax, CO
Precipitation: 1.46"
at Rockland, ME
In inches as of 5 p.m. yesterday
Ski resort
New snow
Base
Anthony Lakes Mtn
0
80-80
Hoodoo Ski Area
0
0-97
Mt. Ashland
0
63-77
Mt. Bachelor
0
105-116
Mt. Hood Meadows
1
0-222
Mt. Hood Ski Bowl
0
73-97
Timberline Lodge
0
0-189
Willamette Pass
0
0-45
Aspen / Snowmass, CO
0
57-79
Mammoth Mtn. Ski, CA
0
64-110
Squaw Valley, CA
0
0-118
Park City Mountain, UT
0
54-69
Sun Valley, ID
0
48-74
Chance for a couple of
showers
TRAVEL WEATHER
Umatilla
72/41
Rufus
Hermiston
63/38
71/42
67/41
Arlington
Hillsboro Portland
Meacham Lostine
69/42
60/37 62/42
69/37
Wasco
69/38 Enterprise
Pendleton
The Dalles
CENTRAL: Partly
Tillamook
67/37
63/39
68/43
Sandy
66/41
McMinnville
54/38
sunny, breezy and
Joseph
Heppner
La
Grande
59/41
Maupin
Government
61/39
warm today. Fair
71/40
66/39
Camp
67/37 Condon 65/40
Union
Lincoln City
tonight. Remaining
63/38
52/35
71/38
Salem
52/39
Spray
warm Saturday with a
Granite
Warm Springs
61/38
Madras
72/42
Albany
65/35
mix of clouds and sun. Newport
Baker City
70/36
71/36
Mitchell
52/39
59/37
73/35
WEST: Partly sunny
Camp Sherman
68/38
Redmond
Corvallis
John
Yachats
Unity
and a little cooler
66/34
70/33
59/38
Day
Prineville
51/40
73/37
today. Mostly cloudy
Ontario
Sisters
72/35
Paulina
70/38
77/42
tonight, then mostly
Florence
Eugene 68/34
Bend Brothers 68/34
Vale
cloudy Saturday. Rain 53/40
61/38
69/37
66/33
Sunriver
79/40
is likely Sunday.
Nyssa
66/35
Hampton
Cottage
La Pine
80/42
Juntura
Oakridge
Grove
65/33
68/33
OREGON EXTREMES Coos Bay
Burns
75/37
64/38
63/39
Fort
Rock
55/40
71/33
Riley
YESTERDAY
Crescent
68/32
71/35
High: 78°
64/32
Bandon
Roseburg
Christmas Valley
Jordan Valley
at Medford
Beaver
Frenchglen
Silver
54/41
66/41
69/33
68/37
Low: 16°
Marsh
Lake
69/39
Port Orford
63/31
68/34
at Lakeview
Grants
Burns Junction
Paisley
56/44
Pass
75/38
Chiloquin
72/39
75/41
Rome
Medford
68/32
Gold Beach
74/43
77/39
56/43
Klamath
Fields
Ashland
McDermitt
Lakeview
Falls
Brookings
71/37
73/44
69/34
67/34
57/43
70/35
Seaside
51/38
Cannon Beach
50/38
56°
26°
Cooler with a couple of
showers possible
Partly sunny and pleasant
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
Astoria
52/38
THURSDAY
58°
28°
OREGON WEATHER
Bend Municipal Airport through 5 p.m. yest.
High
Low
SUNDAY
Shown are today’s noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
Rain
Showers
Snow
Flurries
Ice
Warm Front
Stationary Front
Cold Front
Source: OnTheSnow.com
54/46/0.00
57/46/0.04
65/59/0.14
84/63/0.00
99/84/0.00
66/53/0.00
64/54/0.06
61/48/0.02
68/52/0.04
75/39/0.00
72/65/0.00
90/68/0.00
70/52/0.00
61/36/0.00
86/68/0.04
51/45/0.00
46/40/0.00
73/45/0.00
78/54/0.00
86/76/0.11
52/41/0.00
58/44/0.00
75/54/0.00
75/66/0.00
65/59/0.19
58/46/0.00
73/48/0.03
93/79/0.00
49/38/pc
68/56/s
70/56/s
72/52/pc
98/81/pc
62/39/c
65/53/sh
48/30/pc
62/50/t
55/38/pc
74/66/s
85/67/s
75/57/s
55/33/pc
80/73/sh
52/37/pc
56/38/pc
56/36/s
80/58/s
84/74/s
62/53/pc
57/44/pc
79/54/s
74/68/pc
69/52/pc
51/35/pc
71/41/t
95/78/s
Mecca
Mexico City
Montreal
Moscow
Nairobi
Nassau
New Delhi
Osaka
Oslo
Ottawa
Paris
Rio de Janeiro
Rome
Santiago
Sao Paulo
Sapporo
Seoul
Shanghai
Singapore
Stockholm
Sydney
Taipei City
Tel Aviv
Tokyo
Toronto
Vancouver
Vienna
Warsaw
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL | FINAL FOUR
McDonald, Bueckers propel Arizona, UConn
BY JIM VERTUNO
Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO — One is
a freshman who stepped into
the job of leading the most
successful program in wom-
en’s basketball. The other is a
senior who accepted the call
to build one of the worst into
one of this season’s best.
Together, UConn’s Paige
Bueckers and Arizona’s Aari
McDonald are two of the most
dynamic scorers in the coun-
try heading into their Friday
night clash in the women’s
NCAA Tournament Final
Four.
UConn won the River Walk
region and rides into its 13th
consecutive Final Four as
Bueckers this week became
the first freshman to win The
Associated Press national
player of the year award.
The challenge for Bueck-
ers this season was learning
how to lead a program that
had already produced some
of the game’s greatest players
— including Rebecca Lobo,
Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Maya
Moore and Breanna Stewart
— in the Huskies’ charge for a
potential 12th national cham-
pionship.
Before the season began,
UConn coach Geno Au-
riemma considered bringing
her off the bench just to ease
her into the role. Two weeks of
watching Bueckers in practice
tossed that idea “out the win-
dow,” he said.
Bueckers led the Huskies
(28-1) in scoring, assists and
steals this season and scored
28 points in their 69-67 re-
gional final win over Baylor.
Auriemma this week called
Bueckers “dominant” in “the
biggest games we played.”
But she’s still a freshman
playing in her first Final Four
at a program where winning
it all is the annual demand.
UConn hasn’t made it to the
championship game since
2016.
“She’s still a young kid
who was playing against high
school girls last year, so yeah,
this is big. Nothing that I say
is gonna change the bigness of
Morry Gash/AP photos
UConn’s Paige Bueckers drives past Baylor’s DiJonai Carrington
during the Elite Eight round of the women’s NCAA Tournament on
Monday at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
it,” Auriemma said. “I’m sure
there’s a part of her that, you
know, is anxious, nervous,
all the things that you would
be if you were her in a game
like this. … But somehow,
some way, she finds what all
great players do. She finds that
thing that she has inside of her
that very few people have, that
allows to her to function in
those big moments.”
McDonald’s burden was to
build a winner at a program
stuck in a basketball desert.
Coach Adia Barnes put that
job on her as soon as McDon-
ald transferred from Washing-
ton in 2017 when the Wildcats
Arizona’s Aari McDonald reacts
after making a basket against In-
diana in the Elite Eight round of
the women’s NCAA Tournament
on Monday in San Antonio.
were living at the bottom of
the Pac-12.
McDonald sat out the 2017-
2018 season and watched as
Arizona won just six games.
Now she is the conference
player of the year and has the
Wildcats on level ground with
the Huskies for at least one
more day.
“It’s crazy. We really started
at the bottom,” McDonald
said. “Coach (Adia) Barnes
and the other coaches. They
do a great job recruiting. They
changed the culture since I’ve
been here. My teammates
have put in so much work and
it’s exciting to see it all pay off.”
The Wildcats (20-5) won
the Mercado region as a No.
3 seed. McDonald has scored
at least 31 points in each of
the Wildcats previous two
games. Against Indiana in
the regional final, she twisted
her left ankle with 2:35 left,
but limped back on to put the
exclamation on the win with
a 3-point play. She said the
ankle should be fine Friday
night.
“Nobody thinks we can
win. We’re the underdogs.
We’re going to play loose and
free,” McDonald said.
The UConn-Arizona win-
ner advances to Sunday’s final
against the winner of Friday’s
other semifinal matchup be-
tween Stanford and South
Carolina.
Back to the future
Auriemma and Barnes met
in the 1998 women’s NCAA
Tournament when Barnes
the point guard led Arizona
to the Sweet 16, in what had
been the school’s deepest tour-
ney run. UConn won 74-57,
but Auriemma remembers
Barnes, who was the confer-
ence player of the year that
season, as an “impossible
matchup.”
“You couldn’t guard her
with a guard, you couldn’t
guard her with a forward,”
Auriemma said. “(Now) she
has made women’s basketball
at Arizona supremely import-
ant. She’s just, I think, a coach
for the future who’s having
tremendous success in the
present.”
Tough draw
UConn’s Christyn Williams
has the difficult job of defend-
ing McDonald, who uses the
quick bursts in her 5-foot-6
frame to blow by defenders on
drives into the lane or sneak
through traffic for wide-open
3-pointers. McDonald made
five of six from long range
against Indiana. She also
grabbed 11 rebounds.
“She’s a great player, very
quick, she can get to the bas-
ket, she can create space for
herself,” Williams said. “She’s a
handful.”
Williams drew a similar
assignment in the Sweet 16
and was able to contain Iowa’s
Caitlin Clark, the nation’s lead-
ing scorer, holding her to 21
points, six below her average.
History made
Arizona is the first women’s
team to make the Final Four
after missing the previous 10
NCAA Tournaments. They
likely would have made the
tournament last season but it
was canceled due to the coro-
navirus pandemic. Barnes is
the sixth coach to lead their
alma mater to the Final Four.
She also joins South Caroli-
na’s Dawn Staley in the first
time two Black women head
coaches have made it to the
national semifinals.
Eric Gay/AP
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley cuts down the net after the team’s
win over Texas in the Elite Eight round of the women’s NCAA Tourna-
ment at the Alamodome in San Antonio on Tuesday.
Final Four
Continued from B3
Staley is “someone who is
super competitive, whatever
Dawn decided to go into she
was going to be at the top of
whatever career she decided,”
VanDerveer said. “In law, poli-
tics, she has it, she’s a very spe-
cial person. I cheer for her ev-
ery game except for the game
tomorrow.”
This isn’t the first meeting
between the two on the big
stage. They played in the 2017
Final Four and South Carolina
rallied from a nine-point half-
time deficit to win en route to
the NCAA championship.
“I asked our team why can’t
you execute what you want
to execute?” Staley said. “One
player raises their hand and
was like ‘because we’re millen-
nials.’ Really? That’s the answer
you have.
“We all kind of laughed.
Broke it down, huddled it up
and got into their lead and
eventually ended up winning
the game.”
Some other things to look
for in Friday night’s matchup
between South Carolina and
Stanford:
Brink’s health
Stanford freshman Cam-
eron Brink injured her leg in
the Cardinal’s come-from-be-
hind victory over Louisville in
the Elite Eight. VanDerveer is
expecting her to play Friday
night.
“She’s doing well so hope-
fully she’ll be ready to play,”
VanDerveer said before prac-
tice Thursday. “Don’t know
100% the answer right now.
She tweaked her leg a little bit.
Hopefully it’s minor. We’ll see.”
In her place, Ashten Prechtel
scored all 16 of her points in
the second half to help the Car-
dinal rally to beat Louisville in
the Elite Eight.
Offense vs. defense
Stanford has been making
3-pointers at an impressive
rate, connecting on 50 of them
in the first four games of the
tournament. The Cardinal are
fifth in the country in made
3s and sixth in percentage at
38.3%.
South Carolina has been
playing stellar defense, includ-
ing shutting out Texas in the
fourth quarter in their Elite
Eight matchup. The Game-
cocks blocked 14 shots in that
game and held the Longhorns
to just 23% shooting. South
Carolina has been giving up
just 74 points per 100 posses-
sions in the women’s NCAA
Tournament so far, which only
five teams have done over the
past five years.
Longevity
VanDerveer has been coach-
ing for 43 years, winning two
national championships. Sta-
ley doesn’t see herself sticking
around the game that long.
“For Tara and all the coaches
who have dedicated their lives
to growing the game and im-
pacting young people as they
have they’re doing it for all
the right reasons,” Staley said.
“There’s no way a coach would
stay in a profession they didn’t
reap some inner satisfaction
from.”