Volunteers, Monarchs Take Final Step Old Dominion Senior Comes Alive In Second Half To Eliminate Stanford

When Clarisse Machanguana got it going in the second half, so did Old Dominion. And now the Monarchs are going someplace they haven’t been for a while - the NCAA championship game.

Machanguana scored all 18 of her points after halftime Friday night as Old Dominion, which had struggled in its previous NCAA games, rallied from a 15-point deficit to take down high-flying Stanford 83-82 in a semifinal overtime thriller.

The 6-foot-5 senior from Mozambique posted up strongly after some halftime prodding from coach Wendy Larry and made 9 of 15 shots after taking only one shot the first half.

“At halftime, Coach Larry pretty much told me that the free-throw area was wide open and I had to do something,” Machanguana said.

She did. And so did point guard Ticha Penicheiro, the Portuguese flash who drives the Monarchs (34-1). Penicheiro scored 18 points, including a basket that produced the final tie in overtime and a free throw for the winning point.

“I knew as a captain, as a senior, as a point guard, I had to be the leader out there,” Penicheiro said.

She hit a running shot with 1:28 left to tie the score at 82, then sank a free throw with 50 seconds remaining to put the Monarchs up by one.

Stanford had a final chance after Penicheiro missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 23.5 seconds left. But Jamila Wideman missed a jumper, Vanessa Nygaard couldn’t hit on a follow and Wideman missed a 3-point shot from the right of the key just before the buzzer.

“I took the shot. It just didn’t go down,” said Wideman, who tumbled to the floor after missing the left-handed jumper. “I think there was contact. There was contact all game, though. Sometimes they called (it), sometimes they didn’t. I just didn’t get the call.”

So it will be Old Dominion taking a 33-game winning streak to Sunday night’s championship game against defending champion Tennessee (28-10), which eliminated Notre Dame 80-66. The Monarchs, who survived a 6:35 scoring drought at the end of their regional championship victory over Florida, are in the finals for the first time since winning the title in 1985.

Stanford (34-2), hoping to avenge an 83-66 loss at Old Dominion on Dec. 17, instead lost in the national semifinals for the third straight year.

The Cardinal had won their four previous NCAA games by an average of 32.8 points and seemed headed for another rout Friday, but it wasn’t to be. A big reason was 29 turnovers against Old Dominion’s relentless pressure. ODU had forced 28 in beating Stanford in December.

“Our team is very disappointed,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. “I thought we came out at the beginning of the game and did a good job playing the way we wanted to play. Unfortunately, we didn’t do a good job taking care of the ball.”

Old Dominion also turned up the defensive pressure in the second half, packing its post players inside to cut off that part of Stanford’s game and then running a defender at Kate Starbird, who had burned the Monarchs with 21 points on 7-for-8 shooting and four 3-pointers in the first half.

Starbird was 0-for-6 in the second half and finished with 26 points.

“In the locker room at halftime, we talked about how in order to stop Stanford we had to stop Kate Starbird,” Penicheiro said. “We did a much better job on her in the second half. She made so many shots in the first half because she was wide open. In the second half, we got in her face.”

Starbird said she had good shots. They just didn’t fall.

“With a big, ol’ lead, it’s easy to play loose,” she said. “When they made it close, I guess I got tight.”

Old Dominion 83, Stanford 82 (OT)

Stanford (34-2) - Scott 4-10 3-4 11, Nygaard 1-7 0-0 2, Mulitauaopele 3-5 0-0 6, Wideman 4-11 3-4 13, Starbird 7-14 8-8 26, Flores 1-1 0-0 2, Smith 1-2 2-2 4, Folkl 8-8 2-3 18, Owen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-58 18-21 82.

Old Dominion (34-1) - Andrade 3-9 5-6 11, Machanguana 9-16 0-2 18, Roberts 8-10 1-2 17, Himes 1-1 0-0 2, Penicheiro 7-19 4-7 18, Eller 0-0 0-0 0, Eblin 1-8 2-3 5, Small 1-4 0-0 2, Diaz 5-8 0-0 10. Totals 35-75 12-20 83.

Halftime-Stanford 37, Old Dominion 30. Regulation-Stanford 76, Old Dominion 76. 3-Point goals-Stanford 6-17 (Starbird 4-8, Wideman 2-3, Smith 0-1, Nygaard 0-5), Old Dominion 1-12 (Eblin 1-6, Andrade 0-1, Diaz 0-2, Penicheiro 0-3). Fouled out-Folkl, Andrade, Roberts. Rebounds-Stanford 43 (Scott, Folkl 10), Old Dominion 35 (Machanguana, Roberts 8). Assists-Stanford 16 (Wideman 6), Old Dominion 14 (Penicheiro 6). Total fouls-Stanford 20, Old Dominion 18. A-NA.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP Sunday: Old Dominion (34-1) vs. Tennessee (28-10), 5:30 p.m. (ESPN)