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		Stanford beats Xavier at the buzzer to earn Final Four berth By Morris Phillips March 29, 2010

	Well, the upside is, a vulnerable, more human Stanford basketball team is easier to relate to and like. And when you’re headed to the Final Four, of course, having the fans embrace you is a big plus. The downside? Stanford was in an unexpected fight for its NCAA tournament life on Monday against Xavier, and they needed every conceivable break to survive. In the first, close game Stanford has seen in a long time, the Cardinal got a Jeanette Pohlen coast-to-coast lay-in to win at the buzzer, 55-53. Stanford now advances to a third consecutive Final Four, keeping alive their hopes for a championship night showdown with Connecticut on April 6. But first up, Stanford gets the Kansas City Regional winner, either Kentucky or third-seeded Oklahoma on Sunday. In a game unlike any the Cardinal have had all year, they scored a season-low tying 24 first-half points, then surged in the minutes following halftime, only to watch center Jayne Appel foul out and Nnemkadi Ogwumike miss her final eight shots from the field. After that, Stanford found itself trailing in the final minutes until Kayla Pedersen tied it with 27 seconds to go. Then things really got crazy. With Stanford doubling Xavier’s outstanding post player, Amber Harris, every time she caught the ball in the block, Coach Kevin McGuff designed a play where Harris received the ball 15 feet out, which still prompted a Stanford double team, leaving an opening in the lane for a cutting Dee Dee Jernigan. But Jernigan, either too far under the hoop or just surprised at being so wide open, blew the layup when Harris passed underneath. But Stanford couldn’t clear the boards, and Harris again drew the double team away from the basket leaving Jernigan wide open a second time. And again, she blew the layup, as her disbelieving teammates on the floor and on the bench looked on, this time with just nine seconds remaining. “I think in this situation, the best you can hope for is an opportunity, and we had that. We had great opportunities. The ball just didn’t go in,” McGuff said. Prior to Jernigan’s misses, Xavier’s April Phillips missed a free throw on a three-point opportunity that would have put the Musketeers up three with 1:40 remaining, then with 36 seconds to go, Special Jennings missed the front end of a one-and-one that could have potentially put Xavier up four. Any of the four opportunities could have put Stanford in a deep hole, but Xavier failed to convert any of the four. With just four seconds remaining, Stanford got its chance. But remember, March Madness for the women isn’t the same as it is for the men. While the men’s tournament has been defined by buzzer beaters, the women don’t possess the same end-to-end speed like UCLA’s Tyus Edney or the physical strength to throw three-quarter passes like Grant Hill did to Christian Laettner. What the women do have is anticipation and preparation, and in this case, a well-designed play from Stanford assistant coach Amy Tucker’s playbook. The key? Several tenths of seconds put back on the clock when the officials reviewed Kayla Pedersen’s time out request after rebounding Jernigan’s second miss. With the clock reset to 4.4 seconds from the initial 4.0 seconds, Stanford had their opening, as Coach Tara VanDerveer described. “First, we watched the Oklahoma game yesterday where Notre Dame’s women had the game with four seconds and they kinda threw a long pass. We really talked with our team about it. Every game that’s on, we talk about things, and said that’s a long time. In fact, Lindy (La Rocque) and I were talking as we were walking to the bus (on the way to the game) to give the ball to a fast guard and let them go to the basket. That was on our mind, not knowing we would need that play, but our team had (that) sense.” Again, McGuff wasn’t to be outwitted. With the additional time on the clock, the Xavier coach knew what he had to guard against. “What we wanted to do was not allow Stanford to catch the ball heading up the court. We wanted them to have to go toward the baseline. They got a running start, and I think that was the key that (Pohlen) caught it on the run up the court.” Tucker’s key contribution: a play that utilized a pair of staggered screens, to get Pohlen headed towards the hoop when she received the inbounds pass. The junior point guard took it from there, beating a pair of defenders to the hoop for a layup, just a tick before the buzzer. “We were a little tentative to head her off of try to avoid a foul. And she had a great shot,” McGuff said. “Jeanette, if you’ve watched us during the year, has missed some layups going to the basket, but this was by far, her biggest shot of her career at Stanford,” VanDerveer said. With 24 consecutive wins coming in, Stanford hadn’t experienced any close games in their run. In fact in winning 34 of 35, the Cardinal had established a 24 point average margin of victory. Besides, Pohlen’s game winner, Stanford got big makes from Joslyn Tinkle and Perdersen, with Ogwumike misfiring and Appel disqualified with 3:58 remaining. Third-seeded Xavier figured to bother Stanford with their size, and interior standouts Harris and 6’4” Ta’Shia Phillips. But Phillips fouled out with 5:32 to play after scoring just two points. And while the Musketeers managed to outwork Stanford on the glass with a 24-17 rebounding edge after halftime, they didn’t take advantage by converting the extra opportunities. Xavier hit only 1 of 14 from three for the game and shot just 36 percent in the first half, when they trailed throughout despite Stanford’s similar shooting woes. Stanford was led by Pedersen with 18 points and 10 rebounds and Ogwumike with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Xavier got 20 points and 7 rebounds from Harris and 11 points and four assists from Phillips.