NCAA WOMEN’S SEMIFINALS : Stanford Hopes Third Try a Charm Against Tennessee

Stanford, the defending NCAA women’s basketball champion, nearly didn’t get a third shot at Tennessee this season.

The Cardinal had to come from as many as 10 points down in the second half to beat Georgia, 75-67, in the NCAA West Regional final Saturday night.

Next up for Stanford (26-5) is fourth-ranked Tennessee (28-5) at noon Saturday in New Orleans in the national semifinals. The Volunteers have defeated Stanford twice this season: on Nov. 25, 95-80, at Knoxville, Tenn., in the season opener for both teams; and Dec. 30, 84-77, at Hilton Head, S.C., in the Super Shootout tournament.

It will be the fifth time in the last six years and the seventh in the tournament’s 10-year history that Tennessee has reached the NCAA semifinals.

In the other semifinal, Connecticut (29-4) faces Virginia (30-2), the first meeting between UConn Coach Geno Auriemma and Virginia’s Debbie Ryan. Auriemma was Ryan’s assistant at Virginia.

“She let me do a lot of things that other coaches don’t allow their assistants, and I’ll always be grateful to her for it,” Auriemma said.

Ryan, who gained her 300th victory when Virginia beat Lamar on Saturday in the Midwest Regional final, returned the compliment. “Geno pushed me and made me a better coach,” she said. “I took a lot from him.”

Auriemma then said that Virginia is one of the few teams in the country that can beat Connecticut. Virginia was ranked No. 1 most of this season before losing out to Penn State in the last regular-season poll.

Stanford is hurting at a couple of positions.

The Cardinal is without senior center Trisha Stevens, who reinjured her right knee in Thursday’s 73-47 victory over Washington and underwent surgery to repair a ruptured tendon Friday morning at a Las Vegas hospital. Stevens is Stanford’s second all-time scorer.

Cardinal forward Julie Zeilstra is still limping from an Achilles’ tendon injury, but she had 17 points and 12 rebounds to lead the victory over Georgia. “We did not shoot especially well, but we did play defense very well,” Stanford Coach Trish VanDerveer said. “That helped us come back, and we got the momentum going.”

VanDerveer’s team trailed, 55-45, with 10:20 to play. Zeilstra made a layup with 6:57 leftthat capped a 7-0 run and gave Stanford its first lead of the half, 59-58.

Georgia came right back for a 61-60 lead at 5:45 on a three-point play by Stacey Ford, who led the Lady Bulldogs with 20 points.

But Stanford regained the lead for good with five minutes remaining when Val Whiting made a three-point play.