COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA POSTSEASON TOURNAMENTS : WOMEN’S NCAA WEST REGIONAL : Stanford, Purdue Easily Advance to Final

The Stanford women’s basketball team made the most of its home-court advantage Thursday night, defeating Colorado, 78-62, in the NCAA West Regional semifinals before a sellout crowd of 7,000 in Maples Pavilion.

The second-seeded Cardinal will play top-seeded Purdue, which defeated Texas A&M;, 82-56, in the regional final at 9 p.m. Saturday.

The Stanford-Colorado game was a rematch of last season’s West Regional semifinal in which the Buffaloes ended the Cardinal’s hopes of repeating as national champion.

Although Stanford let a 12-point, first-half lead slip away, it made sure Thursday’s game would not be a repeat of last season.

Stanford led at the half, 41-34, but Colorado went on an 18-10 run to take a 52-51 lead with 12 minutes left.

Anita Kaplan then got a defensive rebound and made a layup at the other end to spark Stanford’s 15-8 run that led to a 66-60 lead with 6:47 left.

The Cardinal outscored the Buffaloes, 12-2, in the end to secure the victory.

Kaplan, a 6-foot-5 center, scored 16 of her game-high 29 points in the first half. Christy Hedgpeth, added 17 for the Cardinal (25-5).

Jamillah Lang scored 16 points to lead the third-seeded Buffaloes (27-5).

Purdue 82, Texas A&M; 56--The No. 13 seeded Aggies, reaching the West semifinals in their first NCAA tournament, were overmatched from the start.

Texas A&M;’s Kelly Cerny scored first, 20 seconds into the game, but 2 minutes 20 seconds later, Purdue’s Tonya Kirk stole the ball and made a layup. Cerny fouled Kirk on the play, Kirk made her free throw and the Boilermakers were off and running.

Top-seeded Purdue (28-4) broke away for good with 12:40 left in the half when Jannon Roland made a three-point shot to spark Purdue on a 16-5 run over the next 6:10. Purdue led, 29-16.

After Cerny made a layup, the Boilermakers scored the next 10 points to take a 21-point lead, 39-18, with 3:11 left.

“We made too many mistakes,” Texas A&M; Coach Lynn Hickey said.

Purdue led by as many as 38 points in the second half.

Leslie Johnson led Purdue with 23 points and seven rebounds. Texas A&M; (23-8) was led by 6-4 center Martha McClelland with 15 points.