There’s No Rule for the Cardinal

The team that couldn’t shoot straight is going to the national championship game.

Old Dominion, which had reached the women’s Final Four despite three sluggish performances in regional play, rediscovered its offense and brought down high-flying Stanford, 83-82, in overtime in the semifinals Friday night.

Ticha Penicheiro, the Portuguese flash who drives Old Dominion, scored the tying basket on a running shot with 1:28 left in overtime, then made a free throw with 50 seconds remaining to give the Lady Monarchs an 83-82 lead.

Stanford had a final chance after Penicheiro missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 23 seconds left. But Jamila Wideman missed a jumper, Vanessa Nygaard couldn’t hit on a follow and Wideman missed a three-point shot just before the buzzer.

So it will be Old Dominion (34-1) taking a 33-game winning streak to Sunday night’s title game against Tennessee or Notre Dame. It will be the Monarchs’ first appearance in the finals since winning the championship in 1985.

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

The Cardinal had won their four previous NCAA games by an average margin 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. Old Dominion had forced 28 in beating Stanford in December.

Penicheiro and Clarisse Machanguana led Old Dominion with 18 points each, Machanguana scoring all of her points in second half and overtime.

Kate Starbird led Stanford with 26 points. She scored 21 of those in the first half on seven-of-eight shooting, but went 0 for 6 from the field after halftime.