For all you basketball March Madness fans out there, there is another March Madness in a parallel universe being played right along with the men's game. 

That, of course, is the women's NCAA tourney to pick its national champion.  If you haven't been tuning in to the games this past week, you have missed some of the best basketball I have ever watched--men's or women's. 
The final four in San Antonio is now set with two Big 12 teams, Baylor and Oklahoma, squaring off against the  West Coast power, Stanford, which has lost only to UConn. 
UConn, the perennial power of the World, currently riding a 76-game-winning streak is the other Final Four finisher.  In the national semi-finals, it will be Oklahoma taking on Stanford while Baylor plays UConn in the nightcap.  The two winners will play Tuesday night to determine the NCAA women's national champion.

 

Coach Kim Mulkey, of the Baylor Bears,is nearly as much fun to watch as is her 6 ft. 8 in. post player as she cavorts on the sideline.
In the process of arriving at the finals in San Antonio,  two Number One seeds were sent packing.  The first to fall was Southestern conference champ Tennessee, who had no answer for Big 12 three-seed Baylor and its 6 ft. 8 in. Freshman phenom, Brittney Griner. The final score was 77-62 as Baylor won going away.
Three Seed Baylor followed that win with a come-from-behind 52-48 victory in the last four minutes over the Number Two Seed Duke to advance to the final four.  Down by eight with just three minutes to play, the young Bears, who start three Freshmen, stole the ball on an inbounds play for a quick bucket.  After another score, Griner got the ball on the low post, spun and laid it in.  The die was cast.  Baylor went on to squeek out the win.

Coach Coale and Her Sooners Celebrate their Regional tourament Championship.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma played an overtime thriller in its bracket in Kansas City against Nortre Dame, eventually winning when Senior Nyeshia Stevenson put the game on her shoulders scoring four free throws and a three pointer in the overtime to cinch the win for Oklahoma 82-71.
Stevenson picked up last evening against the scrappy, lightening fast Kentucky bunch who had manhandled Number One seed Nebraska, easily defeating them them to advance to its match against The Sooners.
The first six minutes belonged to the Wildcats as they quickly took a 17-2 lead on the Sooners, who seemed completely out of synch.  But Coach Sherri Coale, maybe the best coach in basketball right now, took a time-out, gave her team a motivational pep talk, challenging them to show their swagger and switched them into a zone defense.
That's when Oklahoma showed its own speed, going on a tear led again by Senior Nyeshia Stevenson who scored 17 points in the first half.  By halftime Oklahoma led by four. 
When Oklahoma needed it most, Nyeshia Stevenson answered.
The senior forward registered career highs in field goals (12) and steals (five) and finished one shy of her career-best in points (31) to ignite the No. 3 seed Sooners to an 88-68 win in the Kansas City Regional final over fourth-seeded Kentucky.
OU earned a second straight trip to the Final Four, its third since 2002, in front of 4,021 fans at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.
The Sooners fell behind 12-2 to start the game and looked somewhat dazed at Kentucky's speed.
So Stevenson took over.
"I had to," Stevenson said. "We needed something to happen. We came out flat for the first four minutes. We needed to get something going. I'm a senior, if not me, then who? ...I was not going home with a loss."
OU (27-10) will face Stanford in the NCAA Tournament semifinals at the Alamodome in San Antonio at 6 p.m. Sunday (ESPN-Cox cable 25).
"We're going back to the Final Four baby," said senior Amanda Thompson, who finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds. "No one believed we could do this."
OU coach Sherri Coale placed the lion's share of the team's first-half comeback on Stevenson's shoulders.
 "She was fantastic," Coale said. "She finally figured out she was fast with the ball in her hand. She has a great first step. When she got to the rim that first time and you could see the light in her eyes."
After scoring just four points in the first four minutes of the game, OU exploded for 84 over the final 36 minutes.
"We all came out really slow," Stevenson said. "I don't think any of us were ready to play."
OU switched from man to zone defense and Kentucky wasn't the same again.
"That might be the best zone defense we've played all year," said junior point guard Danielle Robinson, who finished with 16 points.
Victoria Dunlap led the Wildcats (28-8) with 31 points and 13 rebounds. No other Kentucky player scored in double figures.
With Robinson in foul trouble, OU pressed on with Jasmine Hartman taking over the point and Stevenson remaining the focal point on offense, scoring seven of her team's 15 points during that 4:23 span in the second half.
Stevenson was named most outstanding player of the regional and was joined on the all-region team by Thompson and Robinson.
After the emotional comeback, OU players hovered around a homemade trophy they built Tuesday in an effort to kill time before the game.
"It was a long day and playing late is tough," Coale said. "We had just played an overtime game and didn't want to take the kids out. So we found a way to occupy them by buying a bunch of junk to make a trophy."
Read more from this Tulsa World article at https://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/OU/article.aspx?subjectid=92&articleid=20100331_92_B1_Daniel121886

 

Stanford's Jane Appel (2) and teammates celebrate after Stanford's 55-53 win over Xavier.

 Meanwhile in the West Regional, Jeanette Pohlen made the biggest play yet to save Stanford's spectacular season, on a night the Cardinal was a far cry from its dominant self.
Xavier stood up to mighty Stanford, all night.
Pohlen drove the length of the court for the winning layin as the final buzzer sounded, lifting top-seeded Stanford past third-seeded Xavier 55-53 in the Sacramento Regional final Monday night for a third consecutive trip to the Final Four.
Xavier's Dee Dee Jernigan missed two wide-open layups in the closing 12 seconds that might have sent the Musketeers (30-4) to San Antonio for their first Final Four.
"I was too anxious," Jernigan said. "It was like a kid in a candy store. I was too open and didn't think it was coming out."
Stanford's Kayla Pedersen inbounded the ball underneath the Xavier basket to Pohlen with 4.4 seconds left. Pohlen dribbled all the way for the winning shot. The play was briefly reviewed and players from Stanford (35-1) erupted in celebration once officials ruled the basket counted.
"It was only four seconds left, so I had to weave my way in and out," said Pohlen, who added her previous winning basket came when she was in the fourth grade.
Xavier's Special Jennings collapsed to the floor, hands on her head, after the basket. Teammate April Phillips grabbed her head in disbelief at midcourt while Stanford's players jumped for joy.
A few minutes later, fresh victory T-shirts and hats in hand, fifth-year senior Rosalyn Gold-Onwude held Pohlen in a long embrace while teammates began cutting down the nets. After that, players grabbed pompoms from their cheerleaders and pumped them in the air, All-America center Jayne Appel dancing with a net around her neck.
https://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/ncaatournamentwomen/2011475518_stanford30.html
In the East Regional final it was business as usual for Number One Ranked UConn, which wasn' t even tested as it breezed through its Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight games winning big.
UConn's All-American Maya Moore stripped the tomahawks right out of the Tallahassee lassies' hands scoring 22 points while barely playing due to early foul trouble.  Needless to say, she had lots of scoring help from her supporting cast.

The Connecticut Huskies swear they're not perfect. Their last 76 opponents might disagree.
"It's the time of the year when you want to play your best," said Moore, selected as the regional's most outstanding player. "We're on a roll right now. We're confident. That's what you guys are seeing. We still have some things we need to improve. We're not perfect."
Really? Good luck to any opponent if they ever are.
Tina Charles controlled the paint with 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Huskies (37-0),

AP PHOTO Connecticut's Tina Charles celebrates with Kelly Faris (34) during Tuesday's victory over Florida State in Dayton, Ohio.

who advance to their eighth Final Four since 2000 where they will meet Baylor in the semifinals Sunday night.
The 40-point victory was the largest margin ever in a regional final.
"Boy, they make you play ugly," Florida State coach Sue Semrau said, shaking her head. "We missed a ton of shots but that's because they did such a great job in every area."
The Huskies are dominating unlike any team ever. No team has come within 12 points of them all season. They have won their first four games of the 2010 NCAA tournament by a record 188 points -- a margin of 47 points a game.
Coach Geno Auriemma was humbled by the latest bit of mastery.
"We get on this run and ... I don't know how to explain it," he said, sighing
heavily. "We're good, though."

Read more: https://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/sports/ci_14791601?source=rss#ixzz0jlVOaCGe