The path to March Madness for Stanford women’s basketball (19-13, 8-10 ACC) became much more shaky after the final buzzer sounded in Miami on Wednesday afternoon. The Cardinal saw its ACC tournament stay end almost as soon as it began with a first round 83-76 overtime loss to Miami (17-14, 8-10 ACC).

The No. 12 Cardinal pulled some late-game heroics with an 11-0 run in the final three minutes of regulation to knot the score at 70-70, but the No. 12 Hurricanes scored the first points in overtime and never looked back. 

Stanford was simply unable to stop Miami’s Ra Shaya Kyle, who led all scorers with 25 points while collecting 11 rebounds. Junior forward Courtney Ogden led the late-game push for the Cardinal, recording 22 points, six assists and five rebounds. 

Both teams were heavily led by their starters. Miami’s bench was only responsible for six points while Stanford’s bench unit contributed 14 points, with the scoring being split between junior guard Chloe Clardy and freshman forward Alexandra Eschmeyer. Four of Stanford’s starting five finished the game with double-digit points, and Miami had three starters finish the game with 20 points or more. 

Even with the loss, Wednesday’s game capped a week in which Stanford’s young core earned conference recognition. On Tuesday, freshmen Lara Somfai and Hailee Swain were both selected to the ACC All-Freshman Team. It has been two decades since a pair of Stanford freshmen landed on a league’s all-freshman team. 

Junior forward Nunu Agara was also honored by the conference as she was voted to the All-ACC Second Team for the second consecutive season. Agara is leading Stanford in scoring with 15.2 points per game while also grabbing 8.6 rebounds per game.

Now, Stanford heads into an uncertain wait. The Cardinal will learn their postseason fate when the NCAA Tournament and WBIT brackets are announced on Sunday, March 15.