California Faces Georgia For Spot In Final Four

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) – Stanford and California were expected to settle the Spokane Regional.

Nobody told Georgia.

Instead of the final chapter of a Stanford-California trilogy, the regional final on Monday night will feature the Golden Bears (31-3) and the Lady Bulldogs (28-6), with Georgia looking for its first Final Four trip since 1999. The Lady Bulldogs stunned top-seed Stanford 61-59 in the regional semifinals on Saturday night.

For California and second-year coach Lindsay Gottlieb, this is new.

The Bears have never advanced past the round of 16 until they knocked off LSU on Saturday. Now they have a shot at being the first team from the western U.S. not named Stanford to reach the Final Four since 1988.