Saturday,  March 22, 2014 • Vol. 16--No. 249 • 27 of 38

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3-pointers.
• "Taylor has some great basketball instincts," VanDerveer said. "She's a phenomenal passer. She's been knocking down her shots. She can guard people when she works really hard at it."
• Five things to know about the Florida State-Iowa State and South Dakota-Stanford games:
• CYCLONES SHORT ON SIZE: Iowa State isn't worried about its size disadvantage against Florida State. All-Big 12 forward Hallie Christofferson is the only starter over 6-foot.
• "Since October, we haven't gotten any taller, so we've been playing undersized all season and we've gotten quality wins playing like that," guard Brynn Williamson said.
• CONTRASTING STYLES: Only two teams in the tournament, Florida Gulf Coast and UT Martin, make more 3-pointers than Iowa State. The Cyclones, who average nine a game, will be going against FSU's 2-3 zone defense, a style they typically don't see in the Big 12.
• The Seminoles love to feed Natasha Howard in the post and are 276th nationally at 4.1 3s a game.
• WHERE IT ALL STARTED: Ames is a special place to Florida State coach Sue Semrau. In 2001 she brought her first NCAA team to Hilton Coliseum, where it lost to Iowa State in the second round. Nine NCAA appearances have followed, including an Elite Eight in 2010.
• FSU senior associate athletics director Vanessa Fuchs and assistant coach Brooke Wyckoff played on the 2001 team.
• "You see things go full circle," Semrau said. "I remember the first game we played Tulane and just the joy that came from being in this environment at the NCAA tournament. It really got things rolling for Florida State. There is a satisfaction to where we've come from 13 years later."
• LAST VISIT WAS MEMORABLE: Stanford's VanDerveer knows how much Iowans love their women's basketball. She said the last time she visited the state was in February 1985, when she was the head coach at Ohio State. The Buckeyes won 56-47, but the most memorable statistic was the attendance at Carver-Hawkeye Arena -- a since-broken women's basketball-record 22,157.
• NOT MUCH TO LOSE: South Dakota coach Amy Williams and her players were all smiles Friday. The NCAA tournament wasn't on the Coyotes' radar when they lost their first four Summit League games. They advanced by winning their conference tournament.

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