PALO ALTO, Calif. — It wasn’t the Cinderella storybook ending the Iowa women’s basketball team had hoped for.

The eighth-seeded Hawkeyes (20-14) couldn’t get past a blistering hot start against No. 1-seeded and second-ranked Stanford (33-1), falling 96-67, on the Cardinal home court at the Maples Pavilion on Monday night.

Junior Kachine Alexander paced Iowa with a career-high 27 points and six rebounds, and freshmen Jaime Printy had nine points on 4-of-8 shooting. Gabby Machado added nine points and seven rebounds.

“You always want to come out and win,” Alexander said. “You can’t really hang your head too long. We don’t graduate anyone. Now we know what we need to do over the summer.”

Senior Rosalyn Gold-Onwude, who had 26 points and shot 7-of-9 from behind the arc, led Stanford. Sophomore Nnemkadi Ogwumike, the Pac-10 Player of the Year, had 23 points and nine rebounds.

Stanford possessed the advantage in size, shooting, rebounding, and getting to the free-throw line. With eight Stanford players standing 6-2 or taller, the Hawkeyes had trouble stopping the inside presence.

And when they did, they couldn’t contain the outside shooting.

The Cardinal shot 18-of-22 from the field and a perfect 8-of-8 from the 3-point line to build a 21-point lead before stretching it to a 61-34 edge at halftime. Stanford shot 68.8 percent in the first half and held Iowa to just 42.4 percent.

The loss ends Iowa’s season and its run in the NCAA Tournament. It was the first time since 2002 the Hawkeyes had advanced to the second round.

— by Evelyn Lau