CHICAGO — Tara VanDerveer obviously was relieved, but also a bit mystified about Stanford’s unlikely approach to reaching another Elite Eight.

“That was an absolute root canal,” VanDerveer said after the Cardinal had ground out a 55-46 victory over Missouri State on Saturday in the Chicago Regional semifinals of the women’s NCAA Tournament.

The second-seeded Cardinal (31-4) advanced to Monday night’s regional final against third-ranked Notre Dame (33-3), the region’s top seed, which downed No. 14 Texas A&M 87-80 in the first semifinal.

Stanford advanced despite shooting a season-low 25 percent, 17 of 68, including 3 of 29 from 3-point range. Alanna Smith, saddled with foul trouble, led the Cardinal with 13 points, and Anna Wilson came off the bench for 11 points.

“If you had told me we’d shoot 10 percent from 3 and win, I’d be surprised, but we did,” VanDerveer said.

The Cardinal led 43-35 after three quarters and extended it to 49-36 on a lay-in by Wilson with 5:27 remaining. Missouri State, which did not get its first field goal of the final period until 4:42 was left, answered with six consecutive points to make it 49-42.

Dijonai Carrington missed two foul shots with 2:21 left, and Jasmine Franklin countered with a layup to cut the lead to 49-44.

Smith, limited to 25 minutes by foul trouble, hit two free throws with 27.3 seconds left to put Stanford up 51-44, ending a five-minute scoring drought.

“Honestly, I think the feeling on the team was, we weren’t worried,” Smith said. “We knew that we can hit those shots, and we weren’t today, so we had to go to something else. I think Tara said it: you could tell that we just stayed with things no matter what our percentage was. No one was freaking out.”

Danielle Gitzen had 14 points and Franklin 11 for the 11th-seeded Lady Bears (25-10), who had won 24 of 26 after a 1-7 start. Missouri State also shot just 25 percent, 16 of 63, and was 2 of 13 from beyond the arc.

“Stanford is a great team, and they’re very long, and I think that it definitely was disruptive having their long arms and getting into passes,” said Gitzen, the lone senior on the roster. “But, I think also we got good looks, we just couldn’t hit them at the end of the day.”

Stanford led 28-19 at the half, but saw Missouri State pull within 38-35 during a dismal offensive quarter by the Cardinal, who made just two of their first 16 shots in the period.

Shannon Coffee hit a 3-pointer from the right top with 34 seconds left and Carrington curled in a twisting layup in the closing seconds to put the Cardinal up 43-35 entering the final period.

Smith sat for most of the third quarter after picking up her third foul at the 8:13 mark. She returned with just under four minutes left, but was called for her fourth foul with 1:13 left in the quarter.

The Cardinal offset a sluggish offensive first half with stifling defense.

Stanford, which led 16-10 after one quarter, missed 11 of its final 12 shots in the second period. The Cardinal also made just 1 of 17 3-point attempts in the first half.

Missouri State did not score from the field over the final 5:51 of the half. Gitzen had 10 first-half points for the Lady Bears, making 5 of 9 shots, but the rest of the team was a combined 3-for-24.

Although neither team shot well in the first quarter, Stanford closed the period with an 8-2 run. Missouri State did not have a field goal over the final 4:25, missing its final five shots and 10 of its last 11.

The Cardinal made just 4 of 17 shots in the first quarter, including 1 of 8 from beyond the arc, but was 7-for-8 from the free-throw line.

Stanford, which won its 12th straight since an 88-48 loss to Oregon, had 20 offensive rebounds, but managed just 15 second-chance points.

“I’ve never seen, I can’t ever remember a Stanford team that has struggled so much from the field,” VanDerveer said. “Not just 3s, but layups. To move on to the Elite Eight with a game like that, I’m so glad that’s not our last game, because I really believe we’re a lot better than that.”

Jim Hoehn is a freelance writer.