What a difference a half makes

Haley, trailed by Nadia, takes the ball upcourt. (Karen Ambrose Hickey/Stanford Athletics)

Fans who were expecting the Stanford women’s basketball team to easily leave UC Davis behind in a cloud of dust were – surprised? disappointed? dismayed? – when the Cardinal finally pulled out a 67-55 home win on Dec. 28 after a short holiday break.

The first two quarters were the most anxiety-producing with merely a 2-point cushion, 19-17, after the first quarter and a 2-point deficit, 30-32, at the half.

At that point, too, the Aggies had outrebounded the Cardinal 21-14.

Full-court press helps make the difference

And then came the third quarter, after head coach Tara VanDerveer probably had given the team a good talking-to and instituted a full-court press that worked in its favor.

After some more back and forth, Stanford finally went ahead for good when freshman guard Haley Jones made a basket to put her team up 42-40.

Right after that, an Aggies player was assessed with a technical for an intentional foul. Freshman guard Hannah Jump made a free throw to add another point to the margin, and the quarter ended 46-41.

The final score, 67-55, was the team’s largest lead.

Stat sheet shows Stanford’s advantages

Stanford’s more aggressive stance in the second half led to a rebound advantage of 35-33. Stanford also had more assists, 12-11; more blocks, 8-1; more steals, 7-3; more free throws, 11-5; and fewer turnovers, 14-20.

On the other hand, UCD’s 10 3-pointers on 50 percent shooting helped to keep it in contention, while Stanford managed only four, 30.8 percent. Sophomore guard Lexie Hull contributed three of the 3’s. Her twin, Lacie, had the other.

Not only did Haley put the team ahead in the third quarter, she led it in both total points, 21, and rebounds, 11, for the first double-double of her college career.

Nadia goes for a layup. (Tony Avelar/AP)

Lexie also was in double figures with 14 points. Senior forward Nadia Fingall had 11.

Starters were Haley, Lexie, Nadia, junior guard Kiana Williams and freshman forward Fran Belibi.

Three players still out

Two senior guards, DiJonai Carrington and Mikaela Brewer, were still in street clothes. Junior forward Maya Dodson, who has yet to play this season, was absent. No reason was given, but during the Behind the Bench after the game, Tara said, “We’ve gotta heal the heel. It’ll be a while.”

One of the game’s most memorable plays came during the second quarter. Fran blocked a shot, Lacie grabbed the rebound, took a few steps and hurled the ball to Fran, who scored, bringing the crowd of 2,871 to its feet.

Fran followed that up with yet another block on UCD’s next possession. She later had one more to reach her total of three for the game.

UCD coaches taught Tara the Princeton offense

After the game, assistant coach Tempie Brown started the Behind the Bench by saying that Tara learned the team’s present offense, the Princeton, from Aggies coaches, including head coach Jennifer Gross.

Anna scored 9 points and played tough defense.
(Tony Avelar/AP)

Tempie was joined by the four seniors, Mikaela, DiJonai, Nadia and guard Anna Wilson, who answered several questions from fans.

When Tara came out after the post-game press conference, she complimented the seniors. “Our seniors are doing a great job of mentoring our younger players.”

She then said she was glad the game wasn’t on TV. Still, “this is a great game for us to learn from them,” she said, referring to the advice from UCD coaches.

As for the 11-1 team’s lone loss at Texas, 64-69 on Dec. 22, she said, “They took it to us.”

Tough conference schedule lies ahead

Nevertheless, “we’ve had a great preseason. … We’re going to be ready for conference play,” which will be challenging.

In addition to Stanford at No. 5 in AP’s Dec. 23 rankings, four other Pac-12 teams are in the top 25. They are Oregon No. 2, Oregon State No. 3, UCLA No. 10 and Arizona 18.

Conference play starts with Stanford hosting Washington State at 7 p.m. Jan. 3 and Washington at 2 p.m. Jan. 5. Both games will be televised by Pac-12 Networks.

Team spreads holiday cheer with win over Tennessee

Her teammates, including Nadia (4), congratulate Kiana (23) as she  leaves the game shortly before it ended.

Santa arrived a week early for fans of Stanford women's basketball as his team of helpers delivered a sleigh full of goodies Dec. 18 during the 78-51 victory over the visiting Lady Vols of Tennessee, then ranked No. 23 in AP's national poll.

Senior forward Nadia Fingall, who usually scores closer to the basket, started the merriment on the team’s first possession by hitting a 3-pointer for a go-ahead score of 3-2.

This followed Tennessee’s taking the tip-off and scoring for its only lead. The visitors managed to tie the score for less than two minutes during the entire game. That was about as much hope as they could give their orange-clad fans seated behind the bench and scattered throughout the crowd of 4,676.

Kiana does a little victory dance in the locker room after the game.

Kiana scores her 1,000^th point

Later, during the fourth quarter, junior guard Kiana Williams made a free throw that gave her 1,000 points for her collegiate career, the 41^st player to do so in the program’s history.

Upping their season record to 10-0, the team looked entirely deserving of AP’s No. 1 spot by expending terrific effort both offensively and defensively.

The only missteps were 13 turnovers, still an improvement from previous games. Several came from travel calls and one from three seconds in the key.

Tennessee’s coaching staff didn’t help the Vols’ cause by getting a technical foul in the third quarter. Cardinal head coach Tara VanDerveer sent freshman Hannah Jump out for the free throws, both of which she made.

Amy chats with Fran in the locker room.

Fran fouls out

While Tennessee had 14 fouls, Stanford had 13, five of them by freshman forward Fran Belibi. She had to leave the game late in the fourth quarter, but not before contributing 7 points, three rebounds and three blocks in 14 minutes.

Maybe one of the coaches should do what women’s basketball administrator Amy Tucker did as associate head coach early in the stellar career of forward Jayne Appel, '10. On Jayne's locker she attached a sign that said, “Thou shalt not foul.”

Before the game started, the Lady Vols went through various stretches and other warm-up exercises joined by the young son of head coach Kellie Harper and assistant coach John Harper. The boy wore a warm-up shirt with 14 and Harper on the back.

USA Basketball honors Fran, Kiana

Just after the national anthem sung by the Greene Middle School choir of Palo Alto, Tara presented plaques to Fran and Kiana honoring their playing on USA Basketball teams during the summer.

The starters were Nadia, Kiana, junior forward Alyssa Jerome, sophomore guard Lexie Hull and freshman guard Haley Jones.

Senior guards DiJonai Carrington and Mikaela Brewer along with junior forward Maya Dodson were again in street clothes, but sophomore guard Lacie Hull, who had missed the Ohio State game with an injury, was back in action.

The first quarter ended 20-12 after Stanford held the visitors scoreless for just over five minutes.

The advantage widened to 34-24 during the half, when Luna Dance Studio of Palo Alto provided entertainment.

In addition to Hannah’s free throws following Tennessee’s technical, a third-quarter highlight came when the timeout camera focused on several members of the men’s basketball team who were there to back the women. When the quarter-ending buzzer sounded, the score had again widened, this time to 58-40.

Kiana led the team in scoring with 19 points in a game-high 34 minutes. She also had four rebounds, seven assists and one steal.

Ashten makes one of her three blocks.

Lexie, Ashten join Kiana in double figures

Lexie with 11 points (plus nine rebounds, two assists, one block and three steals in 29 minutes) and freshman forward Ashten Prechtel with 10 also were in double figures. In addition, Ashten contributed eight rebounds, three assists, three blocks and a steal.

In all, the team had 11 3’s: two each by Nadia, Lexie, Kiana, Ashten and Hannah plus one by senior guard Anna Wilson.

All 12 available players got in on the fun, and most contributed in one or more ways. Thus they gave their team advantages in shooting, 42.6-27.8 percent; free-throw shooting, 75-54.5 percent; rebounds, 50-44; assists, 14-7; blocks, 9-5; and steals, 7-6.

The team travels to Kiana’s home state of Texas to take on the Longhorns at 10 a.m. Dec. 22 before taking a short holiday break. ESPN2 will air the game.

The pre-conference season ends with UC Davis visiting at 2 p.m. Dec. 28 followed by a Behind the Bench.

Photos by Stanford Athletics

Winning – It’s habit-forming

Junior guard Estella Moschkau (standing) and senior guard DiJonai Carrington (in T-shirt) like what they see.

Stanford women’s basketball players have developed a habit that its fans and everyone else connected to the team hope will continue. It’s called winning.This habit has led the team to compile a 9-0 record and a No. 1 AP national ranking.

Its latest manifestation was a 71-52 victory over the visiting Ohio State Buckeyes on Dec. 15. 

According to the Stanford Daily, this was the 1,100^th win in program history.

With a two-week break for finals behind them, all 11 available players saw action, and most of them helped to assure the win.

Four players on injury list

The major downside was that the three players who have been sidelined recently were joined by a fourth, sophomore guard Lacie Hull, who had a walking boot on her right foot.

Also out with injuries are senior guard DiJonai Carrington, senior guard Mikaela Brewer and junior forward Maya Dodson.

Lexie makes her way toward the basket.

However, Lacie’s twin, Lexie, gave her and her teammates plenty of reason to cheer. The guard stole the ball a career-record seven times, according to the Pac-12 Network announcers, on her way to 13 points and three rebounds in 30 minutes.

Undaunted by the defense, Haley gets ready to shoot.

Haley, one of four in double figures, leads with 15

Joining her in double figures was freshman guard Haley Jones with a team-high 15 points to go with seven rebounds, six assists, one block and two steals in a team-high 34 minutes. She was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week for the second time.

Fran towers over her Buckeye defender.

Freshman forward Fran Belibi had 13 points, a team-high eight rebounds, one assist and one steal in 20 minutes, while junior guard Kiana Williams had 13 points, six rebounds and two assists in 31 minutes.

Freshman guard Hannah Jump, as has become her own habit, gave the crowd of 2,970 lots to cheer by making three 3’s for 9 points in seemingly effortless fashion.

For the game, the team had six 3’s, while Ohio State had four. The Cardinal shot 50 percent overall, compared with 38.6 percent for the visitors.

Free-throw shooting was somewhat improved at 71.4 percent in a game in which each team had only nine fouls. The first quarter was foul-free.

Too many turnovers

The one major flaw in this game was the 21 turnovers, many of them from passes that went to a Buckeye or from lapses that allowed a Buckeye to swipe the ball.

Both teams had 15 steals, but OSU had 24 turnovers, while Stanford had 15 assists to OSU’s nine.

The starting five were senior forward Nadia Fingall, who was first to score after a steal by Lexie; junior forward Alyssa Jerome; Lexie; Kiana and Haley.

The game had sentimental significance for head coach Tara VanDerveer, who coached at Ohio State before coming to Stanford in 1985.

With most students gone for the winter break, no student contingent such as the band was there. Even the traditional Conga on the Court after the first quarter had to recruit one of the kids to lead.

Trinkling Team entertains fans at halftime

Halftime entertainment that held many fans spellbound came from the youngsters of the TR Trinkling Team from Daly City.

Working in pairs, six of them each slapped two long bamboo poles rhythmically on the floor while other team members hopped back and forth between them with their arms behind their backs. Overseen by their coach, the maneuvers became increasing more intricate and challenging.

Speaking of challenging, the Cardinal’s next challenge comes at 7 p.m. Dec. 18 against Tennessee in Maples. It will be followed by a 10 a.m. Dec. 22 game at Texas. Pac-12 Networks will air the Tennessee game. ESPN2 will carry the Texas game.

Photos by Don Feria/ISIPhotos.com

Players learn the importance of happiness

All Stanford student athletes have access to an array of resources to help them physically, academically and mentally.

Fred Luskin, PhD

The women’s basketball team has an additional resource, short weekly sessions with Dr. Fred Luskin, senior consultant for wellness education with Stanford’s health and human performance center.

Although he’s a world renowned authority on the benefits of forgiveness, with the team “the heart of what I do is more along the lines of the happiness stuff,” he said in a recent phone interview.

He teaches a happiness class for the university and was “surprised at how hard these young people (Stanford students) are on themselves.”

“Being the best will never make you happy”

“It’s a way of the culture. We haven’t taught them that just being the best will never make you happy.”

Therefore, he reminds the players “to be kind to themselves when they fail.”

“It’s good to win, but it’s better to be better and to like themselves,” he said, adding that such people tend to win more often.

The difference between wanting to win and having to win is that the latter causes a lot of stress.

He meets with the team in the locker room for about 15 minutes preceding a practice. This session always includes meditation and the use of positive imagery, such as what each player wants to accomplish in the upcoming practice.

Associate head coach Kate Paye added that he also talks about mindfulness, stress reduction techniques, breathing techniques and wellness.

Players find the sessions helpful

The players enjoy these sessions, she said, and find that the things he talks about are helpful. “If it helps one, two, three – it’s helpful,” she said.

She called him a “wonderful teacher who cares about our team.”

He has done some work with the men’s tennis team and the women’s beach volleyball team, but this is the third year he has worked with WBB.

He started at the request of head coach Tara VanDerveer. “Being able to have Tara as a teacher is a life gift” to the players, he said.

Because his time with the team is so limited, he hasn’t had much time to talk with individual players.

However, he goes to as many games as possible and sits in the family section, where he enjoys meeting the players’ parents and other relatives.

Therapy dogs visit the team

Players enjoy a visit by therapy dogs. (Stanford Athletics)

Yet another example of helping with stress reduction is the recent visit by seven therapy dogs, courtesy of Martha Kessler, executive director of finance and administration for the Department of Health Research and Policy, Spectrum-Translational Research Program, Population Health Sciences, Basic Science Shared Services Consortium and the Department of Structural Biology. 

She also coordinates the university’s therapy pet visits to de-stress student, staff and faculty events.

“Quite possibly the best way to way to end a practice in the history of basketball practices,” says a recent SWBB tweet.

As the “Peanuts” characters say, “Happiness is a warm puppy.”

A headline-worthy win

Lexie is all alone as she adds a trey to  her 21 points.

While watching a Stanford women’s basketball game, I’ll sometimes think of a headline for my report.

During the third quarter of the team’s 88-69 victory over the visiting Buffalo Bulls on Nov. 24, for example, I thought of “Hot-handed Hull” after sophomore guard Lexie Hull went on a spree to help boost the score from a tight 49-45 at the 5:01 mark to a more comfortable 56-45 at 3:27. Altogether she scored 11 points during that quarter.

I scrapped that headline because everyone had contributed in some way by the time the final buzzer sounded.

“A great win,” Tara says

“This was a great win for us,” head coach Tara VanDerveer said during the Behind the Bench that followed the game.

Lexie wound up with 21 points, three rebounds, four assists and one block during her 31 minutes.

Going for a layup, Ashten soars over her defender.

Freshman forward Ashten Prechtel, a major force under the basket, recorded her career-first double-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and one steal in 22 minutes.

Also in double figures was junior guard Kiana Williams with 14 points, five rebounds and seven assists in 39 minutes. There were loud cheers for her and Lexie when they returned to the bench with about minute left to go.

Finally, freshman guard Haley Jones was in double figures, too, with 10 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal in 26 minutes.

Team makes a dozen 3’s

The now 5-0 team showed its 3-point shooting prowess with a total of 12: four by Lexie, three by freshman guard Hannah Jump, two each by Kiana and junior forward Estella Moschkau, and one by junior forward Alyssa Jerome.

Alyssa gets her hand on an attempt by Buffalo's Theresa Onwuka.

It also buffaloed the Bulls in several categories: rebounds, 44-38; assists, 21-14; and blocks, 10-0.

On the other hand, Stanford had 15 turnovers to Buffalo’s 10 and only five steals to Buffalo’s 10.

Free-throw shooting was mediocre at 6-of-13, or 46.2 percent.

The starters were senior forward Nadia Fingall, Alyssa, Lexie, senior guard DiJonai Carrington and Kiana. All 13 available players got into the game.

Mikaela (left) and Maya rebound for their teammates during warmups.

Junior forward Maya Dodson was still wearing a boot, but senior forward Mikaela Brewer had shed hers.

Associate head coach Kate Paye started the Behind the Bench by saying, “We have a tremendous amount of respect” for Buffalo.

Buffalo keeps the game tight most of the way through

Although Buffalo never led, it kept the game tight with the first quarter ending at 19-17, the second at 35-32 and the third at 63-52. It was during that quarter that the Bulls launched a full-court press that was only partially effective and was soon abandoned.

This game was “a great experience for our team,” Kate said.

She was joined by three of the freshmen, Hannah, Haley and forward Fran Belibi. They said they call themselves the Funky Four. (Ashten arrived a few minutes later after a press conference.)

Although they were highly touted during their recruitment, “they’re better than advertised,” Kate said. They caught on fast to the college game, and “they each bring different strengths to the game.”

The Stanford women cheer as Fran dunks during warmups.

Unlike her classmates, who said they had started playing basketball in about third or fourth grade, Fran said she didn’t start until her freshman year. Now she can dunk.

Both Kate and Tara praised the returning players for their leadership in helping the freshmen. “It’s really fun to see how much they’re improving,” Tara said, referring to the freshmen.

Hannah said she was surprised at how quickly they became friends with the rest of the team.

One fan asked why DiJonai has played limited minutes – 16 in this game. Noting that she had off-season surgery and couldn’t practice during the summer, Tara said, “DiJonai will be there when we need her.”

Estella

Reflecting on the game, Tara said, “The highlight for me was Estella’s two 3’s.”

Estella usually doesn’t get much playing time, but she made the most of her six minutes in this game, making both of her 3’s, much to the delight of her teammates.

Team to travel north to Canada for Thanksgiving

Looking ahead to the Greater Victoria Invitational tournament in British Columbia during the Thanksgiving break, Nov. 28-30, Tara said it “will be extremely competitive. That’s what we want in November.”

Stanford will play California Baptist at 7:30 p.m. Thanksgiving Day and either Syracuse or Houston on Nov. 29 and another game on Nov. 30. Times for the second two games will be determined by the outcomes of preceding games.

Also in the tournament are Green Bay, Bowling Green, Mississippi State and the University of San Francisco.

After Dead Week for final academic preparations and finals the week of Dec. 9-13, the Cardinal will return to Maples to play Ohio State at 5:30 p.m.  Dec. 15 and Tennessee at 7 p.m. Dec. 18. Both will be televised by Pac-12 Networks.

 (Photos by Erin Chang/ISIPhotos.com)

Revenge of the nerds

Lexie goes for a jump shot over two Bulldog defenders. (Mike Rasay/isiphotos.com)

In a game that was a nail-biter right down to the last few seconds of overtime, the Stanford women’s basketball team gutted out a 76-70 victory over the visiting Gonzaga Bulldogs on Nov. 17.

Sophomore guard Lexie Hull, who with her twin, Lacie, shares her hometown of Spokane with Gonzaga, helped greatly by scoring 8 points and making an important rebound in the final three minutes of OT.

Anna 

Senior guard Anna Wilson then helped to ice the game by making three free throws during the final minute or so to score her only points of the night – but they were crucial, too.

Thus the Cardinal remained unbeaten at 4-0 and avenged a 79-73 loss to Gonzaga in Spokane in December.

Lead changes, ties keep the game tight

It was a tight game from start to finish. The lead changed 10 times, and the score was tied 13 times.

Gonzaga prevailed 17-16 after the first quarter and 31-28 at the half. 

Then the Cardinal returned from the locker room with seemingly renewed purpose, prevailing 45-43 after the third quarter and tying the score at 62-62 after the fourth quarter to send the game into the five-minute OT.

Gonzaga’s biggest lead was 5 points with just over a minute to go in the second quarter, while Stanford enjoyed its largest lead, 8 points, with under a minute left in overtime.

Lexie drives to the basket. (George Nikitin, AP)

Kiana, Lexie, Haley all in double figures

Lexie finished with 20 points in 41 minutes, while junior guard Kiana Williams had a team- and game-high of 22 points in 43 minutes. Freshman guard Haley Jones also was in double figures with 11. Some fans in the southwest corner held up posters spelling out “HALEY” every time she was in action.

The game lasted nearly 2 ½ hours, in part because of numerous jump balls plus all the fouls, 25 for Gonzaga and 26 for Stanford, indicative of a very physical game that saw players hitting the deck time and again.

Two Gonzaga players fouled out, as did sophomore guard Lacie Hull. There also were numerous time outs, especially in the last few minutes.

Hannah returns with face mask

Freshman guard Hannah Jump, wearing a face mask, was back in action after missing the last game. She played only four minutes but had 2 points. Senior forward Maya Dodson and senior guard Mikaela Brewer, both wearing walking boots, were still out.

The starters were Kiana, Lexie, junior forward Alyssa Jerome, senior forward Nadia Fingall and junior guard DiJonai Carrington.

In keeping with the close score, rebounds were almost even with 40 by Gonzaga and 39 by Stanford. Gonzaga had 14 turnovers, while Stanford had 15.

Each team managed five 3-pointers. Lexie and Kiana had two each while Lacie had one.

Free throws prove problematical

The game probably wouldn’t have been nearly as close if Stanford had had more success with free throws. The Cardinal hit only 17 of 29, or 58.6 percent, while the Bulldogs made 23 of 29, or 79.3 percent. That’s 12 points that the Cardinal potentially could have had.

One statistic that really stands out in Stanford’s favor is blocks. Gonzaga had none, while Stanford had seven, thanks to one each by Alyssa, Nadia, DiJonai, Haley, freshman forward Ashten Prechtel, freshman forward Fran Belibi and sophomore guard Jenna Brown. Stanford also had nine steals (three by Kiana) to Gonzaga’s six.

Although attendance was only 2,863, the crowd was often loud, sometimes to express displeasure with the officiating, but more often to appreciate good plays or to urge the team toward success, especially near the end.

It was a long afternoon for some fans who had attended the women’s volleyball game against UCLA at noon. However, they saw both teams win, as the volleyball team outscored UCLA 3-0.

After a well-deserved week off from competition, SWBB players will return to action by hosting Buffalo at 2 p.m. Nov. 24.