Fun for everyone except USC

All 15 members of the Stanford women’s basketball team got into the act as the team defeated the University of Southern California 86-59 on Jan. 27 at Maples Pavilion.

Not everyone scored, but nearly everyone made at least one positive contribution such as a rebound or assist. Worth noting is that freshman forward Kailee Johnson played her four minutes without the face mask she has worn since her nose was broken in the New Mexico game Dec. 16. She had one rebound.

As usual, much of the heavy lifting was done by senior forward Chiney Ogwumike, who scored 30 points and had 12 rebounds, three assists and two blocks in a team-high 34 minutes. This was her 10th game with at least 30 points and her 15th with a double-double.

Four join Chiney in double figures

She wasn’t the only player in double figures, though. Major contributions came from junior point guard Amber Orrange and freshman guard Lili Thompson with 12 points each, redshirt senior forward Mikaela Ruef with 11 and freshman guard Karlie Samuelson with 10.

Mikaela added 10 rebounds for her third double-double of the season. In her 31 minutes, she also recorded one assist and two steals. Her point total included her second 3-pointer of the season.

Amber had one steal, six assists and no turnovers in 23 minutes. Playing 24 minutes, Lili had one rebound and three assists.

Undefeated in Pac-12 play so far, the Cardinal dominated the second-place Trojans in rebounds, 42-28, and assists, 22-9. The teams were even in blocks with two each, while the Trojans had four steals to the Cardinal’s three.

For the game, Stanford shot 50.8 percent to USC’s 37.5 percent. Stanford hit 78.9 percent of its free throws (an improvement over some games), while USC hit 68.2 percent. Mikaela, Amber and Karlie were all perfect from the free-throw line.

Team hits seven 3’s
Stanford prevailed from beyond the arc, hitting seven of its 20 attempts for 35 percent. USC hit two of 15 for 13.3 percent.

The 3-point party came courtesy of Lili and Karlie, who had two each. Mikaela, senior forward Sara James and redshirt sophomore guard Alex Green had one each. The crowd of 3,360 was especially pleased by Alex’s trey in her six minutes on the court.

Stanford had only seven turnovers, while USC had nine. Personal fouls were close with 19 for Stanford and 20 for USC. The Trojans amassed four of them in less than two minutes into the second half.

Game goes on national TV

The game was nationally televised by ESPN2 with star commentating power provided by retired basketball greats Bill Walton and Rebecca Lobo. As Bill stood on the sidelines before the game, Lili’s father went to talk with him.

The game was witnessed in person by head coach Tara VanDerveer’s mother, Rita.

USC held the lead only twice and tied only twice. Otherwise, Stanford pulled steadily ahead, leading by as many as 28 points with 8:46 to go in the second half. With slightly more than three minutes left, the players who had put in the most time were on the bench, ceding the action to teammates making their first appearance of the evening.

With an 8-0 Pac 12 record and 19-1 overall, Stanford has two challenging games ahead as it hosts cross-bay rival Cal on Jan. 30 before visiting Berkeley on Feb. 2 for the second round of the Battle of the Bay. Cal’s conference record is 6-2, its overall record 14-5.