Players go home on a winning note

With senior forward Bonnie Samuelson and sophomore guard Karlie Samuelson accounting for more than half of its points, the Stanford women’s basketball team defeated UC Davis 71-59 in Maples on Dec. 22.

The victory was most welcome following a road trip on which the team lost 54-46 to Chattanooga on Dec. 17 and 59-40 to Tennessee on Dec. 20. Those losses dropped Stanford from No 7 to No. 16 in AP’s weekly poll.

Allowing for the trip back to Stanford, the team had little time to prepare for UC Davis. Hence, defeating the then 4-6 Aggies wasn’t as easy as one might expect. The Aggies stayed close and even led for much of the first half, which ended 34-30 in the Cardinal’s favor.

UCD edged close several times during the second half, but Stanford kept rallying. Both teams shot 46.2 percent in the first half, while Stanford came out ahead 46.4 percent compared with 35.7 percent in the second half.

Bonnie pours in 30 points

Bonnie, making her first start this season and the sixth of her career, scored a total of 30 points, including 18 on 3’s. She also had five rebounds, one block and two steals in her team-high 35 minutes.

She opened Stanford’s scoring with two 3’s, followed by one from Karlie, who also started. It was the first time that both sisters were in the starting lineup.

Bonnie’s total made her the first non-Ogwumike to score at least 30 points in a game since Jeanette Pohlen, ’11, had 31 in the memorable home win over UConn on Dec. 30, 2010.

Joining the Samuelsons in the starting lineup were senior guard Amber Orrange, sophomore guard Lili Thompson and freshman forward Kaylee Johnson.

Kaylee has a double-double

Besides Bonnie, the only other player to score in double figures was Kaylee, who had 11 points to go with 11 rebounds in 21 minutes of playing time before fouling out late in the second half.

Karlie had 9 points with her three 3’s plus two assists in 30 minutes. Amber was right behind with 8 points, four assists and four steals also in 30 minutes.

Altogether, the team had 10 3’s with six from Bonnie, three from Karlie and one from Lili, leading to a 58.8 percent success rate from beyond the arc on 10 of 17 shooting.

The team was outrebounded 35-30, but had a 13-10 edge in assists and a 6-5 edge in steals. It had 10 turnovers to UCD’s 14. UCD had 19 fouls, while Stanford had 13.

11 Cardinal players get into the game

Head coach Tara VanDerveer used 10 players in the first half and 11 for the game. All 15 players were available. UCD had 11 in uniform.

The official attendance was listed at 3,375 even though it was a work day during a busy holiday week. Students are on their holiday break, meaning no band or any other student contingent.

Senior forward Erica Payne, who has been getting more playing time lately, was the game’s featured player. The video board had a brief interview with her as well as trivia about her likes during some timeouts.

During some other timeouts, individual players wished the fans happy holidays.

The players will have only a brief visit with their families before returning. They’ll be back in action at home against UC Santa Barbara at 2 p.m. Dec. 28. It will be their last nonconference game before Pac-12 competition starts Jan. 3 against Colorado and Jan. 5 against Utah, both at home.