Samuelsons’ treys lead the way

Every time a teammate makes a 3-pointer, junior forward/center Tess Picknell jumps up and high-fives the entire Stanford women’s basketball bench.

Tess had her work cut out for her Feb. 15 when the Samuelson sisters contributed a total of 12 3’s to the team’s 68-50 victory over UCLA at Maples. Senior forward Bonnie Samuelson made eight of 12 of her 3-point attempts, while sophomore guard Karlie Samuelson made four of eight. Bonnie’s team-leading 24 points, combined with Karlie’s 14 (second on the team), gave them a combined total of 38 points, 55.8 percent of the Cardinal’s final score.

Stanford started slowly, lagging 14-7 at the 11:12 mark in the first half, but then started to surge, aided greatly by Bonnie’s three 3’s on consecutive possessions in about a minute and a half. The first half ended with Stanford on top, 37-24.

Bonnie hits career high

During a timeout at the 7:56 mark in the second half and with Stanford ahead 60-40, it was announced that Bonnie’s trey just before that was her seventh of the game and a career high. The crowd of 4,270 roared with delight as the video board showed all seven.

By the time she had tossed in her eighth trey, she was tied with Candice Wiggins,’08, and Lindsey Yamasaki, ’02, for the third-most in a Stanford game. Lindsey and Molly Goodenbour, ’93, share the record with nine each.

With a career total of 215 3’s so far, Bonnie ranks third on the list for a Stanford career. The leaders are Candice with 295 and Jeanette Pohlen, ’11, with 268.

Bonnie tied her career high of three blocks, most on the team, and two assists in 37 minutes. Not to be overlooked, she was second on the team in rebounding with six.

Also playing 37 minutes, Karlie added two rebounds and one assist to her stat line.

Kaylee adds 11 to her rebounding total

Freshman forward Kaylee Johnson had 11 rebounds in 28 minutes. This was Kaylee’s 14th game with double-digit rebounds. With a total of 268 so far, she trails only Kayla Pedersen, ’11, who had 329 her freshman year; and Chiney Ogwumike, ’14, who had 281 as a freshman.

Kaylee’s 4-point, 11-rebound performance against UCLA, combined with 9 points and five rebounds against USC two days earlier, resulted in her being named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week for the third time this season. She’s averaging 10.3 rebounds per game. She’s second among the nation’s freshmen and 33rd overall.

As she did in the victory over USC on Feb. 13, head coach Tara VanDerveer altered the starting lineup. Redshirt guard Jasmine Camp and senior forward Erica Payne were added, joining three regulars: senior guard Amber Orrange, Bonnie and Kaylee. Jasmine, Erica and Amber are the team’s co-captains.

Jasmine and Erica played briefly before being replaced by previous starters Lili Thompson and Briana Roberson, both sophomore guards.

Lili adds 12 points, seven assists

Lili was the only other Cardinal in double figures with 12 points. However, she added a season-high seven assists, all of them to a Samuelson for 3 points. She was third on the team with five rebounds and had one steal. Lili was the game’s featured player. In a video for the occasion, she said she’d eventually like to return to Stanford as its athletic director.

As a team, the Cardinal shot 42.6 percent, compared with UCLA’s 36.7 percent. Stanford had the edge in free-throw success, 71.4 percent on 10 of 14 shooting, while UCLA was 66.7 percent with six of nine. Both teams had 15 fouls.

UCLA had the edge in rebounding, 39-36, but the Bruins had 14 turnovers compared with Stanford’s 11. Stanford had four blocks to UCLA’s one. Both teams had four steals.

All 15 players were available, and 11 got into the game.

The trivia question asked which Stanford player won the coveted Wooden Award for best female collegiate player. The choices were Candice; Jayne Appel, ’10; and Chiney. The answer was Chiney.

Agility dogs return to entertain crowd

Halftime entertainment featured a perennial crowd favorite -- agility dogs from Ace Dog Sports. Accompanied by their owners, each of the 10 dogs was supposed to run an obstacle course with hurdles, a slalom and two tunnels. Most of them came close to mastering everything, but a pug got distracted and went to the sidelines to greet the Dollies. A Portuguese water dog decided to take the course backwards.

The two wins over the SoCal schools moved Stanford into a three-way tie with Cal and Arizona State for second in the Pac-12 conference with identical 11-3 conference records. Oregon State leads with a 13-1 Pac-12 record.

Stanford next faces Cal twice, at 7 p.m. Feb. 18 at Cal and at 1 p.m. Feb. 22 at Maples. The latter is Senior Day as well as Breast Cancer Awareness Day, when fans are asked to wear pink.