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| Wearing a turquoise uniform, Jenna goes in for a layup against USF. (San Francisco Chronicle) |
Three things made the Stanford women’s basketball
team’s 96-62 defeat of the Dons from the University of San Francisco special on
Nov. 15 --- two of them positive, the other not so much.
The positive aspects were the honoring of Native
American Heritage Month with turquoise uniforms trimmed in red and the signing of
three players in the No. 3 nationally ranked (by espnWHoopGurlz) 2018
recruiting class.
Destined for the Farm next fall are Fran Belibi of
Aurora, Colo., Hannah Jump of nearby Los Altos Hills and Ashten Prechtel of
Colorado Springs, Colo. They signed letters of intent on Nov. 14.
Ohio
State game canceled because of unhealthy air
The negative aspect was the Bay Area’s unhealthy air
caused by the fire raging in Butte County. Some people wore masks as a
precaution. Others might have stayed
home, for attendance was only 2,077. Many schools closed, including Stanford, and
many athletic events were moved, postponed or canceled.
They included the Nov. 18 home game against Ohio
State, according to a Nov. 16 announcement from Stanford. It will not be
rescheduled this season. Games in other sports were affected, too. See the
announcement at www.gostanford.com.
Now for the best part --- the win that gave the
Cardinal a 3-0 record to start the season.
Once again the starters were senior forward Alanna
Smith, junior forward Nadia Fingall, freshman forward Lexie Hull, junior guard
DiJonai Carrington and sophomore guard Kiana Williams.
Sophomore forward Maya Dodson and freshman forward
Lacie Hull were first off the bench, followed by junior guard Anna Wilson,
freshman guard Jenna Brown and sophomore forward Alyssa Jerome in the first
quarter.
By the time the final buzzer sounded, all 14
players had seen action. Three were in double figures: Kiana with 21, Alanna
with 18 and Maya with 10. USF used its nine available players with eight
scoring.
Seven
players contribute to team’s 15 three’s
Boosting the host’s score were 15 three’s from
seven players: Alanna with five, Kiana four and Lacie two. Nadia, DiJonai,
Alyssa and sophomore forward Estella Moschkau had one each.
The team boasted 24 assists with only nine
turnovers, while USF was eight and 15 in those categories.
Eleven blocks were impressive, too, with four each
by Alanna and Maya, two by Alyssa and one by senior center Shannon Coffee.
Each team had four steals. However, in a stat
unusual for Stanford, USF had 39 rebounds to Stanford’s 34. Many of the Dons’
rebounds seemed to come when Stanford missed a three and no Stanford players
were close enough to the basket.
Quick
start for the Cardinal
The Cardinal came out blazing. Alanna got the
opening tip, and the team immediately made four three’s in a row, starting with
DiJonai, followed by Alanna, Kiana and Nadia. Just slightly over three minutes
into the quarter, Stanford led 14-4 with 100 percent shooting.
That total accuracy didn’t last. It ended at 51
percent for the game, compared with USF’s 33 percent. Free-throw shooting was
60 percent, compared with USF’s 73 percent.
Fans had a few minutes of anxiety when Kiana
limped off the court and headed for the locker room shortly before the end the
first quarter, but she quickly returned to action for the second quarter. She
limped off again in the third quarter but returned to action.
Starters
become fans for final 10 minutes
Like the other starters, she stayed on the bench to
cheer her teammates during the fourth quarter with the game firmly in hand.
Only two kids showed up for Conga on the Court
after the first quarter. Cardinal Categories in the second quarter featured a
fan trying to name as many musical instruments as possible in 15 seconds,
followed by a video of Mikaela doing the same.
A lucky fan won $100 by emulating Mikaela’s underhanded
free throw as Copy the Cardinal started halftime. Next came Stanford’s
Polynesian dance troupe of eight women and four men, one of whom lost his sarong
but continued to dance the final moments in his black shorts.
The game was a mini-reunion for head coach Tara
VanDerveer, as she welcomed two of her former players: USF head coach Molly
Goodenbour, ’93, and associate head coach Katy Steding, ’90.
Next on the schedule is a three-game tournament in
Hawaii on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving.
