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| Alanna, Lacie and DiJonai celebrate the win. (AP photo) |
After sweeping the Southern California schools the
previous weekend, the Stanford women’s basketball returned home to host Arizona
and eked out a 56-54 victory on Feb. 22.
As the score would indicate, it wasn’t easy. The team
appeared to have the game reasonably well in hand at the half, when the score
was 35-27. However, Arizona outscored the Cardinal in the third, giving it a
45-47 edge.
In the fourth, was Arizona up by seven with just
about four and a half minutes left. That’s when the Stanford defense and
offense shifted into high gear, holding Arizona scoreless while pouring in the 11
points needed for the win.
Alanna
helps to clinch victory
Credit senior forward Alanna Smith for doing much
of the heavy lifting with a game-high 21 points. She bookended the win by
scoring the team’s first four points and, from behind the arc, the final three.
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| Lacie plays tight defense. (AP photo) |
Freshman forward Lacie Hull did her part with 15
points from five of the team’s 10 threes. Alanna had three, while sophomore
guard Kiana Williams had two. Kiana’s threes accounted for all of her six
points, a low score for her.
Junioe guard DiJonai Carrington was the other
Cardinal in double figures with 10.
Team
gets more from threes than points in the paint
The Arizona defense appeared focused on keeping
Stanford out of the paint and swarming any player who got near the basket.
Hence Stanford had only 20 points in the paint but 30 points from behind the
arc.
Arizona had a balance of 24 points each in the
paint and from three-point range.
Besides Alanna, Lacie, Kiana and DiJonai, the
other starter was sophomore forward Alyssa Jerome, who didn’t score.
Stanford had a big advantage in rebounds, 42-28,
but committed 16 turnovers to Arizona’s 12.
All told, the score was tied six times. The lead
changed seven times.
Maya
returns to action
Sophomore forward Maya Dodson, who had missed the
SoCal games because of a recurring foot
problem, was back in uniform and snared seven rebounds while scoring two points
in 14 minutes.
She spent most of the third quarter and part of
the fourth on the stationary bike until summoned back with just over seven
minutes to go and her team down five, 47-52.
Junior forward Nadia Fingall, who has been out
after sustaining a torn ACL, reportedly had surgery earlier in the week. She
was reasonably mobile, though, walking with a heavy brace.
Fans
provide vocal boost
The team got plenty of vocal support from the
crowd of 3,569, especially when the game was at its most nail-biting. The noise
practically raised the rafters of Maples.
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| Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne joins the band with his saxophone. (Go Stanford photo) |
Among those fans was the band with its newest
member, Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne on saxophone.
Also among those fans were the families of the
three seniors, Alanna, center Shannon Coffee and guard Marta Sniezek. They’ll
be honored at Senior Day when the team plays Arizona State at 1 p.m. Feb. 24.
I got to meet Shannon’s parents and grandparents.
They sat in the family section wearing big Shannon buttons and could be heard
cheering when Shannon got into the game. She didn’t score, but she had two
valuable rebounds and two assists, which led to points.
Fans who arrived early had some reason for concern
when Alanna was on the bike while the team went through its initial warmups
before going into the locker room. However, she was a full participant in the
warmups afterward, and the score sheet reflects her effectiveness during 31
minutes in the game.
Alanna
amasses athletic, academic honors
The honors she merited after the SoCal games
(despite losing the nail on her right ring finger at USC) also reflected her
effectiveness. Not only was she named Pac 12 Player of the Week for the third
time this season, she was named the Naismith National Player of the Week.
As if that weren’t enough, she became the 16th
player in SWBB history to score 1,500 points. Her total now stands at 1,532 and
counting.
On top of that, the College Sports Information
Directors of America named her to the All-District Women’s Basketball First Team. Stanford is part of the district that
includes eight Western states (with Alaska and Hawaii) as well as Canada. She’s a psychology major with a 3.47
cumulative GPA.
The team wraps up its regular home season with the
Arizona State game. After that, it heads north to complete the conference season
against Washington State at 7 p.m. March
1 and Washington at 2 p.m. March 3.
AP photos by Ben
Margot
