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| The two teams and coaches pose for a photo before the game. |
Ranked No. 3 (behind Oregon and Baylor) in AP’s
pre-season national poll, the Stanford women’s basketball team gave an enticing
preview of coming attractions when it hosted a Chinese team, Beijing Normal,
for an exhibition game Oct. 29 and defeated the visitors 100-58.
Head coach Tara VanDerveer tapped players from each
of the four classes to start the game: freshman forward Ashten Prechtel;
sophomore guard Lexie Hull; junior forward Alyssa Jerome, who was wearing a
protective face mask; junior guard Kiana Williams; and senior guard Anna
Wilson. Together, they accounted for 57 points.
The coach substituted freely, no doubt to see who
looks good and what combinations work best as well as to make sure that players
coming off injuries didn’t log too many minutes. No one played more than 26
minutes.
Everyone
helps out
By game’s end, all 12 available players had contributed
in some way.
Those who weren’t available were junior forward Maya
Dodson, recovering from an injury sustained last season; senior guard Mikaela
Brewer, who had participated in the open practice on Oct. 25 but who was
wearing a walking boot on her left foot for this game; and freshman guard Haley
Jones, who Tara had said at the practice was “a little dinged.”
Haley was an animated cheerleader on the bench,
though, often gesturing when a teammate made a nifty play.
Undoubtedly, she also was cheering for her
classmates: Ashten, forward Fran Belibi and guard Hannah Jump. Together, they
accounted for 35 points, with Fran scoring a team-high 17 points and Ashten
snaring a team-high five rebounds to go with her 12 points. Hannah’s 6 points
came from making two of her three 3-point attempts.
Others making two 3-pointers were Lexie, Alyssa and
Anna for a team total of eight.
Fans
impressed with freshmen
Afterward, several fans said how impressed they
were with the freshmen, who had been highly rated as recruits. They also
commented on the improvement by several returning players.
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| Alyssa shoots over her Chinese opponent. |
Besides Fran and Ashten, players in double
figures were Alyssa with 16, Lexie with 14 and Anna with 11.
Senior forward Nadia Fingall, who had been cleared to play just the day before,
chipped in 9 despite playing just under 11 minutes.
Also noteworthy were the team’s 27 assists, led by
Kiana with eight; the speed of play; and the players’ unselfishness – all signs
of good things to come.
The afternoon started with a recording of the
Chinese national anthem as the two teams faced a Chinese flag that some fans
had affixed to a railing in the upper area.
Teams
exchange gifts
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| Ashten (left) exchanges gifts with a Chinese player. |
After a recording of the U.S. anthem, the players shook
hands and exchanged gifts, apparently T shirts.
The Stanford women sported snazzy new home white
uniforms with red writing for their names and numbers. On the outer sides of
the uniforms are wide black stripes bordered in red with a red Stanford logo
gracing the stripe on the shorts.
Despite Stanford’s advantage in points, assists,
rebounds, blocks and steals, there were areas where Tara is sure to demand
improvement such as in free throws, 76.9 percent for the game; turnovers, 13;
and defensive lapses.
The team will get a much sterner test when it hosts
Team USA at 4 p.m. Nov. 2. Team USA, which features some of the WNBA’s most
legendary players, is touring the country and playing top college teams to
prepare for next summer’s Olympics.
The roster includes Stanford alum Nneka Ogwumike,
’12. The game will be telecast on the Pac-12 Network.
Photos by Don Feria/ISIPhotos.com
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