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| On her way to 19 points, Lacie goes for a layup. (Photo by Karen Ambrose Hickey/Stanford Athletics) |
Except when Northern Colorado took the opening
tipoff, the outcome was never in doubt as the Stanford women’s basketball team
coasted to a 90-36 home win on Nov. 14.
Even before the game began, the players were in high
spirits, cheering as freshman forward Fran Belibi delivered her usual dunk just
before the round of free throws. Then they devised a team dance as the band
played “All Right Now.”
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| Haley |
Off
to a fast start
Although the Bears took the opening tip, they didn’t
score their first point, a free throw, until about three minutes into the game.
By then the Cardinal had already scored 9 points.
After two more free throws, the visitors from the
state school in Greeley finally made their first basket about a minute
and a half later, making the score 13-5.
During the first quarter, the team got a bit of a
scare when DiJonai left the floor shaking her hand after a fall. She consulted
with trainer Katelin Knox and continued shaking and raising her arm for a few
minutes before returning to the huddle during a time out. To everyone’s relief,
she returned to action with just over four minutes to go in the quarter.
The first quarter ended 27-12. By then, Tara had
sent in 11 of the 12 available players. Junior forward Maya Dodson and senior
guard Mikaela Brewer had already missed games, but freshman guard Hannah Jump
joined them in street clothes at the end of the bench.
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| Estella |
Team
tops opponents by 54 points
That quarter ended 55-19. By the end of the third
quarter, the lead had ballooned to 72-33. Dogged defense by everyone held the
visitors to only 3 points in the final quarter, leading to the 90-36 final
score, a 54-point advantage.
Because the score was so lopsided and the team so
deep despite injuries, no one played more than 22 minutes (sophomore guard
Lacie Hull).
Besides the score and the use of all available
players, one of the fun things about this game was that some players who
normally are more in the background stepped up and showed what they can do.
Thus when Estella made a 3-pointer, her teammates on
the bench were ecstatic. She wound up with 7 points on 3-for-3 shooting to go
with a rebound in her 15 minutes.
Lacie
becomes a leader
Lacie, who’s usually outscored by her twin, Lexie,
was the team- and game-high scorer with 19 points plus five rebounds, three
assists, a block and a steal in her 22 minutes.
Haley showed why she had started for the first time when
she scored 11 points and had two rebounds plus three assists and one steal.
DiJonai was the only other player in double figures with 11 points, four rebounds and a steal in just 10 minutes, the fewest that night.
DiJonai was the only other player in double figures with 11 points, four rebounds and a steal in just 10 minutes, the fewest that night.
Senior Anna Wilson was the only Cardinal who didn’t
score, but she contributed in other ways with four rebounds, two assists and,
with her dogged defense, four steals in 19 minutes.
Although Stanford had only nine turnovers and the
Bears had 19, four of Stanford’s turnovers came from steals by the visitors.
Several others came from passes that were too high or that went astray.
Three-point
production down
The Cardinal had fewer 3’s, only four, less than
their average of 11.25 per game during the four previous games, including the
exhibitions. Besides Estella, the 3-pointers came from Kiana, Lacie and
freshman forward Ashten Prechtel.
Fran was the leading rebounder with 13 to go with 8
points and two assists in 19 minutes.
During the second quarter, the 2,361 fans in attendance
were asked to guess Who Am I? In this case, it was the former player who is 9th
all-time in scoring and second in rebounds and who missed only one game,
DePaul, when she was a senior. The answer: Kayla Pedersen, ’11.
Up next, Stanford hosts Gonzaga at 5 p.m. Nov. 17.
