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| The 1990 national championship team and staff are honored before the game. |
When Stanford women’s basketball fans greeted each
other at the Jan. 26 home game against Utah, their first words often were “have
you recovered yet?”
They were referring to the nail-biting, 76-68
overtime win over Colorado at home on Jan. 24.
They won’t need to ask the same question the next
time they meet because the Cardinal easily defeated Utah 82-49 on Jan. 26.
Stanford
leads for most of game
Except for the first basket by Utah during the first
few seconds of the game and a brief tie shortly thereafter, Stanford never
trailed. The team led 21-12 after the first quarter, 31-22 at the half and
55-38 after the third quarter before widening the gap at the final buzzer.
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| Fran goes for a layup to add to her career-high 20 points. |
Three freshmen were among the five players in double
figures. Forward Fran Belibi scored a game-high and career-high 20 points.
Guard Hannah Jump had 14 points, and forward Ashten Prechtel had 11.
Joining them in double figures were senior forward
Nadia Fingall with 11 points and sophomore guard Lexie Hull with 10.
Hannah
makes four 3’s
Hannah scored most of her points with four 3’s. She
had made five unsuccessful attempts from beyond the arc before finally
connecting with less than three minutes to go in the third quarter.
It worked so well that when she made two more before
the quarter ended, the bench and crowd of 3,369 were ecstatic. She added
another in the fourth for good measure.
Also contributing to the team’s total of eight 3’s
were Nadia and Lexie with two each.
Stats
favor Stanford
The Cardinal dominated the Utes in nearly every
statistical category: rebounds, 42-29, led by Fran with eight; assists, 24-12,
led by senior guard Anna Wilson with five; and steals, 11-3, led by Lexie with
three. Utah prevailed only in blocks, 3-2.
Perhaps one of the most gratifying number was only
five turnovers, compared with Utah’s 16.
The Associated Press reported that it was “a season
low and the program’s fewest since also committing five on Nov. 24, 2917,
against Belmont.” It had four at Arizona on Feb. 27, 2010.
Mikaela
returns to action
It also was gratifying that all 11 available players
got into the game and contributed in some way. Those players included senior
guard Mikaela Brewer, who saw action for the first time this season. She came
onto the floor with about two minutes to go and snared a rebound.
Senior guard DiJonai Carrington, who has played in
only five games, and junior forward Maya Dodson, who has played at all, were in
street clothes. Junior forward Alyssa Jerome missed her second game after being
injured in the Oregon State game the previous weekend.
Freshman guard Haley Jones was absent from this
game, as she was for the Colorado game, after being injured at OSU. AP reported
that head coach Tara “VanDerveer has remained optimistic of Jones returning
this season.” No further word was available.
Starters were Nadia, Lexie, Ashten, junior guard Kiana
Williams and sophomore guard Lexie Hull.
After a fall about five minutes into the game,
Ashten briefly went to the locker room, but she returned to the huddle shortly
thereafter and soon was back in action.
1990
national championship team honored
The afternoon started on a celebratory note as
players and staff from SWBB’s 1990 national championship team were saluted at
center court. Most of them stayed for the Behind the Bench after the game and
spoke of their happy memories of playing at Stanford and for Tara.
At the start of the Behind the Bench, associate head
coach Kate Paye called for a moment of silence for NBA great Kobe Bryant, who,
with his daughter, died in a helicopter crash in Southern California earlier in
the day.
Kate then turned to that afternoon’s victory,
saying, “What an awesome game … a great team win.”
She noted that the team was highly motivated after a
68-75 loss at Utah on Jan. 27, 2019, potentially cost Stanford the Pac-12
season championship.
The team heads north next weekend to face Washington
at 7 p.m. Jan. 31 and Washington State at noon Feb. 2. Stanford defeated both
teams earlier this season.
The Cardinal are at
home again to host UCLA at 8 p.m. Feb. 7 and USC at noon Feb. 9, which will be
Senior Day with a Behind the Bench.
Pac-12 Networks will
televise all four games.
Photos by Stanford Athletics and AP
