Lacie (left) and Lexie play defense against Utah. (Rick Bowmer/AP)
Visiting the Pac-12’s two mountain schools, the No. 1 Stanford women’s basketball team coasted over Utah 82-54 on Jan. 15 but lost to unranked Colorado 77-72 in overtime on Jan. 17 and fell to No. 5 in AP rankings on Jan. 18.
Thus the Cardinal’s season record was no longer unblemished, standing at 11-1.
And the homecoming for the three players from Colorado –
freshman guard Jana Van Gytenbeek and sophomore forwards Ashten Prechtel and
Fran Belibi – was spoiled.
Stanford
takes early lead over Colorado
The Colorado game started well enough with Stanford
taking an 8-0 lead in the first three minutes before the Buffaloes scored. Six
of those points came from junior guard Lexie Hull, who finished the game with a
team-high 19 points.
Colorado's Mya Hollingshed tries to wrest the ball from Haley. (Cliff Grasmick/Boulder Daily Camera)
After that, things got tight. The first quarter ended
17-14 in Stanford’s favor. The half resulted in a similar margin, 32-29. The
third quarter tightened even more with the Cardinal ahead 53-51, and the fourth
quarter ended with a 67-67 tie.
The teams were fairly well matched in some
statistics, like assists, 12-12; rebounds, 41-40 in Stanford’s favor; and
turnovers, 14-15 in Colorado’s favor.
Bigger disparities were seen in fouls, 16-20 in
Colorado’s favor. That disparity was seen in free throws, with Colorado cashing
in with 15 while Stanford made nine, almost accounting for the difference in
the final score.
Besides Lexie with 19, the only other players in
double figures were sophomore guard Haley Jones with 16 and freshman forward
Cameron Brink with 13. This game marked Haley’s return to the starting lineup
after missing the Utah game for undisclosed reasons.
Team
makes 14 3’s against Utah
While Stanford had only five 3-pointers against
Colorado (two by Lexie and one each by senior guard Kiana Williams, Cameron and
Ashten), the Utah game was highlighted by 14 3-pointers. When the first quarter
ended 23-8, the team had already amassed five of its 14 3’s.
Ashten fights for a rebound at Utah. (Rick Bowmer/AP)
When all was said and done, Kiana tossed in six,
while sophomore guard Hannah Jump added five. Ashten joined the trey party with
two, and Jana had one.
Kiana also was the team’s scoring leader with 18
points, followed by Hannah with 15, Lexie and Ashten with 14 each, and Fran
with 13.
Two of the more encouraging statistics were only
nine turnovers to go with 17 assists. On the other hand, the team had 19 fouls,
while Utah had 15. Cameron fouled out in the third quarter after playing only
eight minutes.
Everyone
gets to play
Given the altitude and the team’s overall
performance, head coach Tara VanDerveer was able to rotate players in and out,
giving everyone at least eight minutes and no one more than 24.
Hannah, Lexie and senior forward Alyssa Jerome
returned to action after being held out of the Oregon game for coronavirus
contact tracing.
Thus the starting lineup featured Kiana, fifth-year
guard Anna Wilson, Lexie, Alyssa and Fran. In her post-game press conference,
Tara lavished praise on several players, including Ashten, who had one of her
best games so far.
Interviewed after the game, Lexie said that the team
stays together mentally because “our team is really close … We’re having fun.”
Up next: UCLA at 7 p.m. Jan. 22 and USC at 4 p.m.
Jan. 24, both at the Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz and both televised
by PAC-12 Networks.
