Sweep of Arizona schools clinches Pac-12 championship

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Kiana holds the trophy as her teammates celebrate. (Jeff Chiu/AP)

It was rough sailing at first, but the Stanford women’s basketball team soon righted the ship and cruised to a 62-48 victory over Arizona at Maples on Feb. 22.

Thus the Cardinal clinched the Pac-12 regular season championship, its first in seven years. This win followed the 80-41 win over Arizona State at Maples on Feb. 19.

With just over four minutes to go in first quarter against Arizona, Stanford was down 5-8, plagued by cold shooting, turnovers and missed rebounds.

The quarter ended in a 13-13 tie. With about four minutes to go in the second quarter, Stanford had edged ahead 22-21, but pulled further ahead to end the quarter 31-25.

Coming out of the locker room, Stanford took over the third quarter 48-36 and never looked back.

Lexie leads the way

Junior guard Lexie Hull led the team with 16 points and nine rebounds, closely followed by senior guard Kiana Williams with 15 points. Right behind them were sophomore guard Haley Jones with 13 and freshman forward Cameron Brink with 10.

Cameron had to go to the bench after getting her third foul early in the third quarter. She returned later and fouled out with just over two minutes to go in the game.

Eight 3’s helped the Stanford cause with three by Kiana, two by Lexie and one each by Cameron, sophomore guard Hannah Jump and sophomore forward Ashten Prechtel.

Despite Arizona’s early advantage in rebounds, Stanford finished with 39, compared with Arizona’s 32.

Arizona won the turnover battle, committing 12, compared with Stanford’s 16 (seven by Haley). In the same vein, Arizona had 11 steals, Stanford three.

After the game, Kiana accepted the championship trophy and held it aloft as she and her teammates celebrated.

Cal, tournament next on the schedule

Stanford completes the regular season by hosting Cal and celebrating Senior Day at 1 p.m. Feb. 28. Pac-12 Networks will air the game.

Then it’s on to Las Vegas for the Pac-12 tournament running March 3 to 7. As the No. 1 seed, Stanford won’t play until 2 p.m. March 4, when it’s scheduled to meet the No. 8 or No. 9 seed.

The semi-final games are at 5 and 8 p.m. March 5. March 6 is an off day. The championship is slated for 5 p.m. March 7. The Pac-12 Networks will air all games except for the championship, which will be on ESPN2.

See the bracket at https://pac-12.com/2021-pac-12-womens-basketball-tournament.

Haley goes for a layup against ASU. (Stanford Athletics)

Bench players finish the Arizona State game

In the meantime, with the Arizona State game firmly in hand, 60-25, by the end of the third quarter on Feb. 19, head coach Tara VanDerveer rested the starters and turned the last quarter over to the other players.

Thus they helped to deliver the 80-41 victory. For the game, they produced 32.

It truly was a team victory as all 12 players contributed in some way, and nine players scored.

They were led by Kiana with 18 points, but Hannah, coming off the bench, was right behind with her season-high 17. She made three of the team’s six 3’s. Kiana, Lexie and freshman guard Jana Van Gytenbeek added the other three.

Also in double figures were Lexie with 12 and Haley with 11.

Ashten, returning after a three-game absence due to a concussion protocol, led the team with 11 rebounds. She also had four points in her 15 minutes.

Right behind her in the rebound column was sophomore forward Fran Belibi with 10. The team had a total of 48 rebounds, compared with ASU’s 21.

Defense helps make the difference

Defense played a strong role with 10 steals and six blocks.

No one played more than 28 minutes, and everyone played at least eight minutes.

The Cardinal held the Sun Devils scoreless for almost the first seven minutes of the game. The visitors’ first point came from a free throw at 3:37, when the hosts had already scored 11.

More free throws and a trey, coming with eight seconds left, ended the quarter with the score 19-7. Stanford dominated the next three quarters and won handily.

Even when the starters were on the bench, they stayed keenly involved, erupting in cheers when anyone, especially players who don’t get much time, scored or did something else praiseworthy. They literally jumped for joy when freshman guard Agnes Emma-Nnopu made a basket. She also had five rebounds in her eight minutes.

This game was a far cry from the Jan. 3 contest at ASU, when Stanford won by only eight points, 68-60.

Stanford sweeps Oregon schools

 

Haley and her teammates celebrate the win at Oregon. (Andy Nelson/AP)

After a decisive 83-58 win at Oregon State on Feb. 13, the Stanford women’s basketball team gutted out a 63-61 squeaker at Oregon on Feb. 15.

At first the win at Oregon seemed certain as the Cardinal led by six points after the first quarter, seven points after the second and five after the third. Its biggest lead was 15 points late in the second.

But the Ducks refused to go away. Instead they tied the score several times during the fourth and pulled to their first lead, 51-49, with just over six minutes left.

The score seesawed after that. Oregon amassed its biggest lead, five points, with less than four minutes to go.

Kiana, Cameron help in final minutes

Senior guard Kiana Williams drained a three-pointer to tie the score again with less than two minutes to go. Freshman forward Cameron Brink made two free throws with less than 30 seconds left to ice the game at 63-61.

In her post-game press conference, head coach Tara VanDerveer likened the game to a heavyweight bout. Each team had its pluses and minuses, but in the end, Stanford had a few more pluses.

Perhaps the biggest plus was that Stanford shot 46.4 percent, while Oregon shot 41.8 percent. Both teams had 18 turnovers. Other stats were slightly in favor of one team or the other. 

There were many jump balls, indicative of the battle.

Kiana led the team with 20 points followed by Cameron with 16, plus nine rebounds. Junior guard Lexie Hull with 13 was the only other Cardinal in double figures. Uncharacteristically, the bench added only three points.

The team’s six 3’s were produced by Kiana and Lexie with two each, and by fifth-year guard Anna Wilson and, off the bench, sophomore guard Hannah Jump with one each.

Sophomore forward Ashten Prechtel did not appear to be with the team on this trip. She reportedly is being held out while in the concussion protocol.

Sophomore guard Fran Belibi sported a new hairdo. At first glance she could have been mistaken for Nadia Fingall, ’20.

During halftime, the NCAA revealed its first look at the possible Sweet Sixteen in the upcoming tournament in the San Antonio area. Stanford was the No. 3 seed behind UConn and South Carolina.

Lexie defends against an Oregon State player. (Amanda Lohman/AP)

Beavers fall 83-58

The trip to the Beaver State began Feb. 13 with the 83-58 victory over the Oregon State Beavers.

Kiana started the scoring with two consecutive 3’s. By the time the first half ended, the team had sunk five 3’s .

Nevertheless, the first half was tight with the score fluctuating. At one point in the first quarter, the Beavers were ahead by three, but that quarter ended 23-18 in Stanford’s favor. The Cardinal were up 43-40 at the end of the second quarter.

After halftime, though, the Cardinal turned on the jets, especially in the fourth quarter, when the team’s stout defense held OSU to just six points while scoring 23.

Eight players scored, five of them in double figures.

Haley records double-double

They were led by sophomore guard Haley Jones, whose 17 points and 10 rebounds gave her a double-double. Right behind her were Kiana with 16, senior forward Alyssa Jerome with 14, Cameron with 13 and Hannah with 11.

Hannah moves inside to shoot against OSU. (Stanford Athletics)

Besides five 3’s in the first half, the team added eight in the second half for a total of 13. Alyssa had the most overall with four, followed by Hannah with three, Kiana and Lexie with two each, and Cameron and Anna with one each.

One of the most gratifying statistics was only five turnovers, while OSU had 13. The team also was good about sharing the ball, logging 19 assists to OSU’s 12.

The team returns to Maples for its final three regular-season games: Arizona State at 7 p.m. Feb. 19, Arizona at 6 p.m. Feb. 22 and Cal at 1 p.m. Feb. 28.

Pac-12 Networks will air the ASU and Cal games. The Arizona game is supposed to be on ESPN2.

The Pac-12 tournament is March 4-7 in Las Vegas.

Happy return to Maples with two wins

Tara confers with the team during a time out against Colorado.

Home sweet home. There’s no place like home.

No matter what cliché you choose, the Stanford women’s basketball team is happy to be back at home in Maples Pavilion for the first time since Nov. 25. After that, it was on the road for the next 16 games because of coronavirus restrictions in Santa Clara County.

For a detailed look at the team’s odyssey, read Mechelle Voepel’s “Inside Stanford women’s basketball’s nine-week road trip – Six states, 12 flights and DIY haircuts” on espn.com.

The team celebrated its return to Maples by defeating Colorado 62-54 on Feb. 5 and Utah 83-41 on Feb. 7.

Revenge over Colorado

Beating Colorado was especially sweet because the Buffaloes had handed the team one of its only two losses on Jan. 17.

However, it was a tale of two halves. The first half was the best of times as the team cruised to a 37-15 lead by the end of the second quarter.

The second half started well enough. The team enjoyed its largest lead of 25 points about halfway through the third quarter, which ended 49-26.

Fourth quarter a nightmare

Then came the almost disastrous fourth, when Colorado steadily closed the gap, came within four points and outscored Stanford by 15.

Flustered by Colorado’s full-court press in the latter part of the quarter, the Cardinal made only one basket the entire quarter, but had a game-saving 10 free throws.

Several of those free throws came as Colorado deliberately fouled to regain possession. Luckily, Stanford made most of the freebies and came away with the win. Overall, Stanford made 76.5 percent of its free throws, Colorado 62.1 percent.

Just to illustrate the difference in halves, Stanford shot 46.67 percent in the first quarter, a sizzling 60 percent in the second, 25 percent in the third and a dismal 12.5 percent in the fourth. For the game, Stanford shot 38.9 percent, Colorado 36.4 percent.

Senior guard Kiana Williams led the way with 16 points, followed by freshman forward Cameron Brink with 13, fifth-year guard Anna Wilson with 11 and junior guard Lacie Hull with 10.

Besides free throws, tough defense was instrumental with nine blocks versus Colorado’s three. Cameron contributed six.

Offensively, the team had seven three-pointers versus Colorado’s four. Lacie had three, Kiana two, and Anna and sophomore guard Hannah Jump one each.

Fran and Jana do some celebrating during the Utah game.

Utah game a cakewalk

The 83-41 win over Utah on Feb. 7 was much easier, as indicated by the score.

Head coach Tara VanDerveer substituted freely, giving all 11 available players significant minutes. Sophomore forward Ashten Prechtel didn’t play because she’s in the concussion protocol, the TV announcer said. However, she was at the game.

Four players were in double figures: Kiana with 13 (in just 13 minutes), and Cameron, sophomore guard Haley Jones and freshman guard Jana Van Gytenbeek all with 12. Everyone scored and contributed in some other way.

Three-pointers boost score

Nearly half of the score came from 10 three-pointers: Kiana with three; Lexie, Jana and Hannah with two; and Anna with one.

Adding 38 points, bench players were on the court for all of the fourth quarter and about half of the third. Jana logged the most time with 27 minutes, followed by Hannah with 23. Otherwise, no one played more than 19 minutes.

Agnes is greeted by Ashten at the end of the game.

Of note: Freshman guard Agnes Emma-Nnopu played 17 minutes, had only one point but eight rebounds, second only to Cameron.

Some other bright spots among many: only seven turnovers, 51.6 percent shooting, nine steals and 18 assists. Something to work on: 19 fouls.

The team takes to the road again to play Oregon State at 8 p.m. Feb. 12 and Oregon at 4 p.m. Feb. 15. The Oregon State game is iffy because the Beavers had to cancel their Feb. 5 and 7 games against the Arizona schools because of a coronavirus issue.

The Cardinal finish off the regular season at home with games against Arizona State on Feb. 19, Arizona on Feb. 22 and Cal on Feb. 28. The next stop is Las Vegas for the Pac-12 tournament.

Photos by Stanford Athletics

Three wins in Washington

 

Bench players polish off the win over Washington. (Bettina Hanson/Seattle Times) 

After sweeping Washington State 71-49 on Jan. 27 and 77-49 on Jan. 29, the Stanford women’s basketball team flew across the Cascades to brush off Washington 74-48 on Jan. 31.

The Washington game really was no contest. Stanford fielded all 12 players, while Washington was missing three starters and had only nine players available. That was barely enough to practice, according to the TV announcers.

Coming off the bench, sophomore guard Hannah Jump led the team with 15 points. In all, the bench contributed 29 points.

Three starters -- junior guard Lexie Hull, senior guard Kiana Williams and sophomore guard Haley Jones -- each had 12 points. No one played more than 29 minutes (Lexie and Hannah).

Eight three-pointers helped to boost the score. Hannah had three, Lexie and Kiana had two each and senior forward Alyssa Jerome had one.

The team got a scare late in the first quarter when Haley went down hard on a  knee. She sat out for the rest of that quarter and all of the second but returned to action in the third.

Only when it came to steals did Washington do better than Stanford. The Huskies had 10 to the visitors’ nine.

Weekend starts with win over WSU

The five-day marathon started auspiciously with Stanford’s 71-49 whipping of Washington State on Jan. 27, a game that made up for one postponed by a coronavirus concern at WSU.

On her way to a team-leading (with Kiana) 17 points, Lexie scored the first six points.

The Cardinal dominated both the first and second quarters, but WSU tried to stage a comeback in the third quarter and outscored Stanford 19-10. However, it wasn’t enough, as the quarter ended 54-37 in the visitors’ favor. WSU never held the lead.

Besides 17 points each from Lexie and Kiana, Haley with 10 and freshman forward Cameron Brink with 12 scored in double figures.

Cameron goes for the tip in the first Washington State game (WSU Athletics)

Cameron also nailed a double-double with 14 rebounds and led the team with five of its eight blocks. She accomplished all this with no fouls, a welcome change from some of her previous games.

The team popped in nine 3’s, with three by Kiana, two by freshman guard Jana Van Gytenbeek, and one each by Lexie, Cameron, Haley and sophomore forward Ashten Prechtel.

Thus WSU had never defeated Stanford in 68 tries.

Stanford remains undefeated against WSU

That number rose to 69 as the Cardinal downed the Cougars 77-49 on Jan. 29.

Anna's defense was a big factor in the second victory over WSU. (WSU Athletics)

In her post-game press conference, head coach Tara VanDerveer credited fifth-year guard Anna Wilson for holding WSU’s and the Pac-12’s leading scorer Charlisse Leger-Walker to two points, 17 below her season average.

“Anna’s defense was phenomenal,” Tara said. “She's a lockdown defender. ... Her defense really sets the tone for our team.”

Stanford held WSU to 33.3 percent shooting, while Stanford logged 52.5 percent.

Haley and Kiana both had 16 points to lead the team. Ashten was the only other  Cardinal in double figures with 11, but a total of nine players scored, with 30 points coming from the bench. Bench players finished off nearly three minutes of the game.

As happened in the earlier game, Stanford had nine 3’s: Ashten with three, Kiana and Hannah with two each, and Anna and junior guard Lacie Hull had one each. 

Another standout statistic was 10 blocks: five by Cameron and one each by Haley, Ashten, Fran, Lacie and Alyssa.

After these three victories raised their record to 15-2 and after a grueling two months on the road, the players finally were allowed to return to campus and their home court, thanks to an easing of restrictions by Santa Clara County.

The team will have a chance to avenge one of its two losses when it hosts Colorado at 6 p.m. Feb. 5. Utah will visit at 2 p.m. Feb. 7.

Both games will be televised by Pac-12 Networks.