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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
