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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.
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| 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.
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