Cardinal players celebrate after the victory over Maryland.
After a grueling seven-day road trip, the Stanford
women’s basketball team has returned to campus to focus on completing
assignments and studying for finals while reflecting on the lessons learned
from three wins and one loss on the road.
The trip began in Spokane, where the team defeated
Gonzaga 66-62 on Nov. 21. This victory was notable because junior guard Haley
Jones, one of the team’s best players, was unavailable from what head coach
Tara VanDerveer said was an injury.
Junior forward Fran Belibi and junior guard Hannah
Jump helped to replace some of Haley’s scoring with 14 points each. Sophomore
forward Cameron Brink added 12 points, and senior guard Lexie Hull had 11.
It then took the team an unexpectedly long 19 hours
to get from Spokane to Nassau, The Bahamas, because of delays and a diversion
caused by weather in Florida.
Team
enjoys victory for Thanksgiving
Playing in a round-robin tournament at the Baha Mar
Grand Hyatt, the team, ranked No. 7 in the Nov. 22 AP poll, celebrated
Thanksgiving by squeaking past No. 4 Indiana 69-66 on Nov. 25. Haley was back
in action but not quite back to her usual form, scoring 8 points in 22 minutes.
Cameron with 21 points (plus 22 rebounds) and Fran
with 14 points did the heavy lifting on scoring.
The team’s loss came in the next game, when No. 18 South
Florida topped Stanford 57-54 on Nov. 26. Once again, Cameron led the team in
scoring with 23 points (plus 11 rebounds). Freshman guard Brooke Demetre came
off the bench to add 14 points.
Although many factors go into a win or loss, the
most glaring one in this game came at the free-throw line. Stanford cashed in
on only four of 12 attempts, while South Florida made eight of 11, a 4-point
advantage in its 3-point win.
Maryland
falls 86-67
Stanford got back on the winning track the next day,
Nov. 27, routing No. 2 Maryland 86-67 for the largest margin of victory over a
top two team.
Giving Maryland the benefit of a doubt, however, it
had only seven available players.
On the other side, junior forward Ashten Prechtel
didn’t suit up because she was ill. Cameron didn’t start the game after
reportedly throwing up in a trash can.
Nevertheless, she got in and managed to add 8 points in nine minutes. On
Nov. 29 she was named Pac-12 Player of the Week.
Haley was closer to her usual self with 15 points
(plus 13 rebounds) in 31 minutes. Also scoring 15 points were Fran and Lexie.
Hannah was the heroine against Maryland.
Hannah
starts, makes seven 3’s
Starting in Cameron’s place, Hannah topped everyone with
21 points, all of them from her seven 3-pointers. All told, the team had 10
3’s.
The 3-1 road record raised Stanford to No. 4 in the
Nov. 29 AP poll.
After about a two-week break, the team returns to
action at home against Pacific at noon Dec. 12 and UC Davis at 7 p.m. Dec. 15.
Then it’s back on the road to end the nonconference
season against Tennessee at 2:15 p.m. Dec. 18 and South Carolina at 4 p.m. Dec.
21. ESPN2 will televise both games.
Photos by Stanford Athletics
