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| Anna contributed nine points, five rebounds, two assists and four steals against ASU. (AP/Jeff Chiu) |
Returning to Maples Pavilion for the first time
since the UC Davis game on Dec. 15, fans of Stanford women’s basketball,
including the band, Tree and Dollies, saw the team defeat Arizona State 78-50 on Jan. 28
and Arizona 75-69 on Jan. 30.
Stanford started the ASU game somewhat shorthanded
with the unexplained absences of junior guard Hannah Jump and freshman guard
Elena Bosgana.
Hannah had moved into the starting lineup recently,
so sixth-year guard Anna Wilson stepped in for her. Although she didn’t match Hannah’s usual
output of points, she did produce nine points to go with five rebounds and two
assists plus four steals, evidence of her usual tenacious defense.
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| Trailed by Kiki, Jana drives upcourt against ASU. (AP/Jeff Chiu) |
Jana
ably fills in for Hannah
Coming into the game later, sophomore guard Jana Van
Gytenbeek did her best Hannah imitation with three 3-pointers for a total of
nine points.
Four players were in double figures. Logging 12
points each were junior forward Fran Belibi, freshman forward Kiki Iriafen and
junior guard Haley Jones, who also had 10 rebounds for a double-double. Sophomore
forward Cameron Brink was close behind with 11 points.
Kiki’s 12 points came in only 10 minutes, when she
also snared two rebounds and had a block.
The outcome was never in doubt. Stanford
led 15-4 after the first quarter, 36-17 after the second and 60-29 after
the third, when ASU didn’t make its first basket until more than five minutes
into the quarter.
Starters
get to rest
The Sun Devils actually outscored the Cardinal 18-21
in the fourth, when all of the starters were on the bench by the time three
minutes had elapsed.
Besides Jana’s three 3’s, senior guard Lacie Hull
added two more for the team’s total of five.
Head coach Tara VanDerveer used 13 players. As has
been true in recent games, freshman guard Jzaniya Harriel was in uniform and
warmed up with the team but didn’t play.
Video
honors the late John Arrillaga
Before tipoff, Tara appeared in a video paying
tribute to John Arrillaga, ’60, who died Jan 24 at the age of 84. After playing
basketball on a scholarship at Stanford, he went on to become a successful
Silicon Valley real estate investor and one of Stanford’s most generous
benefactors.
His donations not only funded scholarships but also paid for renovation or construction of numerous campus facilities, including Maples and Stanford Stadium.
Tara saluted him as a longtime personal friend and
said his No. 41 jersey would remain on his seat in the top row of Section 3 above
the officials’ table for the rest of the season.
Afterward, the crowd of 2,551 was asked to give him
a standing ovation.
 |
| Players and coaches celebrate another great play against Arizona. (AP/Josie Lepe) |
Arizona
rematch even better for Stanford
The Arizona game was a rematch of the national
championship game that Stanford won 54-53 in April.
It wasn’t as close this time as Stanford led most of
the way before a crowd of 3,479. The first quarter ended 17-16.
Arizona led only twice, both times briefly in the second
quarter, but the home team ended the half 41-33.
The third quarter ended 55-46, leading to the 75-69
victory.
 |
| Cameron likes what she sees against Arizona. (Stanford photo) |
Cameron
leads the way
Sophomore forward Cameron Brink had an epic game
with 25 points, 15 rebounds, three blocks and two steals. As a result of her performance over the weekend, she was named Pac-12 Player of the Week for the third time on Jan. 31.
Jana continued her
Hannah imitation with a career-best 18 points on six 3’s. Adding to the team’s total of nine 3's were Lacie with two and Cameron with one.
Jana and Cameron were the only two Cardinal players
in double figures, but five others scored.
Haley had mixed results with only four points, but
she had seven rebounds and a team-high six assists offset by six of the team’s
18 turnovers.
 |
| This Tara bobblehead honors the coach of the national champions. (Stanford photo) |
Fans
get Tara bobbleheads
The first 3,000 fans at Maples received a Tara
bobblehead, which is likely to become a coveted collector’s item.
Although Stanford gear dominated the stands, some
fans showed up in 49ers apparel in anticipation of the NFC conference
championship game against the Rams in Los Angeles. (The Niners lost.)
After the game, fans were treated to a Behind the
Bench. Before it began, some players crossed the court to greet family and
friends.
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| Brooke (left), Kiki and Jzaniya speak after the game. (Stanford photo) |
Three
freshmen meet fans
Associate head coach Kate Paye then came out with
three freshmen: Kiki, Jzaniya and guard Brooke Demetre.
“It’s great to see the stands filled with people,”
Kate said, calling the game “a huge team win.”
She said that she expects Jzaniya to be in action
soon and classmate Elena to return next week. Tara later said that both Elena
and Hannah are expected for the next game.
The three freshmen answered several questions from
fans and said what their majors might be. Brooke is interested in STEM
(science, technology, engineering and math), Kiki in computer science or
engineering, and Jzaniya political science.
Tara
pleased with players
Tara then took the microphone to open with “I’m
really proud of our team … a great team weekend. …The players on our team are
really great people.
“Our guard improvement is the thing I’m most excited
about.”
She noted that it was a physical game. During the
game fans loudly disputed several calls that they thought were missed or wrong.
Nevertheless, “our team did not get discouraged,” Tara said.
Stanford next takes to the road to face UCLA at 7
p.m. Feb. 3 and USC at 3 p.m. Feb. 6. ESPN will televise the UCLA game. The USC
game will be on the Pac-12 Network.
