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| It was cold in Washington, but the short-handed team was hot. (Stanford Athletics) |
Despite having only 10 players available, the
Stanford women’s basketball team easily defeated Washington State 82-44 on the Cougars’
home court Jan. 2.
Thus the team started 2022 and Pac-12 Conference
play on a winning note after the Dec. 31 game at Washington was postponed
because of COVID issues there.
Missing were sophomore forward Cameron Brink, a
regular starter; fifth-year forward Alyssa Jerome; junior forward Ashten
Prechtel; sophomore guard Agnes Emma-Nnopu; and freshman guard Brooke Demetre.
In addition, senior guard Jenna Brown and freshman
guard Jzaniya Harriel, neither of whom has played all season, didn’t make the
trip to snow-blanketed Pullman. However,
Jzaniya has been in uniform and warming up with the team at recent home games.
COVID
protocol, accident account for six absences
Head coach Tara VanDerveer was reported as saying
after the game that five players were out for COVID protocols and another was
in a car accident but is OK.
Defeating WSU is nothing new for the Cardinal. In
fact, in the two teams’ 70 meetings, WSU has never won.
Junior guard Haley Jones was one of the major
reasons for the shorthanded team’s victory. She scored 24 points and had 16
rebounds in 34 minutes.
Despite playing only 14 minutes, freshman forward Kiki
Iriafen logged 13 points and eight rebounds.
Following the game, Haley was named Pac-12 Player of
the Week, and Kiki was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week.
Also in double figures were junior guard Hannah Jump
and junior forward Fran Belibi with 10 each.
All 10 players got into the game and all but one
scored.
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| Lexie goes for 2 points against WSU. (AP Photo) |
Dominating WSU in nearly every statistic, the team
had seven 3’s. Hannah and sixth-year guard Anna Wilson had two each. Senior
guards Lacie and Lexie Hull each had one, as did sophomore guard Jana Van Gytenbeek.
Defense
makes a difference
Solid defense contributed to the win, as evidenced
by 17 steals and the fact that only six of 10 Cougars scored.
This was the team’s first game since a pre-Christmas
road trip that resulted in a 74-63 victory over Tennessee on Dec. 18 and a
61-65 loss to South Carolina on Dec. 21.
The latter game was a rematch of last season’s Final
Four semi-final game that Stanford won by one point in the final seconds. It
also was a clash between top-rated teams with South Carolina ranked No. 1 by
the Associated Press and Stanford No. 2. Stanford retained its No. 2 spot
despite the loss.
After the Tennessee game, Haley was named Pac-12
Player of the Week by virtue of logging 18 points and 19 rebounds. Fran was
unavailable for that game because she was in the concussion protocol.
However, she did play in the South Carolina game and
had 12 points in 15 minutes.
Lexie led Stanford’s scoring against the Gamecocks with
17 points.
Stanford
lets big lead slip away
The Cardinal led by as much as 18 points in the
second quarter but was outscored in the next two to drop the game.
The team had nine 3’s against Tennessee and seven against South Carolina.
Next up: The team is scheduled to host Oregon at 7
p.m. Jan. 7 and Oregon State at 3 p.m. Jan. 9. The Pac-12 Network will televise
both games.
