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| On her way to 20 points, Fran goes for a layup against UCLA. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP) |
Making its annual trek south, the Stanford women’s
basketball team returned home with two more wins: 76-48 over UCLA on Feb. 3 and
83-57 over USC on Feb. 6.
These victories upped the team’s season record to
18-3 and a Pac-12 best of 9-0.
The UCLA win came without the services of two of the
team’s top scorers: junior guards Haley Jones and Hannah Jump. Haley, along
with sophomore guard Agnes Emma-Nnopu, was absent in accord with health and
safety (COVID) protocols, the Associated Press reported.
Hannah was in uniform but didn’t play after missing
the previous two games for the protocols and not having had two practices as required by Stanford. The same was true of freshman guard
Elena Bosgana.
Fran
starts, leads team in scoring, rebounding
Junior forward Fran Belibi replaced Haley in the
starting lineup and proceeded to lead the team with a double-double of 20
points and 13 rebounds in 27 minutes.
Also in the double-double category was senior guard
Lexie Hull with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore forward Cameron Brink
posted 17 points and eight rebounds.
The bulk of Lexie’s scoring came by making four of
the team’s 11 3’s. Joining her from long range were senior guard Lacie Hull and
sophomore guard Jana Van Gytenbeek with two each; and Cameron, junior forward
Ashten Prechtel and freshman guard Brooke Demetre with one each.
Starters
steal the ball
The team had five steals, with each of them coming
from a starter: Fran, Cameron, sixth-year guard Anna Wilson, Lacie and Lexie.
Also notable were 20 assists (seven by Lacie) with
only eight turnovers plus five blocks, two of them by Cameron.
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| Vanessa Nygaard, new coach of the Phoenix Mercury, joins Tara at UCLA. (Stanford Athletics) |
With the game comfortably in hand, head coach Tara VanDerveer cleared the bench, giving valuable playing time to those players.
One of those cheering for the team and visiting with Tara was distinguished alum Vanessa Nygaard, '98, recently named head coach of the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury.
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| Lexie (12) and Cameron go on defense against USC. (Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP) |
Everyone gets in on the win at USC
The same was true in the USC game when everyone who
was available got to play.
Those players included Hannah and Elena, who had missed the UCLA game. Haley and Agnes were still out.
Stanford led the entire
way as Cameron scored 26 points, snared 14 rebounds and added three assists,
three blocks and a steal.
Another
Pac-12 honor for Cameron
After her weekend performance,Cameron was named Pac-12 Player of the Week for the second straight week and the
fourth time this season.
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| Back in action, Hannah goes on defense against USC. (Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP) |
In her return, Hannah
was the only other Cardinal in double figures, 12 points, all of them coming on
four 3’s in the third quarter.
Also accounting for the
team’s 10 treys were Lacie and Brooke with two each and Cameron and Ashten with
one each.
As evidence of the
team’s balance, even though only Cameron and Hannah posted double figures,
Fran, Lexie and Lacie were close behind with nine points each.
Rebounds
abound
Stanford dominated the
boards with 48 rebounds vs. USC’s 34. The team had 22 assists (seven by Anna)
and 15 turnovers.
Next up is a rescheduled home game, Oregon State, at
2 p.m. Feb. 9.
Two more home games will follow: Utah at 7 p.m. Feb.
11 and Colorado at noon Feb. 13. The Pac-12 Network will televise all three games.
