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| Fran dunks against Montana State. (Stanford Athletics) |
With finals in the rearview mirror, the No. 1 seeded
Stanford women’s basketball team drove to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament
by defeating 16-seed Montana State 78-37 on March18 and eight-seed Kansas 91-65
on March 20.
The talk of the Montana State game was not the
lopsided victory or the opponent’s scoreless first quarter, 20-0.
No, it was junior forward Fran Belibi’s dunk that
followed a block a few minutes into the second quarter. The crowd and Stanford bench
went wild, roaring their approval and giving her a prolonged standing ovation
as play continued.
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| Her teammates mob Fran after her dunk. (Scott Strazzante/SF Chronicle) |
With a timeout at 4:55 and the score 34-8, the
entire team mobbed her as she headed to the bench. At halftime, that was all
anyone could talk about.
Fran usually dunks in practices and warmups, but
this was the first time in two years that she has done so in a game. She is the only college woman to do so since Brittney Griner and Candace Parker, who both are taller than she.
She finished the game with 12 points to go with 13
rebounds, two blocks and a steal in 15 minutes off the bench.
Fran
happy to play in Maples for first time
In an interview after the game, she said how great
it was to be playing a tournament game at home for the first time in her years
at Stanford.
The Cardinal couldn’t host the first two rounds in
2019 because it conflicted with a women’s gymnastics meet. The 2020 tournament
was abruptly canceled because of the onset of the COVID epidemic, and all games
in the 2021 tournament took place in a “wubble” in San Antonio for the same
reason.
Thus no one except the seniors had played a
tournament game at home.
Hannah’s
five 3’s lead scoring
Also coming off the bench, junior guard Hannah Jump
posted a team-leading 15 points, all from five of the team’s nine 3’s.
The rest came from sixth-year guard Anna Wilson,
senior guard Lexie Hull, sophomore guard Jana Van Gytenbeek and fifth-year
guard Jordan Hamilton.
Head coach Tara VanDerveer has pledged to donate $10
for every 3-pointer made by every team throughout the tournament to Ukrainian
relief, and she has asked others to join her in the effort.
Besides Hannah and Fran, those in double figures
were Lexie with 13 and sophomore forward Cameron Brink with 11 plus 11 rebounds, four of the team’s eight blocks and only one foul, a good sign for her.
All 15 players got into the game, and most
contributed in some way. All of the starters were on the bench by late in the
third quarter. Everyone played at least seven minutes, and no one played more
than 21 minutes (Lexie).
Crowd
applauds opponent’s first basket
After failing to score in the first quarter, the
Bobcats finally got on the scoreboard less than a minute into the second,
garnering applause from the reported crowd of 3,648.
Stanford dominated in every statistical category
except turnovers, which were too close. The Cardinal had 16 while the Bobcats
had 17.
In the earlier game, eight-seed Kansas defeated nine-seed
Georgia Tech 77-58.
Kansas seemed to have a good turnout of fans and a
very vocal band that frequently and annoyingly chanted “air ball” when Georgia
Tech had the ball.
As the Stanford-Montana State game got under way,
the Stanford band sat in the bleachers across from the Stanford bench, while
the Montana State band was across from the visitors’ bench.
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| Lexie reacts after making a three against Kansas. (Carlos Avila Gonzalez/SF Chronicle) |
Toto,
they’re not in Kansas anymore
Stanford allowed Kansas to make a game of it in the
first two quarters, both of which ended with the Cardinal ahead by only two
points. Kansas never led during those quarters but did manage to tie the score
three times.
But Lexie and her teammates would have nothing more
of that in the final two quarters, which saw Stanford win by 26 points, 91-65.
In 36 minutes Lexie posted a career-high 36 points
plus six rebounds, three assists and – as evidence of her defensive intensity,
too – six of the team’s 11 steals.
Lexie
makes her last Maples game memorable
When she returned to the bench to join the rest of
the starters for good with about four minutes left, the crowd of 4,189 gave her
a prolonged, loud, standing ovation. It was a great way for her and her fellow
seniors to end their last game at Maples.
As in the Montana State game, all 15 available players
saw action, and most contributed in some way.
With yet another double-double, 13 points
and 12 rebounds, Cameron was the only other Cardinal in double figures. Moreover, she
had four assists, two blocks, two steals and, importantly, no fouls.
After one of her scores, someone in the student
section waved a handmade sign, “Hot damn. We love Cam.”
More
money for Ukrainian relief
The team added to Tara’s 3-point pledge for
Ukrainian relief by hoisting 13 3’s.
Lexie had the most with six; followed by Hannah with
three; and Cameron, Anna, senior guard Lacie Hull and freshman guard Brooke
Demetre with one each.
The team had 19 assists but too many turnovers, 14,
most of them in the first half.
Now it’s on to the Hull sisters’ hometown, Spokane,
for a Sweet 16 meeting with four-seed Maryland at 6:30 p.m. March 25.
Stanford beat then-shorthanded Maryland 86-68 Nov.
27 during a Thanksgiving tournament in the Bahamas.
