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| Joyful players punch their ticket to March Madness after the Pac-12 Tournament. (Stanford Athletics) |
The Stanford women’s basketball team successfully repeated
as the Pac-12 tournament champion by defeating Utah 73-48 on March 6 in Las
Vegas.
This accomplishment followed the team’s perfect
Pac-12 season.
The team reached the finals of the tournament by defeating
Oregon State 57-44 on March 3 and Colorado 71-45 on March 4.
It had been widely expected that Stanford, the No. 1
seed, would face Oregon, the No. 2 seed, in the tournament final, but No. 6
seed Utah had other ideas and upset the Ducks.
Three win all-tournament honors
On top of the team’s tournament championship, three
players were honored. Junior guard Haley Jones was named the tournament’s most
outstanding player. She, sixth-year guard Anna Wilson and sophomore forward
Cameron Brink were named to the all-tournament team.
Here’s how it all unfolded:
Anna fired the opening salvos with two 3-pointers as
the team went on to defeat Oregon State 57-44 in the quarter finals March 3.
Those baskets were just the prelude as the team went
on to outscore OSU 16-2 in the first quarter. OSU managed to put more points on
the board in the next three quarters but not enough to overtake the Cardinal.
Perhaps the most notable statistic in this game is
that Stanford had only three turnovers while recording 14 assists.
The team also had eight 3’s, thanks to a total of
three by Anna, plus two each by Cameron and senior guard Lexie Hull and one by
junior guard Hannah Jump.
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| Haley drives against an OSU defender. (David Beckeer/AP) |
Haley
comes alive in second half
After scoring only two points in the first half,
Haley asserted herself in the second to wind up with a team-leading 20
points and 14 rebounds. Anna finished with 11, while Cameron had 10.
The players came into the game with heavy hearts
following the suicide by women’s soccer team goalie Katie Meyes, a senior, in her
dorm room on March 1.
The two teams have backed each other and often
attend each other’s games.
In her honor, the players wore soccer T-shirts for
warmups and put her initials on athletic tape around their wrists.
Team
rides herd on the Buffaloes
Playing Colorado the next day, March 4, the team won
fairly handily, defeating the Buffaloes 71-45.
The first quarter was tight, ending with Stanford up
11-10 after several ties and lead changes. Thereafter the score widened, with
Stanford outpacing Colorado in the next three quarters.
It was a fairly physical game with 16 fouls called
against each team. One pair of fouls followed a heated confrontation between
Cameron and Colorado’s Mya Hollingshed.
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| Cameron gets a Colorado player's hand in the face. (John Locher/AP) |
Tempers
flare on both sides
They were vying for a rebound under the Colorado
basket when it was reported that Cameron inadvertently hit Mya. Mya retaliated
by putting her hand on Cameron's face, and Cameron tossed the ball at her. They had to
be separated by the referees, and each was assessed a foul, so neither could shoot
a free throw.
Nevertheless, the Cardinal capitalized on 10 of
11free throws while the Buffaloes made 11 of 15.
Turnovers abounded with 22 by Colorado and 14 by
Stanford.
Once again Haley led the team with 17 points,
followed by Cameron with 14 and Anna with 12.
Seven 3’s helped the cause, with two each by Anna
and junior forward Ashten Prechtel, along with one each by Cameron, Haley and
Lexie.
Given the wide margin of victory, head coach Tara
VanDerveer was able to use 14 players.
In turn, they gave the coach her 1,000th
victory in her 36 seasons at Stanford.
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| Her teammates hoist Anna, who was so instrumental in their success. (Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images) |
Tara
notches 1,001 wins at the Farm
No. 1,001 came March 6 with the 73-48 championship
win over Utah. It also was the team’s 15th conference championship
with Tara at the helm. Following that game she was presented with a game ball
to commemorate her milestone.
Stanford jumped out to a 21-11 lead in the first
quarter, but Utah rallied to outscore Stanford in the second, but the Cardinal
still were ahead 32-30.
The second half was an entirely different story as
Stanford stepped on the gas and never looked back.
Minor
scares for Lexie, Haley
Still, the third quarter proved somewhat worrisome
as Lexie had to retreat to the bench with a bloody nose and Haley rolled her
ankle a few minutes later. Both returned to action, though.
With less than 2 minutes to go, Tara cleared the
bench, thus giving all available players a chance to participate. Fifth-year
guard Jordan Hamilton had played in the first game but was in street clothes
for the next two.
Haley led the
team with 19 points, followed by Cameron with 16 and Lexie with 15.
Although Utah is noted for 3-point shooting, it was
8-24 from beyond the arc while Stanford was 8-19.
Haley contributed three 3’s, while Lexie and senior
forward Lacie Hull had two each, and Hannah had one.
Also notable: the team had 18 assists and only six
turnovers.
Players,
coach accrue season honors
Besides all the honors received in Las Vegas, the
team accrued several season honors.
They were Haley, Player of the Year; Cameron,
Defensive Player of the Year; All Pac-12, Cameron, Lexie, Haley; All-Defensive
Team, Cameron, Lexie, Anna; and All-Freshmen honorable mention, forward Kiki
Iriafen.
On top of that, Tara was named the John R. Wooden
Pac-12 Coach of the Year for the 17th time.
With the Pac-12 Tournament behind them, the players
had two weeks before the NCAA Tournament starts. That means more time to focus
on classes, which end March 11, and finals, which are March 14 to 18.
By then they’ll know their standing in the NCAA
bracket, which will be announced March 13 before games start later that week. Since
Stanford is expected to be a No. 1 seed, its first two games would be at home.
Spring quarter begins March 28.
