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| Talana brings the ball upcourt during her 17-point game against Creighton. (Jeff Chiu/AP) |
Wrapping up its nonconference schedule, the No.
2-ranked Stanford women’s basketball team defeated Tennessee 77-70 on Dec. 18
and No. 21 Creighton 72-59 on Dec. 20, both at home.
In the Creighton game, attended by 2,988, the team
unveiled another secret weapon: freshman guard Talana Lepolo. Fans have known Talana
as an efficient point guard, making many assists with few turnovers. Shooting
seemed secondary, but not in this game. Instead, she let fly five successful
3’s and made another basket to lead the team with 17 points in 32 minutes.
When the final buzzer sounded and the team gathered
at center court to celebrate, her teammates hugged Talana and hoisted her. It
was a happy moment before the victory balls went out.
Defenses
will have to reckon with Talana
Now, instead of focusing so much on senior guard
Hannah Jump, as teams have done recently, they’ll have to keep a close watch
on Talana.
Senior guard Haley Jones was right behind Talana with
16 points. Junior forward Cameron Brink came next with 14 points and a
team-leading 16 rebounds.
Sophomore forward Kiki Iriafen was the other
Cardinal in double figures with 11 points. The usually prolific Hannah had an
off night with 4points and went 0-5 from beyond the arc.
The team had a total of seven 3’s: five by Talana and
one each by Haley and sophomore guard Elena Bosgana.
Trees
grab most rebounds
Stanford doubled Creighton in rebounds, 50-25,
perhaps because Creighton’s tallest starter is only 6’1” while four of five
Stanford starters are 6’0” or taller.
However, the team had 15 turnovers and shot only
58.3% at the free-throw line.
The five starters carried the scoring load with only
10 points from the bench.
The first quarter ended 27-10 with no fouls and five
3’s already. The team was outscored by 3 in the second quarter and 7 in the
fourth after prevailing 14-8 in the third. That’s when it had it largest lead,
22 points, with less than two minutes to go.
Kiki provided a fourth quarter highlight by scoring
on an out-of-bounds play with only one second on the clock.
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| Cameron battles for one of her 17 rebounds against Tennessee. (Carlos Avila Gonzalez/SF Chronicle) |
Cardinal
top the team from Rocky Top
Showing some rust after a two-week break for
finals, the team came from behind to defeat Tennessee 77-70 on Dec. 18.
In a Maples filled with 4,480 people, several dozen
of them in gold, the afternoon began with the season’s first live rendition of
the national anthem, sung thrillingly by Stanford’s Dr. Steven Goodman, an operatic tenor and Stanford associate dean of
clinical and translational research and professor of epidemiology and population
health, and medicine.
Another reason to cheer came a few minutes later
when it was announced that WNBA star Brittney Griner had been released from a
Russian penal colony and returned to the United States, where she plans to play
for her team, the Phoenix Mercury, when the season starts.
Tennessee scored first, but Haley answered
immediately by making a basket after a nice fake.
Also during the first quarter, the Lady Vols were
assessed an administrative technical when the roster it submitted didn’t
include the number of a player who took the court. Hannah then stood alone at
the free-throw line and made both shots.
Conga
on the Court returns
The first quarter ended with a 20-17 advantage for
Stanford. That’s when Conga on the Court for kids was seen for the first time
since the pandemic began in 2020.
The second quarter was tied, 35-35. During that
quarter, the new football coach, Troy Taylor, was introduced, along with his
wife and three children.
During halftime, players and staff from Stanford’s 1992
national championship team were recognized as they celebrated the 30th
anniversary of their accomplishment.
In the first few minutes of the third quarter, the
score seesawed before Stanford endured a scoring drought that had it down by as
many as 8 points. Cameron cut the gap to 5 points by launching a trey in
the last few seconds, making the score 53-58 when the buzzer sounded.
The Cardinal rallied in the fourth quarter, scoring
24 points to Tennessee’s 12. Hannah made a 3 in the final seconds, sending the
crowd into a frenzy and upping the final score to 77-70.
Rust
shows up at free-throw line
Some of the team’s rust was apparent at the
free-throw line, when only 18 of 30, or 60 percent, of the shots went in.
Turnovers were another problem with 14, compared
with five for the visitors. Even 3’s were below the team’s usual output with
only five: three by Hannah and one each by Cameron and senior forward Ashten
Prechtel.
On the other hand, Stanford had the advantage in
rebounds, 53-38, and blocks, 10-0. Cameron contributed six of them despite playing
only 26 minutes with foul trouble.
She made the most of that time by leading the team
with 21 points and 17 rebounds. As a result, she was named Pac-12 Player of the
Week.
Starters
do most of the heavy lifting
Two other starters carried much of the rest of the
scoring load and playing time. Hannah played all 40 minutes and had 19 points,
with some from nifty back-door cuts. Playing 37 minutes, Haley also had 19
points as well as 12 rebounds.
Belying what has been vaunted as the team’s depth,
the six bench players who got into the game added only 6 points.
Tennessee’s tight defense, especially on the
perimeter, was a problem. Stanford compensated by scoring 42 points in the
paint.
“We gutted it out” even though it wasn’t the team’s
best game, associate head coach Kate Paye said during the post-game Behind the
Bench.
Fans
meet ’92 championship team
This session gave fans a chance to meet members and
staff of the ’92 team and hear briefly from each one.
Kate was a freshman walk-on for that team. “It was
like a dream come true,” she said.
Tara VanDerveer was its head coach then as now, and
the now-retired Amy Tucker was on the coaching staff.
Besides Kate, the team included Niki Sevillian,
Tanda Rucker, Molly Goodenbour, Angela Taylor, Chris MacMurdo, Ann Adkins,
Kelly Dougherty, Rachel Hemmer, Val Whiting, Anita Kaplan, Christy Hedgpeth and
Bobbie Kelsey, who later became an assistant coach on Tara’s staff.
Next up is the start of the Pac-12 season with
Stanford hosting Cal at noon Dec. 23. Pac-12 Networks will televise the game.
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