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| Cameron tallies one of her three blocks against Cal. (Don Feria/Special to SF Chronicle) |
Playing Cal for the second time since Dec. 23, this
time at Cal, the Stanford women’s basketball team eked out a 60-56 win on Jan.
8.
The game was tight throughout as the lead bounced back
and forth. Cal’s largest lead was 5 points in the third quarter. Stanford was
up by 7 in the second quarter.
Stanford had only four 3-pointers, with two by
senior guard Hannah Jump and one each by junior forward Cameron Brink and
freshman guard Talana Lepolo.
Talana’s 3 opened the scoring, and Stanford held Cal
scoreless until just after five minutes had elapsed, but by quarter’s end, the
score was 13-12 in Stanford's favor.
The score was tied 26-26 at the half, and Stanford
was ahead 47-43 after the third quarter.
Apparently because of Cal’s tight defense, Stanford
recorded its lowest point total this season and shot only 32.3 percent.
However, improved free-throw shooting helped to
preserve the win as the team made 16 of 19, or 84.2 percent.
Cameron was the game’s star, logging 25 points, 17
rebounds and three blocks with three fouls in 29 minutes. For her effort, she
was named Pac-12 Player of the Week for the third time this season and sixth
time in her career.
Senior guard Haley Jones was the only other Cardinal
in double figures with 12 points plus 11 rebounds, four assists and a block.
They accounted for more than half the team’s scoring
with only 9 points from the bench.
Twelve players got in, but only nine scored. Everyone
was available, including junior guard Agnes Emma-Nnopu, who had missed the
previous two games with an injury.
As the game clock ticked down to 14 seconds and
Stanford ahead 58-56, Cameron secured a rebound. With five seconds to go,
sophomore forward Brooke Demetre was deliberately fouled. She stepped to the
free-throw line and sank both shots, thus icing the game at 60-56.
Among the 3,442 people at the game were Golden State
Warriors star Stephan Curry and his mother, who is Cameron’s godmother. She and
Cameron's mother were college roommates.
Stanford is back in session for the winter quarter.
Up next for the Cardinal is a trip to Southern California to face UCLA at 8
p.m. Jan. 13 and USC at 2 p.m. Jan. 15. Pac-12 Networks will show both games.
