Cameron gets a hand in her face as she tries to block a Colorado shot. (Jim Gensheimer/AP)
After the loss to USC the previous weekend had knocked
the Stanford women’s basketball team down to No. 4 from No. 2 in AP’s weekly
poll, the Cardinal moved up to No. 3 on Jan. 23 and gained sole possession of
first place in Pac-12 standings thanks to two home wins.
The first was over then-No. 8 Utah 74-62 on Jan. 20,
followed by a 62-49 win over then-No. 24 Colorado on Jan. 22. Utah subsequently
fell to No. 9. Colorado dropped to 25.
The Colorado game featured a revised starting lineup
with freshman guard Indya Nivar replacing freshman guard Talana Lepolo, who had
injured her ankle in the Utah game. Talana was there with her ankle taped.
Also moving into the starting lineup for the second
straight game, junior guard Agnes Emma-Nnopu replaced sophomore forward Kiki
Iriafen. Eventually 12 players got into the game, with the bench supplying 11
points.
Hannah
pours in 21 points
Scoring was led by senior guard Hannah Jump with 21
points, 15 of them coming from her five 3’s.
Junior forward Cameron Brink supplied 14 points,
while senior guard Haley Jones had 11 points and a team- and game-high of 18
rebounds. After the weekend victories, Haley was named Pac-12 Player of the
Week and Naismith Trophy Player of the Week.
Besides Hannah’s five, the team’s other two 3’s came
from Agnes and sophomore forward Brooke Demetre.
Defense played a big part of the win, thanks to 14
blocks: six by Cameron, two each by Hannah and freshman center Lauren Betts,
and one each by Haley, Agnes, Indya and
senior forward Fran Belibi.
Free throws were another major factor -- 17, or 77.3
percent, by Stanford; six, or 37.5 percent, by Colorado, or 37.5 percent -- an
11-point advantage.
Colorado never led even after outscoring Stanford
18-16 in the final quarter, but it was too little, too late. After the first
quarter ended 18-8, Stanford led by double figures for the rest of the game.
Its largest lead was 17 points in the second quarter.
Early in the fourth quarter, Brooke limped to the
locker room but returned to the bench later.
A few minutes after that, Colorado’s bench was
assessed a technical for jawing at a referee.
Elevator
out of service
When the crowd of 4,122 people arrived, they learned
that Maples’ only elevator was out of service. Hence many seniors and people
with disabilities had to struggle up and down the stairs or, perhaps, go back
home.
Once fans got into the arena, those in the lower
levels found red T-shirts honoring the Lunar New Year draped over their seats.
When it came time for Conga on the Court between the first and second quarters,
the shirts came down to the knees of many of the youngsters.
Another change was that the usual announcer, Betty
Ann Hagenau, was absent, replaced by someone else.
And the previously announced Behind the Bench was
canceled so that fans could hustle home to watch the 49ers defeat the Dallas
Cowboys and advance to the NFC championship game against the Philadelphia
Eagles the next weekend.
Utah
keeps score close but loses
It wasn’t until the fourth quarter of the Jan. 20
Utah game that Stanford fans could sit back and say, “OK, it looks like we’ve
got this one.” The Cardinal went on to win 74-62 before a crowd of 3,730.
Until then, despite leading at the end of the first
three quarters, No. 4 Stanford couldn’t be sure of victory because No. 8 Utah
kept closing the gap but couldn’t quite pull ahead.
 |
| Agnes goes for a basket against Utah. (Santiago Mejia/SF Chronicle) |
Coming off the loss at USC the previous weekend, the
team got off to a slow start in the first quarter, trailing by as many as 8
points at the 7:26 mark, but it rallied to lead 24-22 at quarter’s end. It
seemed that ball movement and defense both improved.
Talana
leaves game with ankle injury
It was during that quarter that the team lost Talana
to an injury. After going to the locker room, she returned with ice on her left
ankle, sat at the end of the bench and elevated her leg. After the half, she
was wearing a boot on her left foot.
Indya stepped in to replace Talana at the point.
Three players accounted for 63 points, or about 85
percent, of the final score. Haley and
Cameron had 25 each, while Hannah pitched in 13. Cameron also had 14 rebounds,
and Haley had 12. Hannah’s 12 points in the first quarter went a long way
toward the team’s lead then.
Hannah logged two 3’s, while Cameron and redshirt
freshman guard Jzaniya Harriel had one each.
A game of Simon Sez, led by Steve Max with two lines
of about 20 youngsters each, entertained the crowd at halftime.
Next up, Stanford stays home to host Oregon State at
8 p.m. Jan. 27 and Oregon at 1 p.m. Jan. 29. Both games will be carried by
Pac-12 Networks.
