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| Cameron makes one of her seven blocks against UCLA. (Jae C. Hong/AP) |
After
winning the first of two games on its SoCal trip, 72-59 over UCLA on Jan. 13,
the Stanford women’s basketball team came back to earth with a thud, losing
46-55 to USC on Jan. 15.
Attended by 2,418, this game marked the team’s lowest point total since 2016, Stanford Athletics reported. The loss knocked Stanford down to AP’s No. 4 from the No. 2 ranking it had held since the start of the season.
Moreover, its 4 points in the first quarter were the fewest for any quarter this season. The loss ended the team’s 39-game winning streak over Pac-12 teams, and it ended USC’s 14-game losing streak to Stanford, AP reported.
Junior forward Cameron Brink was the only Cardinal player in double figures with 11 points to go with a team-leading 14 rebounds.
Freshman guard Talana Lepolo had 9 points, followed by senior guard Haley Jones with 8 points plus 12 rebounds.
Treys were hard to come by with only four: one each by Talana, sophomore forward Brooke Demetre, junior guard Agnes Emma-Nnopu and senior forward Ashten Prechtel.
Closely covered senior guard Hannah Jump came up empty-handed, missing all five of her field goal attempts, including three beyond the arc, and scoring her only point on a free throw.
Thirteen players got into the game, and nine scored. The bench added 13 points.
Stanford never led. Some stats were close, but the most glaring difference came at the free-throw line, where USC logged 17 points to Stanford’s 8. Closely related numbers came with fouls: 23 for Stanford, nine for USC. Likewise, Stanford had 14 turnovers to USC’s seven.
It
wasn’t pretty.
UCLA gives team a tough victory
Stanford had started its SoCal trip with a tough 72-59 win over No. 8-ranked UCLA on Jan. 13 before a crowd of 6,855.
The first three quarters might have had fans wondering if Friday the 13th bad luck might be hitting the team, but the fourth quarter changed all that as the Cardinal outscored the Bruins 21-10 in that period.
Prior to that, the first quarter ended with Stanford up 18-17. The first half ended in a tie, 32-32, and Stanford held a narrow lead, 51-49, after the third.
The fourth-quarter difference might be credited to two players: Cameron had six of her seven blocks then, and Agnes came in to provide stellar defense along with 9 points (including one 3 and 4-4 at the free-throw line), along with a rebound and a steal all in just 10 minutes.
For the game, Haley was the leading scorer with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Cameron had another double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Besides the trey from Agnes, the team benefitted from two 3’s each by Hannah and Talana, while Ashten and sophomore guard Elena Bosgana each had one.
It was a tight game overall with 10 lead changes and seven ties. In the fourth quarter, though, Stanford held UCLA scoreless until less than two minutes to go.
Thirteen players got into the game, and 10 scored. The bench had 19 points.
Stanford had the most rebounds, 48-31, and the most points in the paint, 32-18, in part because of Cameron’s blocks.
It was the team’s 39th consecutive victory over a Pac-12 opponent.
The
team stays home for the next two games: Utah at 6 p.m. Jan. 20 and Colorado at
2 p.m. Jan. 22. Pac-12 Networks will air both games.
