 |
| Fran spins Cameron around after the win over UCLA. (Carlos Avilia Gonzalez/SF Chronicle) |
It wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t easy, but the team defeated USC 50-47on Feb. 17, thus avenging the 46-55 loss it suffered at USC on Jan. 15. It then faced more challenges with UCLA on Feb. 20 but came out on top 71-66.
The UCLA game looked as if it would be a romp when the Cardinal led 39-26 at the half, much to the delight of fans in the crowd of 5,813.
However, UCLA came out hot in the third quarter scoring 25 points, while Stanford went cold with only 11 points, thus trailing 50-51 to end that period.
The lead shifted several times in the fourth quarter. Thanks to another two free throws by junior forward Cameron Brink, Stanford led 68-65 with just over a minute to go. Freshman guard Talana Lepolo iced the win with two free throws with just over 12 seconds to go.
Cameron goes a record 15-15 at charity stripe
Cameron led all scorers with 25 points, including a perfect 15-for-15 at the free throw line. Those 15 free throws without a miss were the most by any Cardinal since Candice Wiggins, ’08, went 14-for-14 in 2008, AP reported.
For the game, the team was 23 of 25 on free throws.
Also in double figures were senior guard Haley Jones with 18, freshman center Lauren Betts with 12 and Talana with 11.
Part of what made UCLA so challenging came from its advantage in rebounds, turnovers and bench points. UCLA had seven 3’s, Stanford four, with three from Talana and one from sophomore forward Brooke Demetre.
On the other hand, Stanford had six blocks, including the two that Cameron added to her ongoing team record. Senior guard Hannah Jump, usually so accurate from beyond the arc, had no points at all.
 |
| Fran, Hannah, Haley and Ashten were honored after the UCLA game. (Stanford Athletics) |
Seniors honored at last regular home game
Because it was Senior Night, head coach Tara VanDerveer gave flowers to UCLA’s seniors before the game and oversaw the salute to Stanford’s seniors after the game.
Calling themselves the Funky Four (Tara calls them the Fabulous Four or the Final Four), they are Haley and Hannah and forwards Fran Belibi and Ashten Prechtel.
Each one was escorted to center court by family members and received flowers. Announcer Betty Ann Hagenau reported that this class has won 116 games to date and has Pac-12 and national championships on its list of credits.
Fran was the first Cardinal to dunk and has done so in three games. She’s a human biology major.
Haley has amassed numerous honors. So far she has recorded 31 double-doubles and one triple-double. She’s a communications major. A large contingent of family and friends from her hometown of Santa Cruz wore black T-shirts with her name and number.
Hannah, the 3-point specialist, is majoring in psychology.
Ashten will graduate with both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in management science and engineering.
Teammates speak highly of seniors
During this emotional event, each senior was honored by a teammate, starting with Cameron, who called Hannah “a ray of sunshine” through all the team’s ups and downs.
Hannah’s father talked about her early schooling in England before the family moved to California, where she chose basketball over softball. She’s “a very driven individual,” he said.
Lauren and Talana teamed up to salute Fran. Both Lauren and Fran hail from Colorado, where Lauren’s first basketball game was against Fran’s team. She’s “a huge inspiration to me,” Lauren said.
Fran has been helpful to Lauren as she adjusted to college life. Talana echoed similar sentiments, saying “I’m Fran’s second child.”
Fran’s mother, who’s from Africa, spoke proudly about her.
Speaking about Haley, redshirt freshman Jzaniya Harriel said Haley helped her get through her redshirt year last season. Noting that the Jones family has hosted the team several times, Haley’s father praised its sisterhood and community.
Saluting Ashten, junior guard Agnes Emma-Nnopu called her “a great teammate and friend.”
Ashten’s dad talked about her initial interest in several sports, including badminton, and her numbers prowess. She once calculated the value of pi, representing the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, to 200 digits after the number 3.
Ending the event and saluting the seniors, Tara said, “We still have great basketball ahead, and they will be the leaders.”
Haley drives to the basket as Cameron is impeded by a USC player. (Santiago Mejia/SF Chronicle)
USC keeps fans on edge until the final buzzer
The first few plays against USC seemed promising as Stanford got the tip and sophomore forward Kiki Iriafen scored first within the first minute, but USC scored 8 points before Kiki scored the next 3 points.
USC, as it did throughout the game, made some 3’s during that quarter, but Stanford managed to pull ahead18-17 to end the first quarter. The Cardinal also outscored the Trojans in the next two quarters, giving it a 44-37 advantage at the end of the third.
Stanford managed only 6 points in the final quarter, while USC had 10, but the home team came away with the 50-47 win.
It was a highly physical game with lots of pushing, shoving and grabbing, mostly by USC, but the refs called only 10 fouls against the visitors and nine against the hosts.
 |
| Cameron owns the SWBB record for blocks. (Santiago Mejia/SF Chronicle) |
Cameron was the only Cardinal in double figures with 12 points to go with 10 rebounds. More notably, she had six blocks, raising her career total to 278 and surpassing the 273 that Jayne Appel, ’10, tallied in four years. Cameron broke the record about halfway through the second quarter.
On hand to watch this historic performance were family friend Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, along with his daughter, Riley, and 49ers quarterback Trey Lance. Curry was at the UCLA game, too.
Both teams hauled in 43 rebounds, but Stanford had more success in the paint, scoring 34 points there and holding USC to just 2 points in the paint.
For the game, Stanford shot 35.6 percent, compared with USC’s 22.2 percent. USC’s biggest lead was 6 points in the first quarter. Stanford had an 11-point edge in the third.
While USC had eight 3’s, Stanford had only three: two from Hannah and one from freshman guard Indya Nivar. Stanford had 15 bench points, USC none.
Because the corner video displays of team and individual statistics weren’t working, it was impossible to keep track of them. (They were back for the UCLA game.)
The game drew a crowd of 6,343, filling the Maples lot and forcing some people to park elsewhere.
Pink Game supports breast cancer awareness
It was the annual Pink Game in honor of breast cancer awareness. Stanford’s home white uniforms were trimmed in pink, and most of the players wore pink hair ribbons. USC’s uniforms were mostly pink. Early-arriving fans received light-up pink pompons.
The win put Stanford alone atop Pac-12 standings because Utah, then ranked No. 4 nationally by AP, lost to No. 18 Arizona earlier in the day and fell to No. 8 in the latest rankings.
Up next: No. 3 Stanford will complete its regular season schedule by visiting No. 21 Colorado at 2 p.m. Feb. 23 and Utah at 11 a.m. Feb. 25. Pac-12 Networks will televise both games.
