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| Closely guarded, Cameron goes up against Duke defenders. (San Francisco Chronicle) |
The visiting Duke Blue Devils gave fans of the
Stanford women’s basketball team their full share of scary moments, but the
Cardinal pulled it out in overtime, winning 82-79 on Nov. 19.
The first two quarters resembled the previous three
games when Stanford dominated and went on to lopsided wins.
Not this time. After leading by 13 and 8 points,
respectively, in the first half, Stanford was down by 2 points after the third
quarter and tied 71-71 in the fourth.
By then it was back and forth. The lead changed six
times and the score was tied eight times during the game.
Cameron's career-high 29 points lead team
Even though her time was limited by four fouls (some
of them loudly disputed by Stanford fans in the crowd of 4,236), senior forward
Cameron Brink led the team with a career-high 29 points and a team-high 11
rebounds. She scored 9 of Stanford’s 11 points in overtime, and iced the win
with two free throws with 11.9 seconds to go.
As an added bonus, she had six of the team’s seven
blocks. As the final seconds ticked
down, some fans held up a sign reading, “Cam’s swat tracker – 313,” indicative
of her career blocks.
Junior forward Kiki Iriafen was close behind in
scoring with her own career high of 27 points.
About halfway through the overtime, she limped off
the court but returned with under a minute left. She had a cramp in her leg,
head coach Tara VanDerveer said after the game.
Graduate guard Hannah Jump was the other player in
double figures with all 15 of her points coming from five of the team’s seven
3’s. Cameron and junior forward Brooke
Demetre had the other two.
As usual, Cameron, Kiki and Hannah started along
with sophomore guard Talana Lepolo and junior guard Elena Bosgana.
Missing from the excitement were the band, Tree,
cheerleaders and Dollies as well as announcer Betty Ann Hagenau.
Coached by former WNBA great Kara Lawson, Duke had
only 11 available players and used 10 of them. Likewise, 10 of Stanford’s 12
players got into the game.
'Great early season win,' Kate says
Afterward, associate head coach Kate Paye began the
Behind the Bench by saying, “That was a great early season win. ..This game
will really help us. .. A game like this
comes down to little things.’’
As she spoke, she was joined by the three freshmen:
guard Chloe Clardy and forwards Nunu Agara and Courtney Ogden, whom she praised
for their maturity and skills. Meanwhile, workers were setting up the court for
a volleyball game that night.
The Hull twins and Alyssa Jerome are welcomed back by the coaches. (Stanford Athletics)
She then was joined by three alumni who were part of
Stanford’s 2021 national championship team: Lexie and Lacie Hull and Alyssa
Jerome.
They had joined the team for lunch the day before,
Tara said.
Commenting on the game, Tara said, “We had all we
can handle. We have a lot of work to do.”
That work will involve three more games during the
holiday week. The team will be in Henderson, Nev., near Las Vegas, for a
tournament that involves a 1:30 p.m. Nov. 22 game against Belmont. On Nov. 24
the team faces Florida State or Northwestern at 6:30 or 9 p.m. followed by a
quick trip home to host Albany at 1 p.m. Nov. 26.
