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| Cam tries to steal the ball from WSU's Eleanora Villa. (Dean Hare/WSU PhotoServices) |
The
Stanford women’s basketball team returned from the Evergreen State with two
more wins: 63-59 in overtime at Washington on Feb. 9 and 73-58 at Washington
State on Feb. 11.
These
two wins, combined with other Pac-12 and national results, vaulted the Cardinal
into first place in the conference and No. 3 in the Feb. 12 AP poll.
Team prevails in
overtime at Washington
It
took the season’s first overtime for Stanford to defeat a gritty Washington
team 63-59 in Seattle on Feb. 9.
With
the first quarter ending with Stanford up 11-5, it looked as if this would be a
cakewalk. The second quarter continued that view as the Stanford defense forced
the Huskies into several shot-clock violations. When the buzzer sounded,
Stanford still had a 6-point lead as both teams scored just 11 points.
The
lead swelled to 8 points in the third, but things turned around in the fourth
quarter. Washington outscored Stanford by 8 points, leading to a 50-50 tie and
sending the game into overtime.
Stanford
scored just enough in OT to eke out the 4-point win, resulting in a sigh of
relief for Cardinal fans among the 4,454 people at the game and for those
watching at home.
Cameron pours in
22 points
Once
again, senior forward Cameron Brink led the scoring with 22 points plus nine
rebounds, four assists, six blocks and a steal.
However,
junior forward Kiki Iriafen, her usually high-scoring teammate, managed only 9
points plus nine rebounds. She fouled out about halfway through the OT and had
six of the team’s 18 turnovers.
The
next-highest scorer for Stanford was freshman forward Courtney Ogden, who came
off the bench to add 11 points and five rebounds. Sophomore guard Talana Lepolo
was the other Cardinal in double figures with 10 points, thanks to three of the
team’s seven 3’s.
Courtney,
junior guard Elena Bosgana, junior forward Brooke Demetre and grad guard Hannah
Jump had the others. It wasn’t Hannah’s best game. She played all 45 minutes
but had only that trey for her scoring. A tough defender, she also had four
fouls.
Slow start
against WSU
Hoping
for its first-ever victory over Stanford on Feb. 11, Washington State had a
7-point lead after the first quarter and ceded Stanford only a 3-point edge at
the half in front of 1,304 people in Pullman.
It
outscored the Cardinal by a point in the third quarter, cutting the visitors’
advantage to just 2 points, but the fourth quarter told a different story.
Stanford held WSU to just 7 points while scoring 20 points of its own to seal
the 73-58 win.
Once
again Cam was the team leader. She scored 21 points to go with 11 rebounds,
five assists, five steals and two blocks with only one foul.
This
time, though, her usually reliable teammates stepped up big time. Hannah had 20
points, thanks in large part to her four 3’s, plus four assists and a steal.
Kiki
was next in the double-figure category with 17 points, 14 rebounds and five
assists.
For
the game, Stanford shot 49.2 percent vs. WSU’s 44 percent.
Stanford
also had eight 3’s, one more than WSU. Stanford’s came courtesy of Hannah’s
four, along with two by Cam, and one each by Talana and Courtney.
Next
up is a visit by Cal at 7 p.m. Feb. 16. The team then has a week off before
hosting Arizona at 7 p.m. Feb. 23 and Arizona State at noon Feb. 25, Senior
Day. Pac-12 Networks will air all three games.
