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After enduring a 63-83 loss at Cal, the Stanford women’s
basketball team returned home to defeat UT San Antonio 62-57 on Dec. 16.
Stanford led throughout the game except for early in
the third quarter, when UTSA briefly had a 2-point lead that senior forward
Brooke Demetre quickly erased with a 3-pointer.
The Cardinal had its biggest lead, 15 points, about
halfway through the fourth quarter, but the Road Runners kept chipping away. “It
wasn’t pretty, but it was gritty,” head coach Kate Paye said at the post-game
Behind the Bench.
Stanford was clinging to a 60-57 lead with 13.5
seconds left and UTSA with the ball. However, referees stopped action because
the clock hadn’t advanced when ball went into play
After checking, they took about three seconds off the
clock. UTSA then inbounded the ball, but redshirt junior guard Jzaniya Harriel stole
the ball, ran down the court and scored a buzzer-beater, icing the victory.
Ironically, she had opened the game with a 3-pointer,
thus bookending the win.
Finishing with 12 points, she was one of three
Cardinal players in double figures. Senior guard Elena Bosgana was the high-scorer
with 13 points plus a team-high 11 rebounds. Brooke, who fouled out late in the
fourth quarter, had 11 points.
Sophomore guard Nunu Agara, usually among the high scorers,
was bottled by the UTSA defense and scored only 9 points.
Stanford had eight 3’s, with three each by Brooke and
Jzaniya and two by junior guard Tess Heal.
The crowd of 4,600 included more than 1,500 students
from area schools. They filled most of the upper areas and cheered mightily for
the home team.
Cal prevails
over Stanford
Friday the 13th is reputed to be unlucky.
That certainly was the case for the Stanford women’s
basketball team, which lost 63-83 at Cal on Friday, Dec. 13, just after the end
of finals.
It was the first meeting of the longtime rivals as
part of the ACC following the demise of the Pac-12.
Part of the reason for the Cardinal’s undoing was the
Bears’ success beyond the arc – a school record 18 3’s resulting in 54 points,
more than half of their final score.
Stanford had what has become its typical 3-point
success with nine, not enough to counteract its opponent.
Also hurting the team were 12 turnovers to Cal’s nine.
Cal also had more rebounds, assists and blocks.
Among the five starters –Nunu, Elena, Brooke, Jzaniya and
Tess – only Brooke with a team-leading 18 points and Nunu with 13 were in
double figures. Sophomore guard Chloe Clardy had 10 off the bench.
The 3’s came from Brooke with four, Elena with three and
one each by Nunu and Chloe in this game attended by more than 3,100.
Next up for the team is Ohio State at 5:30 p.m. Dec.
20 at Chase Center in San Francisco. It will be televised on FS1.
This will be followed by a short holiday break that
ends with an ACC road trip to SMU at 5 p.m. PT Jan. 2, shown on ACCN, and
Clemson at 11 a.m. PT Jan. 5, shown on CW Network. Winter quarter classes start
Jan. 6.
