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| Nunu and Brooke are in sync against Wake Forest. (Stanford Athletics) |
The Stanford women’s basketball team spent nearly a
week in North Carolina and left with its first-ever ACC road win, 74-71, over
Wake Forest on Jan. 16, followed by a 49-74 loss to Duke on Jan. 19.
The margin against Wake Forest was much wider for the first
three quarters. Stanford had a 19-point advantage once during the third
quarter, which ended with the visitors up 58-42 before a relatively sparse
crowd of just over 900.
Wake Forest dominated the fourth quarter, outscoring
Stanford 29-16, but it wasn’t enough to secure a win for the home team.
This game was highlighted by junior guard Tess Heal’s
24 points, thanks in part to her six 3’s, four of them in the first quarter.
Thus she accounted for half of the team’s 12 3’s.
Sophomore guard Chloe Clardy had two, as did senior forward Brooke Demetre. Sophomore
forward Nunu Agara and senior guard Elena Bosgana added one each.
Nunu was right behind Tess with 23 points. They were
the only two Stanford players in double figures.
Stanford dominated Wake Forest in most statistical
categories such as rebounds (37-24) and assists (16-9).
However, Wake Forest had 11 steals, while Stanford had
four. Wake Forest’s steals contributed to Stanford’s 17 turnovers, a costly
issue.
One item of note is that freshman center Kennedy Umeh
entered the game during the third quarter. It was her first game action for
quite some time. She played just over two minutes and had a rebound as well as
a turnover.
Blue
Devils dominate Cardinal 74-49
Stanford trailed by only four points against Duke
after the first quarter, but Duke poured in 25 points to Stanford’s seven in
the second. Stanford actually outscored Duke in the third, but Duke took over
and came out ahead by 25 points for the game.
Nunu was the only Stanford player in double figures
with 15 points plus 10 rebounds.
Of note is that two freshmen helped out. Guard Shay Ijiwoye
had eight points as a starter, and Kennedy came off the bench to add six points
and four rebounds.
On the other hand, Tess, who had led the way against
Wake Forest, was scoreless in just over nine minutes off the bench.
The team’s only four 3’s came from Shay, Chloe, Brooke
and sophomore guard Courtney Ogden.
And then there were the turnovers – 20, half of them
from Duke steals– while Duke had only nine turnovers.
The crowd of more than 4,700 included athletic
director Bernard Muir and retired head coach Tara VanDerveer.
The team gets to stay home for a week, hosting Cal at
7 p.m. PT Jan. 23. ACCNX will stream the game.
