Happy players and coaches celebrate the FSC win. (John Lozano/ISI Photos)
The Stanford women’s basketball team made a happy, welcome return to Maples by defeating Florida State 89-84 on Jan. 9, thus notching its first-ever ACC win.
The results weren’t quite as happy three days later on
Jan. 12, when the team hosted North Carolina State and lost 81-67.
FSU came into the meeting with a 13-2 record overall
and 3-0 in the ACC, while Stanford was 8-5 and 0-3, respectively.
Playing in front of more than 2,600 fans, the Cardinal
apparently weren’t impressed with the Seminoles’ record and led for most of the
game. The home team led by as much as 17
points in the second quarter, but the visitors kept chipping away – not by
enough to win, though.
Head coach Kate Paye stayed with the recently revised
starting lineup: senior guard Elena Bosgana, senior forward Brooke Demetre, sophomore
forward Nunu Agara, sophomore guard Chloe Clardy and freshman guard Shay
Ijiwoye.
Brooke led the four players in double figures with 24
points. She was followed by Elena with 21 points, plus a game-leading 15
rebounds.
Also in double figures were Nunu with 17 and junior
guard Tess Heal with 14.
Both teams tallied 10 3’s. Brooke was responsible for
Stanford’s total with five 3’s. The others came from Elena and Tess with two
each and Nunu with one.
Although free throws again were a problem overall – 13
of 21 -- that wasn’t the case in the first half, when the team was perfect in
that department.
Turnovers also were a sore spot again with 18 compared
with FSU’s six. On the other hand, Stanford had the advantage in rebounds, 52-35.
NC
State hands team a loss
The starting lineup was the same against NC State, but
the scoring output was somewhat different. Chloe led the team with 17 points,
her career high, Kate said after the game. She was followed by Nunu and Elena
with 14 each.
The team’s seven 3’s came from Chloe with three, Shay
with two, and Nunu and Brooke with one each.
Things looked good after the first quarter when
Stanford led 18-12.
However, the wheels came off during the second and
third quarters, giving NC State a 25-point lead, 68-43. At that point, some of
the more than 3,700 people at the game headed for the exits.
Stanford refused to go away, though, outscoring NC
State 24-13 in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the
previous deficits.
In some ways, too, the turnover story was the same as
in some past games. Stanford amassed 18 miscues, while NC State had 12.
On the other hand, Stanford had a slight advantage in
rebounds, 38-36.
NC State won with better shooting, 47.1 percent vs.
41.5 percent. Both teams made all of their free throws.
After the game, associate head coach Tempie Brown
introduced three of the sophomores: Nunu, Chloe and guard Mary Ashley
Stevenson.
Joining them, Kate said she and the coaches knew this
would be a tough game, but “I think we’ve made progress this weekend.”
She praised her coaching staff and several players,
including Shay, whom she called the Energizer Bunny.
Coming up next, the team travels to the East Coast and
across three time zones to face Wake Forest at 3 p.m. PT Jan. 16 and Duke at 10
a.m. PT Jan. 19, both in North Carolina.
The team travels by charter on planes that have Wi-Fi,
giving players a chance to keep up with their classes, Kate said.
ACCNX will stream the Wake Forest game. The Duke game
will be televised on ESPN/ESPN2.
