Lara Somfai was named ACC Rookie of the Week after the Cal Poly game. (Stanford Athletics)
Balanced scoring led to a third dominant win by the Stanford women’s basketball team. This time the score was 90-55 over Cal Poly on Nov. 9 at Maples.
Five Cardinal players
scored in double figures led by junior forward Nunu Agara with 16 points.
She was followed by
junior guard Chloe Clardy and freshman forward Lara Somfai with 14 each, plus
10 rebounds for Lara. Junior forward Courtney Ogden and freshman guard Hailee
Swain had 12 points each.
Stanford outscored Cal
Poly in every quarter and never trailed.
The taller home team
dominated the visitors with 39 rebounds, 17 assists, 10 steals and five
blocks. Turnovers were limited to 12 (vs. 21), and Stanford made 17 of 20 free
throws.
The team showed hustle
throughout the game. Just one highlight play came with only seconds left in the
first quarter when Hailee ran across the court and scored.
Starters were Nunu,
Hailee, Courtney, Lara and senior guard Talana Lepolo. All 12 available players
got into the game. Unavailable were senior guard Lauren Green, sophomore center
Kennedy Umeh and freshman forward Nora Ezike.
On hand among the 2,461
people at the game were the Tree, Dollies, band and cheerleaders.
The crowd had fun
between the first and second quarters when Conga on the Court danced to “YMCA.”
After the game,
associate head coach Tempie Brown was joined by Lauren and Nora, who answered
audience questions.
When head coach Kate
Paye joined the Behind the Bench, she noted that “our returners are leading the
way.”
She said she expects
the team to get better as the season continues. “We have a lot of weapons on
our team.”
She then invited three
alums to join her: Brooke Demetre, ’25; Cameron Brink, ’24; and Fran Belibi,
’23.
Next up the team goes
north to play Washington State at 4 p.m. Nov. 14 and Gonzaga at 2 p.m. Nov. 16.
Both games will be on ESPN+.
