Courtney leads team to victory over Cal

 

Courtney shoots on her way to 25 points. (Bob Drebin/ISI Photos)

Buoyed by junior forward Courtney Ogden’s career-high 25 points, the Stanford women’s basketball team defeated cross-bay rival Cal 78-69 on Dec. 14 in Maples.

She was joined in the double-digit ranks by two fellow juniors, guard Chloe Clardy with 13 and forward Nunu Agara with 12. Freshman forward Lara Somfai had her fourth double-double of the year with 12 points and 13 rebounds along with a career-high three blocks.

For their efforts, Courtney was named ACC Co-Player of the Week while Lara was voted ACC Rookie of the Week for games played between Dec. 8 and 14, according to Stanford Athletics.

Nevertheless, victory didn’t come easily. It was a rough-and-tumble affair with seven lead changes and six ties. Each team had just over 17 minutes with the lead, but Stanford’s 26-14 advantage in the fourth quarter clinched the game.

The Cardinal showed improvement from some earlier games with eight 3’s and only six turnovers to go with 13 assists.

The 3’s came courtesy of Chloe with three, Lara with two and one each from Courtney, freshman guard Hailee Swain and senior guard Talana Lepolo.

The crowd of 2,957 included a busload of Cal fans who were given yellow leis as they got off the bus. Few Stanford students were in evidence because the fall quarter had ended two days earlier.

Sophomore center Kennedy Umeh’s right arm was still in a sling, but everyone else was available.

During one timeout, the video board featured a pep talk by Lindy La Roque, ’12, who’s now head coach at UNLV. The video showed one of her most memorable plays when she fell but passed the ball to a teammate who scored.

Later, Fran Belibi, ’23, also gave a pep talk as the video showed one of her signature dunks.

With classes and finals in the rear view mirror, the team has time off from academics to focus on practice and the next two games: Washington at home at 7 p.m. Dec. 19 and Oregon in Chase Center, San Francisco, at 3 p.m. Dec. 21.

Then there’s a quick Christmas break before the team hosts Cornell at 1 p.m. Dec. 28.

 

 

 

Last-minute hopes dissolve as Tennessee wins 65-62

 Renewing a former long-standing rivalry, the Stanford women’s basketball team hosted No. 19–ranked Tennessee but lost 65-62 on Dec. 4.

Analysts could cite numerous reasons for the loss.

Chief among them were Stanford’s season-worst 30 turnovers, compared with 16 by the Vols.

Then there was Tennessee’s stifling, physical defense and its full-court pressure on Stanford’s inbound plays. Just getting the ball past the center-court line took great effort.

Some in the crowd of nearly 5,000 might also point to the officiating, which they might say didn’t help Stanford.

With a starting lineup of senior guard Talana Lepolo, junior forwards Nunu Agara and Courtney Ogden along with two freshmen, forward Lara Somfai and guard Hailee Swain, Stanford enjoyed a 16-14 lead after the first quarter. Then, Tennessee outscored the Cardinal in the next three quarters.

Still, it was a back-and-forth game with six ties and five lead changes.

Although Stanford trailed 62-57 with just over three minutes to go in the fourth quarter, it still had hope.

With just under a minute to go, Nunu scored a 3-pointer to make the score 62-60 in Tennessee’s favor.

Lara could have tied the game but missed two free throws. Instead, Nunu rebounded and scored to secure the tie with just over 12 seconds left.

Tennessee scored again with 6.7 seconds left, giving Stanford the ball. But when Lara committed her fourth foul with 5 seconds left, Tennessee made a free throw for one more point. Game over.

Both Nunu and Hailee scored 14 points to lead the team. Nunu also had 11 rebounds for a double-double. Junior guard Chloe Clardy added 12 points while Lara had 10.

Courtney was limited by fouls and fouled out with just over eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter.

Tennessee’s coach employed a platoon-style substitution strategy, frequently changing all five players.

Stanford had 14 available players. Sophomore center Kennedy Umeh, who had a sling on her right arm, was unavailable.

The crowd included some Tennessee fans, while Stanford students packed the lower north section.

Among those students was the women’s gymnastic team, the reigning 2024 ACC champion, which led Conga on the Court after the first quarter.

A camera panning the stands during the second quarter showed new football coach Tavita Pritchard with his family.

Shortly thereafter, the football team paraded onto the court showing off the Axe trophy, which it had regained by recently defeating Cal in the 128^th Big Game.

The crowd had a chance to cheer the 2025 ACC champion women’s volleyball team during the third quarter.

And then there was a quick glimpse of SWBB great Jayne Appel-Marinelli, ’10, with her family during the fourth quarter.

The team has a break from competition to focus on academics with classes ending Dec. 5 and finals through Dec. 12.

Competition resumes at 1 p.m. Dec. 14 when Cal visits, followed by Washington at 7 p.m. Dec. 19. Both games will be streamed on ACCNX. The team will play Oregon at 1 p.m. Dec. 21 in San Francisco’s Chase Center. ESPN will televise this game.

 

Las Vegas trip leaves team at 8-1

 After Florida Gulf Coast dealt the Stanford women’s basketball team its first loss of the season, 66-62 on Nov. 28, the Cardinal bounced back to do the same against Colorado State, 62-60, on Nov. 29.

Therefore, score 62 points one day, you lose; score 62 points the next day, you win.

Both games were part of the Resorts World Las Vegas Classic.

Starters for both games were senior guard Talana Lepolo, freshman guard Hailee Swain, junior forward Courtney Ogden, junior forward Nunu Agara and freshman forward Lara Somfai.

FGCU controlled most of the Nov, 28 game, which saw five lead changes and six ties.

When Stanford was down 8 points with just over three minutes to go, it started fouling in hopes of regaining the ball and the advantage, but the strategy didn’t work.

Nunu led the team with 22 points. Junior guard Chloe Clardy with 16 points was her only teammate in double figures.

Despite the loss, Stanford controlled the boards and was 16-18 on free throws, but committed 18 turnovers to FGCU’s 16.

The team’s four 3’s came from Nunu, Lara, Courtney and Chloe.

Big comeback fuels win

A similar scenario seemed to be playing out Nov. 9 against Colorado State, but this time some last-minute heroics saved the day.

The team was down 53-45 with just under seven minutes to go before going on a 13-0 spurt over the next 5:02.

Courtney “had a mini 7-0 spurt right in the middle, and when she hit a 3-pointer to put the Cardinal up 54-53 and force a Ram timeout with 3:10 to go, Stanford had its first lead in nearly 10 minutes,” Stanford Athletics reported.

With two-tenths of a second left, Chloe hit a driving layup to ice the win.

As with FGCU, Stanford trailed most of the game in a seesaw battle with seven lead changes and eight ties.

Nunu led the team with 18 points followed by Courtney with 15.

Lara, who earlier in the week had been named National Freshman of the Week, had nine points and a career-high 16 rebounds, “the best single-game rebounding performance for a Cardinal freshman since Kaylee Johnson had 17 against Washington on Feb. 2, 2015,” Stanford Athletics reported.

Nunu, Courtney, Talana and freshman guard Carly Amborn accounted for the team’s four 3’s.

Next up: Stanford hosts longtime rival Tennessee at 6:15 p.m. Dec. 3. The game will air on ESPN2.

The last day of classes is Dec. 5 followed by a week of finals before the winter quarter starts Jan. 5.