Fans leave early in exhibition loss to UCSB

 

Playing the second of its two exhibition games, the Stanford women’s basketball team hosted UC Santa Barbara and lost 65-56 on Oct. 28.

It’s hard to put a positive spin on a game in which the Cardinal never led. Instead, it was down by 3 points early in the first quarter and never got closer after that.

With both teams struggling early, the Cardinal trailed by 6 points after the first quarter and 13 at the half. That’s when some of the 1,623 people at the game began heading for the exits.

The team edged to within 5 points after the third quarter and offered some hope when it was behind by only 4 points with just under two minutes to go in the fourth, but to no avail.

Playing the entire game, sophomore guard Hailee Swain contributed a lion’s share of the team’s points, 23.

Sophomore forward Alex Eschmeyer was the only other Cardinal in double figures with 13 points despite missing part of the fourth quarter with a bloody nose. She finished the game with a plug in one nostril.

Stanford had the advantage in rebounds, assists and blocks, but lagged behind UCSB in other statistics. Perhaps the most worrisome were the 20 turnovers, with 12 steals by UCSB and none by Stanford.

Stanford’s 24 fouls leading to 15 UCSB points didn’t help either.

Ten of the 11 available players got into the game, but only seven scored. Freshman center Kiara Green didn’t play.

The starters were Alex, Hailee, sophomore forward Charlotte Tuhy and two juniors: guard Shay Ijiwoye and Inéz Sotelo Míguez, who fouled out in the fourth quarter after scoring 7 points, third highest on the team.

Exhibition games don’t count in the season record, but the next games do.

They start with Arizona in Las Vegas at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 2 and St. Mary’s at home at 7 p.m. Nov. 4.