Stanford FBC: Stories of the Season: Cardinal wins battle with Bruins

February 04, 2010

Cardinal wins battle with Bruins

Tonight's game was a tough physical battle, as expected from the Bruins. But the Cardinal started out strong and took and held a lead of nine points or so for the first ten minutes. Then the Bruins cranked up the pressure and were briefly ahead by a couple of points and were just four points behind at the half.

The pressure continued in the second half, but the Cardinal were in control. More pressure was accompanied by more fouls, and the Cardinal kept making most of their free throws and were able to set their own offensive pace. Final score: Stanford 74, UCLA 53.

At the postgame Q & A session, a fan commented on how well the team handled UCLA's pressure and asked if they had practiced that a lot. Tara said, "Yes, but Jayne didn't practice and Jeanette didn't practice and JJ didn't practice and Mel didn't practice — the ones who were best-prepared never got to play."

Jayne had a huge game, playing as if she's well aware that she has just three more regular season games at Maples. She scored a season-high 23 points. She had 13 rebounds for the only double-double – her eighth of the season. She now needs just four more rebounds to exceed the Stanford career record currently held by Nicole Powell. She also had three blocks. As to the flagrant (not intentional) foul for which she was ejected from the game, there's plenty about that in the game reports.

Ros also had a great game. She played her usual dogged defense and scored 14 points on a three-pointer and several strong drives to the basket.

Nneka looked tired, but still had 15 points and seven rebounds. Kayla had the reverse – seven points and 15 rebounds.

Jeanette played for 35 minutes and had eight assists with just three turnovers. Her assist-to-turnover ratio is now 2.07, second-best in the Pac-10 to JJ's 2.27. She also had 10 points, two rebounds and two steals.

Here are the game reports: