Cardinal fends off the Huskies

The Cardinal got the aggressive game they expected from the Huskies, gave as good as they got, and prevailed to a 62-52 victory.

It wasn't easy. A combination of Husky defense and "just one of those days" held the Cardinal to a 24% field goal percentage and a 0% (0-11) 3-point percentage in the first half. Jeanette's defense of Kristi Kingma kept her in control and the Huskies were also 0% on threes for the first half.

Things were looking up for the Cardinal at the start of the second half when Nneka battled her way to the basket for a layup, after which Chiney stole the ball at half-court and raced to the basket for another layup. But the Huskies never let up and the Cardinal shots still weren't falling, and our ten-point lead was whittled down to two.

It should have gotten easier about halfway through the second half as the Huskies' entire front court (Argens, Rogers, Williams, Heard) began to foul out. But Kristi Kingma got hot and was hitting 3-pointer after 3-pointer. She ended with 5-of-9 and a total of 22 points.

Chiney had a great game. It seemed like every time things looked really bad for the Cardinal, she snagged another O-board and laid the ball back in. She ended with 21 points and 10 rebounds (seven of them O-boards) and that beautiful steal.

Nneka was the high scorer for the Cardinal with 22 points, almost half of them from free throws. This is her 34th consecutive double-digit score. She really took a beating today in the post, but never gave up. She also had nine rebounds.

The Huskies' defense focused on Kayla and Jeanette and held them to uncharacteristically low scoring. Kayla got three layups (two "easy" ones) on inbound passes and seven free throws for a total of 13 points. Jeanette drove to the basket successfully just once and ended with three points.

Toni played the point with skill and confidence for almost 20 minutes. She brought a cheering crowd to its feet with the Cardinal's only 3-pointer late in the second half.

Lindy played excellent defense for more than half the game. Joslyn gave Nneka 12 minutes of valuable respite. Sarah, who has a sore shoulder, was brought in for only two minutes to lean against Regina Rogers.

Here are game reports:

• No. 3 Stanford holds on to beat Washington 62-52 by Janie McCauley, Associated Press
• UW women can't take advantage of cold-shooting Stanford by Richard J. Marcus, Seatlle Times
• Stanford women survive poor game to beat Washington by 10 by Jake Curtis
• Washington gives Stanford a “wake-up call.” by Michelle Smith
• WBB: Stanford 62 UW 52 from The CARDboard
• A rare off day for third-ranked Stanford women by Rick Eymer, Palo Alto Online

The box score and play-by-play

The postgame video with Nneka

A gallery of photos by Zach Sanderson, Stanford Photo

And photos by Paul Sakuma, Associated Press:

One of Nneka's impossible shots Kayla gets past the defense Joslyn waits for the rebound Chiney fights for the ball Jeanette can't get through I thought Nneka had given up gymnastics Tia paces the sidelines "Let's go team!!" "All's well that ..."