March 03, 2011

Perfect!

A perfect conference season: 18-0
A perfect record at Maples for our four "true seniors": 51-0

The game tonight was thrilling. I got my wish — that the Bears would come to Maples believing that they could win and give the Cardinal a good competitive game. They did just that — played the best game of their season. They led for most of the first quarter, stayed within 13 points until the last six minutes, but finally succumbed 75-51.

There were many thrilling plays: A couple of impossible layups by Chiney as she was falling out of bounds under the basket ... a couple of sister-to-sister layups ... a couple of timely threes by Jeanette as the Bears were getting uncomfortably close... seven fast breaks.

The Impossible Play of the Game came midway through the first half when Toni leaped way up and stretched way out to intercept a Cal pass, raced down the court , flipped the ball to Jeanette who was waiting under the basket. Jeanette flipped the ball back to Toni who put it up and in!

The crowd rose to its feet and cheered when Hannah checked in with 25 seconds left to play. She, under strict orders I'm sure, stood by Tara who shooed her down court well away from the action. She stayed in for only six seconds, but is now in her senior Season Box Score.

The Cardinal's big three dominated the box score. Jeanette had the game-high 18 points (nine of them from beyond the arc), five assists, two steals and four rebounds. Nneka had 16 points, eight rebounds, a block and three steals. Kayla had 14 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals.

The Cardinal also got nine points from Chiney, eight from Toni, six from Sarah, three from Joslyn and one from Lindy.

Here are game reports:

The box score and play-by-play

The video honoring the seniors that was shown after the game

A gallery of photos by John Todd, Stanford Photo

More photos by Paul Sakuma, AP Photo:

Kayla scores Nneka puts it up against Talia Caldwell It takes more than two to stop Nneka Nneka on defense Ow! That hurt!! Chiney scrambles for a loose ball That was a good game! Honors for Jeanette, Ashley and Kayla Honors for Jeanette

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