The Cardinal led by as much as twelve in the first half, but the margin was down to three at the break. The Trojans took the lead halfway through the second half. The Cardinal then went into a zone defense that held the Trojans scoreless for the next six minutes. The Trojans' field goal percentage dropped from 36.7% in the first half to 25% in the second.
Defense ruled. The Cardinal (primarily Toni) limited Ashley Corral to just two of eight 3-pointers. Although she scored the game-high 21 points, she didn't do it from beyond the arc at her usual rate of 40%. And the Trojans' top scorer, Briana Gilbreath, was held to one of eight field goals.
At the other end of the court, the Trojans stifled Nneka under the basket, but they also fouled her. She made zero layups, but seven of her team-high 19 points were from the charity stripe. She also grabbed 15 rebounds, six of them O-boards.
Toni played the point for much of the game with confidence and control. She had just one assist (the Trojan defense didn't allow many of those), but no turnovers. She was the Cardinal's second-high scorer with 15 points on 44% shooting. Three of her layups were on fast breaks. She also had three steals and three rebounds.
Chiney had a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. She committed only three fouls and was on the court for 34 minutes. Unfortunately, she's back in a free-throw slump and missed five of her nine attempts.
Bonnie contributed two of her signature quick-release three-pointers to the victory.
Here are game reports:
- Strong Late Effort Boosts No. 4 Stanford Past USC, 61-53 by Beth Harris (Associated Press)
- Ogwumike responds for Stanford women hoops from Palo Alto Online
- USC Plays Tough at Home by Wally Mersereau
A gallery of photos by Rob Ericson (Stanford Photo),
And photos by Lori Shepler (Associated Press):
Nneka puts up a jumper
Nneka takes a charge
Jos on defense
Taylor on defense
Sarah in a battle for the ball
Good job!
4 comments:
You give Kokenis too much credit especially for Defense. If she played better defense, her opponent would not blow past her each game and put the O sisters in the position to foul the driving player who Kokenis was supposed to guard. Kokenis scores but because she calls her own number almost every play. Getting the ball to the O's down low should put Stanford in a domniate position. Need a better point guard. Stanford does better when Kokenis the 2-guard not the point. Orrange or Lindy are better up top for "running the offense and distributing the ball". Year two and still no defense from Kokenis. She guards a player who have a game high 21 points and THAT is good defense - nope. If N.O. was cold shooting what do you call Toni's percentages game after game? How is it no one notices this weakness? The other teams are exploiting it and it will catch up with Stanford very very soon. Watch the tape, need a change.
Thanks for your interesting comments, but I still stand by my admiration of Toni's defense against USC.
I watched Toni keep Ashley Corral from doing what she does best -- take and make lots of 3-pointers. Sure, she got past Toni sometimes, but if Corral had enjoyed her usual shooting percentages, she would have scored 30 points on her 18 attempts (and 3 FTs).
As for playing the point, Toni is doing a better job than Lindy this season -- more total assists, more assists per minute of play, better ATO. I hope that Amber will be able to take over that position soon, but she isn't ready for it yet. She has dished out 0.04 more assists/minute than Toni, but her ATO is 1.5 to Toni's 2.6
I thought this was a friendly blog. Remember, these girls are just that...girls. Playing a game that they love. They won. Does anything else matter? No matter how it was played, a W is a W. They'll only get better. You might forget, Toni's game vs Tennessee is a huge reason why they won that game (despite Nneka's 42). She's a great supporting cast member finding her way. You bring up the point that she's only a sophomore...let her be a sophomore.
Happy New Year Marian and thank you for being such a dedicated and unwavering supporter of the girls on this team :)
Responding to the critique of Toni... I agree Toni is better suited to the 2, but Jasmine's injury forced her to the 1. Amber needs to cut her turnovers, as Marian's stats show, and learn more about court spacing. Lindy doesn't play the point because she doesn't dribble well enough to get the ball in position to set up the offense. I'm pretty sure that's why Tara is trying Erica as the third point guard now.
I didn't see the USC game, but I strongly believe Toni stays in front of offensive players who are driving a lot better than Lindy, in general. There's a reason that Toni leads the team in minutes played (a highly underrated statistic, assuming one believes in the coach). Ken
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