Orange CRUSHED!!

... 97-80 ...
by

Nneka the Unstoppable

who was not to be denied a victory tonight. She crashed and twisted through doubled and tripled defense for layup after layup. She threw in a jumper now and then to further baffle the Vol defenders. She made all of her free throws. She grabbed rebounds and passes that were seemingly out of reach. She stayed in control against aggressive defense, not committing a foul until six minutes into the second half.

She ended with a grand total of 42 points (her career high and just four shy of Jayne Appel's Stanford record), 17 rebounds (eight of them O-boards), and two steals.

Toni the Tiger

who played with determination and ferocity for 38 minutes. She drove the lane. She hit five of ten from beyond the arc. She scored a career-high total of 26 points.

At the point, she handled the Vols' pressure defense with calm assurance and sometimes just blazed through and past it. She forced held balls by grabbing them out of Vols' hands. She scrambled for loose balls.

Toni was no laid-back tie-dyer tonight!

and all their teammates

who, although they didn't post great stats, played an awesome game tonight.

They sometimes seemed tentative against the full-court press that the Vols applied on almost every possession. But they handled that and the Vols' aggressive defense with just nine turnovers — their season-low!

Their defense held the Tennessee scorers in check. Shekinna Stricken scored 27 points (almost twice her average), but the perimeter was pretty well closed off to their other long-range shooters. The Vols made just 30% of their 3-point attempts, well below their season average of 42.4%

Here are game reports:

• Nneka Ogwumike scores 42 points as Stanford defeats Tennessee 97-80 by Ellliott Almond (Mercury News)
• Nneka Ogwumike's 42 lead Stanford past Tennessee by John Crumpacker (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Ogwumike's 42 Points Power No. 4 Stanford to 97-80 Victory Over No. 6 Tennessee by Janie McCauley (Associated Press)
• Nnemkadi Ogumike, Toni Kokenis score at will against Lady Vols, 97-80 by Dan Fleser (Knoxville News)
• Ogwumike, Kokenis with career nights in Stanford's 97-80 win over Tennessee from Palo Alto Online
• Player of year? Ogwumike could be good fit by Michelle Smith (espnW)
• WBB: Stanford 97 Tennessee 80 from The CARDboard

The box score and play-by-play,

The Stanford press conference video with Tara, Nneka and Toni,

The Tennessee press conference video with Holly Warlick, Glory Johnson and Shekinna Stricklen

The game highlights video,

A postgame video featuring Nneka and Toni

A gallery of photos by John Todd (Stanford Photo),

Photos by Paul Sakuma (AP Photo):

It takes more than two to stop Nneka Toni in heavy traffic Nneka stops and pops over Glory Johnson Chiney grabs a rebound away from Taber Spani Don't mess with Lindy Toni foils Meighan Simmons' attempted steal Celebration!