Stanford FBC: Stories of the Season: What a battle!

January 28, 2012

What a battle!

Stanford won a fine battle – their 74th consecutive victory at Maples and their 66th consecutive conference victory – in overtime, 74-71.

Cal shot better than Stanford today. They took exactly the same number of shots and close to the same number of 3-pointers. Cal made 40.5% of the total and 25% of the treys. Stanford made just 36.5% and 15%. Stanford wasn't able to contain Cal's sharp-shooting guards. Freshman Brittany Boyd got 19 points and junior Layshia Clarendon got 17. Tara said, in the behind-the-bench session after the game, that it was "kind of refreshing" to win when your shooting is off.

Both teams were strong and aggressive, but Stanford out-did Cal by just enough in the other statistical categories to eke out the victory: rebounds 51-47, assists 15-10, blocks 4-2, steals 9-5, and – most importantly – fouls 13-19.

Actually, the game was won at the charity stripe where Stanford got twice as many free throws as Cal (not due to favoritism by the officials). Stanford made 17 of 25 for a poor 68%, but Cal had only 12 and made seven.

Chiney broke through the Bears' tough defense for a huge double-double of 28 points and 18 rebounds, both career highs. Her aggressive play drew a lot of fouls. She's still struggling a bit with free throws, but made nine of her 12 attempts.

Toni's long-range shooting was not on tonight ‐ she sank just one. But she was the Cardinal's second-best scorer with 15 more points from a fast break, drives to the basket, jumpers and five free throws. She made two of her free throws in the last 23 seconds of overtime to seal the victory.

Tara said that Nneka had been sick all week and hadn't practiced for the past couple of days. In spite of that, she played for 43 minutes. She drew much of the Bears' defensive attention, but still managed 12 points and nine rebounds. She moved past Val Whiting into fourth place on the Cardinal all-time scoring list and needs 42 more points to overtake Jayne Appel. She's in fifth place on the all-time rebounding list and needs 78 more to overtake Val Whiting.

Bonnie sank two long ones in a span of 30 seconds late in the second half that gave the Cardinal a nine-point lead (that unfortunately dwindled away to a tie). She also made an uncharacteristic drive to the basket for two more points.

Joslyn didn't score much today, but her strong defense was a big factor in keeping the Bears' front court in check. She tallied five rebounds, a block and two steals.

Here are game reports: