March 02, 2013

Cardinal prevails in the Palouse

The Cardinal and the Cougs got off to a shaky start. They missed their first six shots before Carly Noyes found the basket. The Cardinal responded in typical Cardinal fashion in the next 1½ minutes — a layup by Chiney, then another one, then a steal by Mikaela and an assist to Jos, who sank a three-pointer — for a 7-2 Cardinal lead.

The Cougs played hard all the way, but the Cardinal never relinquished the lead and won 72-50.

Chiney set the Stanford single season record for rebounds today, as she grabbed 13 of them. She now has 381 for the season – five more than the record Nneka set in 2009-10. She also scored 28 points, an assist, two blocks and two steals.

The Cardinal practiced their three-point shooting again today. They launched 24 of them and made six – a couple of percentage points better than Thursday night. Bonnie and Sara each made two; Jos and Amber each made one; Taylor and Jasmine tried but didn't connect.

Jos was the only other Cardinal who scored in double digits. She had a total of 13 points and also tallied two assists, three rebounds and two blocks.

Mikaela played her favorite kind of game today as she tallied ten rebounds, three assists and two steals. She tried only two shots and missed both, but scored seven points on ... free throws! Her free throw percentage over the last seven games is 64% – a very nice improvement over her previous 35%.

Amber focussed on distributing the ball today. She dished out five assists with just one turnover. She took only a few shots and made only the three-pointer.

Sara's efforts mostly don't show up on the stat sheet. They did today — nine points, six rebounds and a block. You can always count on Sara for dogged defense. She spent a good deal of time on the floor today in scrums for possession of the ball.

In the only other Pac-12 action today, the Cal Bears kept their focus and whupped the Huskies 78-50. So Cal and Stanford finish the season as Pac-12 co-champions.

Here are game reports and commentary:

The box score and play-by-play,

And photos by Dean Hare (Associated Press):

Chiney blocks Carly Noyes' shot
Amber & Chiney hassle a Cougar
Chiney grabs one of her five O-boards
Mikaela grabs one of her ten rebounds
Possession to Mikaela
Mikaela & Sara steal a rebound
Jos keeps control
Erica on defense

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