The game was a very promising start for the Cardinal. Everyone who was healthy played at least 12 minutes and contributed points and rebounds. There was strong, crisp team play all afternoon with virtually no "standing around" deciding what to do.
Chiney, Mikaela, Amber, Alex and Kailee started.
Chiney scored the first Cardinal points of the season with a put-back of her missed layup. She led the team with her 59th career double-double — 27 points and 15 rebounds.
Mikaela contributed mostly to the defense with nine rebounds. She took her shot five times, although she made it just once.
Amber is no longer the only reliable Cardinal point guard, and she played just 17 minutes. She dished out six assists, had no turnovers, hit two shots and grabbed four rebounds from taller players.
Alex, finally healthy, did a great job of defending the Vanguard guards and sank her one field goal attempt.
This may have been the first game of a great college career for Kailee, although she didn't tally dazzling statistics. She's very fast, aggressive under the basket without fouling (nine rebounds and two fouls), and a versatile scorer (one of three from beyond the arc, two of nine layups or jumpers and all six of her free throws for a total of 13 points). She played the most minutes today (31).
Karlie and Lili were first off the bench, about four minutes into the game.
Karlie heeded her favorite Tara-ism, "Get shots up!" and displayed her Samuelson heritage by launching nine 3-pointers, many from well beyond the arc. Regrettably she sank just one of them today. But the long shot is not her only skill. She scored once on a drive to the basket and again on a back door cut with an assist from Mikaela. She played almost 30 minutes.
Lili showed her skill as a true point guard with three assists and just one turnover. She's also a pesky, very capable defender.
The fourth freshman who played today, Erica McCall, was also the third player with major minutes — almost 30. She scored the second-most points for the Cardinal (14) by making 45% of her attempted layups and jumpers and all four of her free throws.
The four freshmen (Kailee, Karlie, Lili and Erica) played 49% of the minutes, scored 38% of the points, made 30% of the rebounds and all of their 12 free throws — a promising first game indeed!
Sara (who spent the summer rehabbing from an unspecified condition), Erica Payne (who has had knee surgery) and Taylor (who was wearing a boot) were not in uniform today. Bonnie and Briana participated in the warmup, but did not play. Tara said they would have if it had been an NCAA game.
As is to be expected for an exhibition game, not many fans showed up. I estimate the actual attendance as about 1,000. But the team had great support from Stanford Athletics. Present were the new tree (a sycamore, I believe), the band, the dollies, eight cheer leaders and two flag wavers.
Here is the game recap from Stanford Athletics: Cardinal Overpowers Lions,
the box score and play-by-play,
and a gallery of photos by Bob Drebin (Stanford Photo).
Look at more photos tomorrow by Baranduin Briggs in FBC Fan Pix.
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