Cardinal claws a win from the Cougars

Only June Daugherty and her Cougars expected that the Cardinal would find its toughest contest since UConn in Pullman, Washington.

The Cougs played inspired basketball tonight. Their match-up zone defense clogged the inside and took away the perimeter for much of the game. And the Cardinal defense couldn't keep Lia and Tia from doing what they like to do — make aggressive drives to the basket and score. They both exceeded their season average — Lia Galdeira scored 21 points and Tia Presley scored 20.

But Chiney fought the Coug defense with all her strength and perseverance and matched her career-high score with 36 points (and matched Nneka's career record of 965 field goals made).

And Karlie and Taylor each sank three from beyond the arc.

And Amber scored on a couple of drives to the basket and a couple of jumpers and three of four free throws.

And Chiney made all six of her free throws, Mikaela made both of hers and Taylor made two.

It all added up to enough to prevail 77-69.

The contest was closer than the final margin of eight points might indicate. The Cardinal led by a single digit most of the game, but the Cougs kept coming back. They took the lead briefly with nine minutes left to play, and tied the score at the 5:30 mark.

Here are game reports and commentary:

• No. 3 Stanford women beat Washington State 77-69, the Associated Press game recap by Nichola K. Geranios
• Cardinal Denies Coug Upset, the Stanford Athletics game recap
• WBB: Stanford 77 WSU 69 from the CARDboard

The box score and play-by-play,

Stanford-Washington State postgame notes from Stanford Athletics,

A postgame interview of Chiney from Pac-12 Networks,

And photos by Dean Hare (Associated Press):

Lili takes it past Shalie Dheensaw

Shalie Dheensaw blocks Amber's shot

Mariah Cooks grabs a rebound away from Taylor

Shalie Dheensaw shoots over Amber and Mikaela

Chiney drives around Shalie Dheensaw