Cardinal dams up the Beavers

The Cardinal played their best game since November 17th and beat the Beavers 69-58.

Stanford applied stifling defense on OSU's shooters, holding them to 36% shooting from the field (their average is 46%) and 21% from beyond the arc (their average is 38%).

Bri harrassed point guard Sydney Wiese unmercifully every step of every trip down the court, as did Lili or Amber when Bri took a break. Their defensive efforts disrupted the Beavers' offense and held Wiese to one of ten attempts from beyond the arc and a total of seven points.

The Cardinal doubled center Ruth Hamblin whenever she had the ball, holding her to just six points and forcing four turnovers.

Jamie Weisner and Devan Hunter got past the Cardinal defense and scored 18 points apiece, but that wasn't enough.

Besides their defense, the Cardinal came out with a fast aggressive offense that never let up. Brittany, who got her first start of the season, began the attack with a jumper on the first possession. Lili immediately followed that with a steal and a layup, and the Cardinal had a lead that they relinquished for only nine seconds four minutes into the game.

The Beavers' defense shut down the Cardinal's perimeter game. Bonnie broke free only five times for shots from beyond the arc (but she made three of them!) Amber and Brittany each tried a couple, but Amber made the only other one.

Instead, the Cardinal scored with a balanced attack on the inside. Threre was little excessive dribbling or hesitation on taking shots tonight. Lili scored 13 points, Bird and Amber each scored 12, and Bri scored 11. Bonnie, who added two free throws to her three treys, was the Cardinal's fifth double-digit scorer.

Here are game reports and commentary:

• Not quite yet, the Associated Press game recap (posted by Stanford Athletics)
• Beavers Battle, Fall to Stanford, the OSUAthletics game recap
• Beavers can't overcome Cardinal, drop first home game of season by Steve Gress (Corvallis Gazette-Times)
• The Oregon State women's basketball team trips over the big moment by Ken Goe (The Oregonian)
• Stanford derails Oregon State's celebration by Gary Horowitz (Statesman Journal)
• Stanford has its say in win over Pac-12 leading Beavers from Palo Alto Online
• WBB: Stanford 69 OSU 58 from the CARDboard
• No. 19 Stanford upsets No. 7 Oregon State in Corvallis, the Pac-12 game recap video

The box score and play-by-play,

The OSU press conference video, with head coach Scott Rueck,

A video interview of Bird by Ros,

A gallery of photos by Dave Cortesi,

And photos by Don Ryan (Associated Press):

Brittany drives past Bird's screen

Bri drives against Ali Gibson and Ruth Hamblin

Amber plays tight defense on Sydney Wiese

Sydney Wiese and Amber chase down a loose ball

Cheers from the bench

Good game!