July 20, 2015

Shannon, Marta, Markisha help lead team to victory

By Judy Richter with photos by Dave Cortesi

The 20 or so Stanford women’s basketball fans at Kezar Pavilion on July 18 may have been disappointed that six Cardinal players on teams playing that day weren’t there, but they were treated to one terrific game by the two players and one alum who were there.

Playing for the Bay City team, freshmen center Shannon Coffee, freshman guard Marta Sniezek and guard Markisha Coleman, ’07, all made significant contributions to their team’s 92-84 overtime victory over the San Francisco team.

Pouring in an official 26 points (my unofficial tally shows 27), Shannon led all scoring for the afternoon. She also had 12 rebounds before fouling out with 2:35 to go in the fourth quarter and Bay City ahead 79-74.

Shannon makes 87.5 percent of her free throws

She hadn’t picked up her first foul until 2:47 to go in the third quarter. In the meantime, she made several trips to the charity stripe, where she sank seven of her eight free throws, 87.5 percent.

She and Marta connected well, with Marta dishing assists to her under the basket. In one especially exciting fast break after a San Francisco turnover, Marta snared the ball and passed it to Shannon, who made a nifty hook shot.

Marta scored 6 points, all of them from 3-pointers. Like Shannon, she was active under the basket, securing 10 rebounds. She also had four steals and many assists, though I didn’t keep track of them.

A real floor general, she showed confident, vocal leadership on both offense and defense, directing her teammates to where they should be. She fouled out with 2:32 to go in overtime and Bay City ahead 82-81.

Markisha made her presence felt with 7 points, 6 of them from 3’s, and one rebound. Her experience showed when she played the point and, often through crafty moves, got the ball to the right spot.

The game was hard-fought throughout. Bay City lagged 16-12 after the first quarter and 33-31 after the second. It forged ahead 63-55 in the third quarter, but San Francisco edged the score up to a 79-79 tie when the fourth quarter ended.

Stanford women thank fans

After the game, the three Stanford women talked with their fans, thanking them for coming and for being such a vocal cheering section. Shannon said her mother in Ohio wanted her to thank Fast Break Club writers for keeping her informed about the team’s activities and accomplishments.

Freshman Alexa Romano and senior center/forward Tess Picknell are on the San Francisco roster, but neither was there. One might assume that Tess was more focused on her duties with the running crew for Stanford Repertory Theater’s production of Noël Coward’s “Hay Fever,” which had a performance that night. (I saw the opening night July 16 and enjoyed it. It was fun to see Tess helping to reset the stage during the half-light pause between the second and third acts.)

Sophomore forward Kaylee Johnson and sophomore guard Brittany McPhee are on the roster for Mission Recreation Center, which won the afternoon’s second game against Palo Alto TnT 98-55. The Palo Alto TnT roster lists junior guards Lili Thompson and Briana Roberson. None of the four were there.

Mission Rec and Palo Alto TnT will meet again as the Pro-Am semi-finals begin at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, July 25. The second game at 3:30 p.m. will again pit Bay City against San Francisco. The championship game between the winners of those games is set for 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 1.

Kezar Pavilion is on the east side of Golden Gate Park at 755 Stanyan St., between Waller and Frederick streets. Admission is free. A pay-by-the-hour parking lot is next door.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is another great write-up, Judy, both as to the prime game and for the info about other Stanford players. Thank you.