A sketchy win for the Cardinal

The Cardinal tipped off the basketball season in fine style at Maples this afternoon.

Betty Ann was back in the announcer's seat; the band and the dollies and the weeping willow tree performed; and the Cardinal and the Knights treated the 350 or so fans to 40 minutes of exciting, fast-paced basketball packed full of Teachable Moments.

The Cardinal won quite easily 81 - 48.

The Knights, although they lack height, are fast and pesky. They used a good zone defense throughout the game that contributed greatly to the Cardinal's 18 turnovers and their second-half 28% field goal percentage.

The Knights were quick to shoot, but not very accurate today. They took 80 shots (nine more than the Cardinal), but made only 25% of them.

It was no contest at all under the basket. The Cardinal had a 5-inch height-per minute-played advantage over the Knights and out-rebounded them 73 - 32.

Alex and Lili did not play today. Alex, who tore her ACL in March, is expected to be cleared to play in December. Lili was nursing a sore Achilles tendon, but is expected to be back in action next week.

The other 12 Cardinal each played at least six minutes and scored at least one point and two rebounds.

Bird led in both categories with 19 points and 16 rebounds in 17 minutes of play. She was strong and good, but has a lot of room for improvement. Many of her ten O-boards were of her own missed layups and she made only half of her free throws.

Karlie was outstanding on both offense and defense with 17 points, eight rebounds, two assists and a block. She launched nine 3-pointers and made three of them.

Alanna was just shy of a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds, plus an assist and two blocks.

Marta started and ran the point for 23 minutes. She pushed the pace hard and showed great court vision. She made only one field goal, but contributed four assists, seven rebounds and a steal to the victory.

Alexa was somewhat tentative in her first collegiate game. She tallied two points, an assist and four rebounds.

Shannon played for only six minutes – perhaps she hasn't fully recovered from her stressed foot – but she tallied two points, two assists and a block.

Kiran, who played as a freshman three years ago, took over at the point for 15 minutes. She tallied three points, four assists and four rebounds.

In summary, the Cardinal played a pretty good first game of the season and showed promise of much better to come.

Here is the box score and play-by-play.

There was no media coverage of this exhibition game, but Stanford Athletics has provided:

A game recap,
An extensive photo gallery,
Three snippets of game highlights,
And a postgame interview of Bird

You can find all that at: Drawing up a win