January 01, 2017

Cardinal treks to a win in the desert 77-55

This game appeared to be an effort for both sides, with long periods without a score: miss, turnover, foul, turnover, out of bounds, turnover, miss... all in all, it was not a demonstration of graceful athleticism.

Arizona suffered by far the worst scoring drought, going twelve minutes (8:20 in the second quarter to 6:30 in the third) without a field goal. During that gap, Stanford opened a lead that couldn't be closed.

Stanford had its own drought in the third quarter, during which only one player managed any field goals: Marta, who hit two three-point baskets, a layup, and a free throw for nine points that kept UA from closing the gap its drought had opened.

The Wildcats later narrowed the margin to nine points, but in the fourth quarter Karlie hit two threes and Bird and Nadia hit layups to put the game well out of reach.

Bird led all scorers with 19, plus 16 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season.

Karlie had 17 points, including hitting five of ten three-point shots, plus five assists and two blocks. She played most of this game, heading for the bench with just three minutes left to play — it's not surprising that she looked rather tired on some of her failed shots.

Nadia scored 12 points on 4-5 strong layups under the basket and all four of her free throws.

Marta had those nine important points during the third quarter when nobody else could score.

The game may be more memorable for the injury toll than the result. Early in the game Alanna fell and had to leave the floor. She was seen wearing a boot later.

In the fourth quarter Erica took a hard fall and left the court, but was seen at the end of the game walking normally.

Nadia fell hard in the fourth quarter when she was undercut by Arizona's Breanna Workman. Workman paid a price: Nadia fell directly on her. Both left the game briefly, but both later returned to play and score.

The Cardinal will now have several days to recover before hosting the Oregon teams at Maples.

In other Pac-12 action today, OSU didn't slow down Chantal Osafor, who swished six of nine 3-pointers. But they did slow down Kelsey Plum without fouling her — she was awarded just five free throws and scored only 22 points — and eked out a 73-70 win over Washington.

And the Sun Devils slowed down Christine Anigwe for 40 minutes, limiting her to just six points on six field goal attempts. Ten [playing] minutes later they handed the Bears their first defeat of the season, 72-62 in double overtime.

Here are game reports and commentary:

The game statistics,

And a gallery of photos by Chris Hook for Arizona Athletics.

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