Warren Grimes
Stanford has never defeated LSU. The two teams don’t play often, but the last
two games have been one-possession games.
During an elite eight game in the NCAA tournament, LSU defeated Stanford
in March of 2006. With less than 10
seconds on the clock, Candice Wiggins drove to the basket, leaping forward to
make a pass to a wing player who proceeded to swish the three-pointer. That would have made the difference.
But it didn’t count.
There was the small matter of how Candice Wiggins descended. She crash-landed on LSU's preeminent player, Simone
Augustus, who drew the charge that nullified the three-point shot.
The two teams played again 18 years later. It was, once again, down to the wire. Once again, LSU came out on top, this time by
tying the game with less than 5 seconds on the clock and pulling away from
Stanford in overtime.
Both games were deflating for Stanford. The 2024 version was especially frustrating
because Stanford led the game for over 38 minutes. With 16 seconds on the clock, Stanford held
on to a 2-point lead and the opportunity to hold or expand that lead by successfully
inbounding the ball. LSU managed to tip
the inbounds pass away. LSU got
possession, and the rest is history.
Frustration aside, there is a lot to like about how unranked Stanford played this game. The team was on the road against the number 5 team in the nation. By far, this was the toughest match of the season so far. Had Stanford won, it would have been a major upset.
Going into the match, Coach Paye expressed the hope that her team would play with confidence. They did. Stanford took the lead early in the first quarter, extending that lead to as many as 15 points, and still holding that lead until the last 5 seconds of regulation. The loss notwithstanding, this was arguably Stanford's best performance of the season.
Stanford outboarded LSU’s strong inside lineup 42 to 37 but
lost the turnover battle. LSU had 14
points off turns to Stanford’s 7.
Throughout the game, Stanford was resilient and focused. Nunu Agara (29 points and 13 boards) and
Brooke Demetre (19 points and 5 boards) both had career days. Both Elena Boscana and Jzaniya Harriel were
also double-digit scorers with 16 and 15 points respectively. Stanford had a bad second quarter, but unlike
against Indiana, fought back in the second half to extend its lead to 5 points
at the end of the third quarter.
Using just 8 players, Stanford played a great game, good
enough to win against most any team. Based
on this performance, Stanford could well be one of the top ten teams in the
nation. Stanford may not be ranked next
week, but any opponent who saw this game must take Stanford seriously.
Ask yourself these two questions: (1) How many of the six
ACC teams that were ranked above Stanford in the preseason could have played
this well against #5 LSU? and (2) how many of the top 25 ranked teams could
have matched unranked Stanford's performance in Baton Rouge?
I think you’ll like your own answers. As far as LSU, watch out the next time you
play Stanford.
