Warren Grimes
The Cal Bears are a blossoming women’s basketball team. That’s somewhat surprising, given that their
starting lineup consists of four players not on last year’s team. Two are freshmen. Tayor Barnes played for 38
plus minutes scoring 16 points and Aliyahna Morris played for 37 minutes
contributing 12 points. Both freshmen
are three-point shooters. Two more
starters are transfers. Sakima Morris is
a 6’5” big who transferred from South Carolina. Morris was a defensive presence
who, once she got position, was almost impossible to stop on offense. And Miracle Sheppard came to Cal from LSU,
playing for 30 minutes and scoring 9 points.
How good is Cal?
Well, they scored 69 points against a stingy Stanford defense. That’s the largest amount Stanford has
allowed against any opponent this season.
Tennessee bested Stanford but could only put up 65. Cudos to Charmin Smith for recruiting this
team and getting them to play together.
Smith must deal with the NIL world of transfers but seems to do it
well. Like Stanford, Cal is a young team
with great growth potential. They are
going to make life difficult for ACC opponents.
Stanford prevailed over Cal despite a five-point deficit early
in the fourth quarter. Courtney Ogden
was a standout in this Stanford victory.
Her career-high 25 points, supplemented by 7 boards, 2 assists, and 0
turnovers, came with 36 minutes on the floor, the most of any Stanford
player. Ogden may have benefited
because the Cal defense was focused on others (Agara, Clardy, and Somfai are
Stanford’s top scorers this season) but give Courtney credit for exploiting
whatever the defense gave her. Ogden
scored from everywhere, including an early-game three-pointer. She followed up with lots of creative drives
to the basket converting both uncontested layups and contested shots that
resulted in an “and-one.” My two
favorite shots were a runner, launched with touch in the last seconds of the
first half, and a falling back jumper that commentator Mary Murphy called a
WNBA shot. Another strength of Ogden’s
game was her efficiency. She converted
on 10 of 12 shots from the field and made 4 of 5 free throws. This came during a game when her mates were
missing a lot of close in shots (Stanford shot just 44% for the game).
So why is Ogden’s performance important? Diversity is essential for a great team. When the defense focuses on interior
mainstays like Agara and Somfai, the team needs options. Both Agara and Somfai can shoot threes, so
they can clear out to allow a player like Ogden to move and create. Ogden’s game could also be a model for a
player like Hailey Swain, who has speed, quickness, and the ability to create. Finally, Ogden may be finding her voice as a
team leader. That too should contribute
to making Stanford a top ten team.
Both Ogden (POW) and Lara Somfai (FOW) received conference
awards for their performances last Sunday.
Somfai had another double-double (12 points and 13 boards). She also converted 2 of 3 three-point
shots. Somfai’s outside shooting will be
critical if a defense collapses in the middle.
Meanwhile, Somfai has now caught and surpassed Agara in total rebounds. She also had 3 blocks and 2 block assists
against Cal.
Stanford seems to have settled into an eight-player rotation
in hotly contested games. Chloe Clardy
comes off the bench but typically gets more minutes than some of the
starters. She had 13 points against Cal,
including 3 of 4 three-point shots. The
other two off the bench have been Alex Eschmeyer and Mary Ashley
Stevenson.
With all the young talent on this team, nothing is chiseled
in stone. Enjoy the run and expect the
unexpected. A tough game against another very good team, Washington, is next.
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