By Judy Richter
Senior Morgan Clyburn must have been tired after the Nov. 1 exhibition win over Chico State. The forward/center is still rehabbing from foot surgery, but she got a workout nonetheless. In keeping with tradition, she celebrated every three-pointer by high-fiving her teammates on the bench.
She had plenty to do in the 123-39 victory, high-fiving 15 times. The three-point barrage was led by freshman guard Lindy La Rocque, who swished in seven with her high-arcing shot from beyond the line. Also scoring from outside were sophomore guard Jeanette Pohlen with four. Senior forward Jillian Harmon, senior guard Rosalyn Gold-Onwude, sophomore forward Kayla Pedersen and freshman guard Grace Mashore added one each. Just for the record, Morgan has been known to knock in a few herself.
Even though it was only an exhibition game against a team that was – to say the least – at a height disadvantage, it carried several story lines, all of them boding well for the coming season.
First, it was the first outing in nearly a year for two juniors, forward Michelle Harrison and guard Melanie Murphy, both of whom had knee injuries. Michelle contributed four points, one rebound and one assist in 16 minutes of playing time. Mel, playing 17 minutes, most of them at the point, chipped in with two points, one rebound and six assists.
Junior center Jayne Appel, cleared to practice just a few days earlier after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus late this summer, looked as if she hadn’t lost a step. She recorded 15 points, eight rebounds, two assists and one block in 14 minutes.
Second, it marked the debut of the four freshmen, who were impressive. Lindy finished with a team-high 21 points in 22 minutes and had two rebounds, two assists and one steal. Grace had four points in her eight minutes and added a rebound, an assist and a steal.
Showing her athletic moves and high vertical leap, forward Nneka Ogwumike played a team-high 23 minutes. She finished with 17 points, eight rebounds, four assists, one block and two steals. Forward/center Sarah Boothe scored 12 points and had five rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal in her 17 minutes. All told, the freshmen contributed 54 points.
Third, it demonstrated the team’s tremendous depth and balance. Head Coach Tara VanDerveer started with Jayne, Kayla, Jeanette, Jill and junior point guard JJ Hones, then substituted early and often. (For the record, Jeanette scored the first basket of the season.) By the end of the game, all 13 healthy players had played and scored. Sophomore guard Hannah Donaghe was in uniform but did not participate in warmups or the game.
Fourth, it showed that even though the outstanding Candice Wiggins has graduated, the team appears to be thriving. Tara has said she expects Candice’s scoring to be replaced by committee, and that seems to be the case.
Finally, Tara has said that this year’s team will play a more uptempo, aggressive game. That’s what the Cardinal gave us Saturday, wasting no time getting the ball down the court, battling under the basket and making some heads-up plays. The team played tough defense, too, right from the start of every Chico possession. Whenever the Chico point guard took the ball down the court, a Stanford guard dogged her all the way.
The regular season won’t be this easy. A tough, tough schedule lies ahead. We can be sure that the word about Lindy will soon get out and that she’ll be swarmed whenever the ball gets in her hands, especially if she’s on the perimeter. If that happens, though, her Cardinal teammates can knock in their own shots, including the threes.
So we can reasonably hope that Morgan will have lots of work to do at every game and that she’ll soon be back on the court to block shots, her specialty, and knock in her own threes. When she does, someone else on the bench will willingly fill in with the high-fives.
That Vanguard player going up against Sarah is only 5 '7", but as Michelle Smith (San Francisco Chonicle) says, "Size, size and more size is the new Stanford hallmark this season."
