Cardinal tames the Lady Panthers

The Cardinal wrapped up its appearance in the Rainbow Wahine Shootout this afternoon with an easy win over the determined, but over-matched, Prairie View Lady Panthers.

The mismatch let Tara give the Cardinal reserves lots of minutes. With about 11 minutes left to play and the Cardinal ahead 71-29, all the Cardinal starters had subbed out for good. The Cardinal bench took over and increased the lead by one point — to the final score of 88-45.

Every Cardinal except Alex (who has been out of uniform all weekend) got at least four minutes of playing time and thirteen of them scored.

They launched 18 3-pointers and sank 11 of them. Four of those especially delighted the two dozen or so Cardinal fans in attendance — EPayne and TaylorR each made their first collegiate 3-pointer and Bri made two of them for the first time.

An equally pleasing performance came at the free throw line, where the Cardinal hit 17 of 21. In their three games in Honolulu they've made 68%, 80%, 81%. It's beginning to look like a trend.

It's also beginning to look like Bird is settling in as a consistently dependable presence in the post. She led all scorers today with 13 points – made on 5 of 8 field goals and 3 of 4 free throws – and matched her career-high nine rebounds.

Kaylee had another strong game. Not as good scoring as yesterday (just one field goal), but she again got eight rebounds and also tallied three blocks, two steals and an assist.

All good news for the Cardinal, who return to Stanford for the winter finals break. They'll be back at Maples to play Santa Clara on December 14.

In the second game today, Hawai'i came very close to upsetting North Carolina. Here is an account of that game from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser: North Carolina holds off Rainbow Wahine basketball team. I wonder how the Stanford/Hawai'i game would have gone if Shawna-Lei Kuehu hadn't been disabled for most of the second half.

The All-Tournament team was Jeanette Jackson (Prairie View A&M), Lili Thompson (Stanford), Shawna-Lei Kuehu (Hawai`i), Amber Orrange (Stanford) and Allisha Gray (North Carolina). The Most Valuable Player was Latifah Coleman (North Carolina).

Here are game reports and commentary on Stanford's game:

• Pick Your Poison, the Associated Press game recap (posted by Stanford Athletics)
• No. 5 Stanford powers past Prairie View A&M, the Prairie View A&M Athletics game recap
• McCall helps Cardinal women leave Hawaii on a winning note from Palo Alto Online
• Another Perfect Day in Paradise by Wally Mersereau, FBC traveller

The box score and play-by-play,

Dave Cortesi's Hawaii Tournament photo gallery,

And a few photos by Marco Garcia (Associated Press):

Bird looks for her shot

Bri drives past Shaneece Stephens

Bri is so fouled by Shamiya Brooks

Cardinal reigns over the Bows

The host Rainbow Wahine started out hot against the Cardinal, leading by as much as eight points until the Cardinal took its first lead at the nine-minute mark. The score stayed close for four more minutes with three ties and five lead changes.

Then, with 6:46 left in the half, the Cardinal went on a 5-20 run. They were ahead by 14 at the break, a lead the Bows were not able to overcome.

Even so, the Bows never stopped challenging. They cut the lead to six points midway through the second half. Several times the Cardinal sank what should have been a game-deciding 3-pointer only to have the Bows immediately drop in an answering shot. In the end, the Cardinal led by 13 points — 86-73

The Cardinal shot a sizzling 57.4% tonight, including 12 of 18 three-pointers and 12 of 15 free throws.

Lili, who attended Punahou High School in Honolulu before moving to Texas, had a lot of supporters in the stands. She rewarded them richly with the game-high 26 points on 57% shooting. She sank her career-high six three-pointers on seven attempts. She also tallied five assists, four rebounds, a block and a steal, and made all four of her free throws.

Amber had a few less points than Lili (19), but she led her team with shots when they were most needed. She began the Cardinal run in the first half with a steal and a fast break layup. When the Bows were whittling down the Cardinal lead in the second half, it was Amber who regained control with two three-pointers. In addition to her scoring, Amber dished out eight assists and turned the ball over only twice.

Kaylee and Bird also scored in double digits, but didn't quite make double-doubles.

Kaylee was hampered by being called for fouls and played for just 16 minutes, during which she got eight rebounds and matched her career-high score of ten points on perfect five-of-five shooting.

Bird set a career high with nine rebounds. She also controlled her shot attempts well and made five of eight, scoring a total of eleven points.

In the other game today, North Carolina crushed Prairie View A&M 81-45. UNC held PV to 20.5% field goal shooting, but PV didn't give up easily. Guard Jeannette Jackson led add scorers with 24 points — 16 of them from the free throw line!

Here are game reports and commentary:

• Happy Homecoming, the Associated Press game recap (posted by Stanford Athletics
• No. 5/4 Stanford Holds Off Hawai'i, 86-73, the Hawai'i Athletics game recap
• No. 5 Stanford beats Rainbow Wahine basketball team 86-73 from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser
• Long range goals come in handy for the Cardinal women from Palo Alto Online
• Improved on day two by Wally Mersereau, FBC traveller

The box score and play-by-play,

A gallery of photos by David Cortesi — the past three days of action in Honolulu.

Tar Heels step on the Cardinal

Hawaii was anything but paradise for the Cardinal today when they suffered a distressing loss to North Carolina.

The game was tied 0-0 for the first 52 seconds, but that's as good as it got for the Cardinal.

In the first half Stanford simply could not find the basket, hitting only 20% of its shots. Fortunately UNC was little better, shooting 25%, so the halftime score was relatively close at 18-24.

In the second half UNC pulled away steadily to a maximum lead of 22 before E.Payne, Briana and Brittany came off the bench and scored 12 points to bring the final score to 54-70.

Three statistics underscore the final result.

First, perimeter defense: Prior to today's game, UNC got most of its scoring on the inside from Stephanie Mavunga, Xylina McDaniel and Allisha Gray and had made only 27 of 92 3-point shots (29%). Tonight UNC took its offense out to the perimeter and made 12 of 29 3-point shots (41%) — just over half of its total score.

Ahead by only six at the half, UNC made an adjustment, intensified its perimeter offense and made a whopping eight of twelve long ones (67%) in the second half. Furthermore, four of the UNC 3-point shots were made by Latifah Coleman and three were made by Xylina McDaniel; prior to tonight, each of them had sunk only one from beyond the arc.

The Cardinal were unable to cope with this unexpected attack.

Second, shooting: The Cardinal's first half shooting woes didn't improve much in the second period. They ended with a shooting percentage of 30.9% to UNC's 40.6%.

Finally, rebounds: For the first time in a long time Stanford was decisively out-rebounded at 32-47.

The second game tonight (Hawai'i vs. Prairie View A&M) was a lively contest between two well-matched and extremely energetic teams. There were nine ties and seven lead changes in the first half. The Wahine Rainbows pulled ahead after the break, the Lady Panthers cut the lead to two points with eight minutes left to play, then the 'Bows pulled ahead again to a final 72-58 victory.

The energy and intensity never waned on either side. The Cardinal are going to face challenging opponents on Saturday and Sunday, but I think they will be well-prepared. Tara, Amy, Kate and Tempie watched every minute of the second game tonight from a table at the end of the court.

Here are game reports and commentary:

• Coleman Leads No. 11 UNC Over Stanford, the Associated Press game recap (posted by North Carolina)
• Game One Setback, the Stanford Athletics game recap
• Disappointment in Hawaii by Wally Mersereau, FBC traveller

The box score and play-by-play,

A gallery of photos by David Cortesi — yesterday's Thansgiving dinner & today's game

And photos by Marco Garcia (Associated Press):

Kaylee thwarts Stephanie Mavunga's attempted shot

Amber tries to wrestle the ball away from Jessica Washington

Taylor drives past Allisha Gray

Latifah Coleman passes around Kailee

Up next: Rainbow Wahine Shootout

The Cardinal head west this week for the Waikiki Beach Marriott Rainbow Wahine Shootout in Honolulu.

Their visit includes a practice session on Thursday afternoon, followed by a Thanksgiving banquet at the team hotel that evening. And then it's work, work, work for three days as they play North Carolina, Hawai'i and Prairie View A&M in the four-team round-robin tournament.

I hope our hardworking Cardinal will have some time for relaxation, as they did in Puerto Vallarta a year ago.

The games will be televised only by Oceania TV (a local Hawai'i channel), but there will be quite a bit of other media coverage. Hawai'i will provide live stats for all the games, Big West TV will stream the Hawai'i games* , NBC Sports Radio will broadcast the Hawai'i games, and North Carolina will broadcast its games. (KZSU, whose sports budget was cut in half this year, can't afford to go.)

Stanford's three games are:

• Fri Nov 28, 4:00 pm (PT) vs North Carolina, Media: Live Audio, Live Stats
• Sat Nov 29, 6:30 pm (PT) vs Hawai'i, Media: Live Video, Live Audio, Live Stats
• Sun Nov 30, 4:00 pm (PT) vs Prairie View, Media: Live Stats

Click here for the complete tournament schedule.

* At the time I write this, the Big West TV website doesn't show the Hawai'i/Stanford game as upcoming, but I've been assured by Big West TV that the game will be streamed.

  University of North Carolina Tar Heels

Stanford begins its tournament play with what will no doubt be a very challenging game against the North Carolina Tar Heels.

North Carolina was the preseason pick to finish fourth in the Atlantic Coast Conference (behind Notre Dame, Duke and Louisville) and is currently ranked No. 11/12 in the national polls.

North Carolina has won its first four games of the season: 83-49 vs Howard, 84-68 vs UCLA, a narrow 79-77 vs No. 18 Oklahoma State, and 76-59 vs Oregon.

This is the same North Carolina squad that Stanford defeated in the Elite Eight last season, except for Diamond DeShields who has transferred to Tennessee. The rest of North Carolina's "big four" are back and doing very well:

• Sophomore guard Allisha Gray (19.5 ppg, 59.3 FG%, 6.8 rpg, 2.0 spg)
• Sophomore post Stephanie Mavunga (13.8 ppg, 11.0 rpg, 3.3 bpg, 2.0 spg)
• Junior post Xylina McDaniel (14.0 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 1.8 spg)

Head coach Sylvia Hatchell is back too — she has completed her leukemia treatment and it's in remission.

Here are North Carolina's 2014-15 statistics and roster.

  University of Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine

The Hawai'i women's basketball program had languished for a dozen years under a succession of ineffective coaches until Laura Beeman took the helm in 2012. She and her staff have revitalized the Hawai‘i program and have led the ‘Bows to back-to-back appearances in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament (WNIT). In two seasons, she has compiled a 34-28 overall record and 23-11 mark in the Big West.

The Rainbow Wahine were picked to finish second in this year’s Big West preseason poll. They've made a good start with three wins and one loss — to No. 14 Cal last week 72-79.

The 'Bows are led by sixth year senior guard Shawna-Lei Kuehu (12.8 ppg, 10.0 rpg). She's had two double-doubles this season.

Two other 'Bows score in double digits: Senior guards Ashleigh Karaitiana (12.8 ppg) and Morgan Mason (10.8 ppg).

But the 'Bows share the load. Nine of their 12 plsyers are averaging double digit minutes this season.

Here are Hawai'i's 2014-15 statistics and roster.

  Prairie View A&M Lady Panthers

Prairie View A&M is the four-time defending Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) champions who have appeared in the last four straight NCAA tournaments.

They've lost their first three games this season — to Rice, Stephen F Austin and No. 7 Texas A&M

The Panthers are led by senior guard Jeanette Jackson. She has taken 26% of the Panthers' shots and scored 36% of their points (20.7 per game). She has also drawn the most fouls — five of her 20.7 points per game were from the line.

This will be the first game ever between the Panthers and the Cardinal. Both teams took part in a tournament in Honolulu in 2008, but that was a five-team tournament and they didn't play each other. Cynthia Cooper was the Panthers' coach then.

Here are Prairie View's 2014-15 statistics and roster.

Amber named to preseason Wooden and Wade lists

Congratulations Amber!

Amber is one of the women’s basketball players named to the John R. Wooden Award Women’s Preseason Top 30 it was announced Monday.

And today she was named to the 25-player Wade Watch list.

For more information about Amber and the awards, see:

• In the running
• 'Wade Watch" for Orrange


• The Wooden Award announcement
• The 'Wade Watch' announcement

Cardinal escapes wolf pack

The Cardinal wore their black road warrier uniforms in the Pit, where they found a much tougher battle than was anticipated.

Before the game, Lobos' junior point guard Bryce Owens said, "We’ll just play as hard as we can and see what happens." What happened is they came thisclose to winning.

The Lobos pulled ahead by one point with just 46 seconds left to play, but the Cardinal sank all six of their ensuing free throws and won the battle 70-65.

The Cardinal won the battle at the free-throw line, but came perilously close to losing it there too. Before those last six, they made only 11 of 23 attempts — yes, an abysmal 48%. That's going to have to be corrected soon.

It was a game of streaks.

Stanford dominated the first quarter with strong defense inside and great shooting from the outside. They led by as much as 16, largely thanks to Karlie, who sank four three-pointers in the first six minutes. She sank two more later and led all scorers at the end with a career-high 23 points.

The momentum changed in the second quarter. The Lobos began taking – and making – their shots from beyond the arc and gradually cut into the Cardinal lead. They tied the score with five minutes left in the half and were ahead by three with five seconds left. Amber, the buzzer-beater, sank a three-pointer to tie the score 35-35. She scored a total of 23 points tonight and became the 35th member of the Stanford 1000-point club.

The Cardinal started the second half with a 14-2 run, but the Lobos weren't anywhere near giving up. They kept whittling away at the lead and took it again with 46 seconds left to play.

Then:

Kaylee was fouled on a rebound and made two free throws;
Amber inexpicably fouled Antiesha Brown, who missed both of her free throws;
Bonnie & Amber iced the win with two free throws apiece.

The game really was decided by free throws. The Cardinal had a huge rebounding advantage (50-31), but their inside scoring was poor. Both teams scored 26 points in the paint. And the Lobos made eight three-pointers to the Cardinal's seven. That adds up to a final "field goal score" of 50-47, advantage Lobos. Although the Cardinal missed 12 free throws, they took 13 more than the Lobos and made 10 more.

That huge rebounding advantage was largely due to Kaylee's near-record-setting performance. She grabbed 22 of the Cardinal's 50 rebounds. Chiney holds the Stanford single-game record with 24 and Nneka had 23 once. Kaylee also drew the most fouls and made enough of her free throws to tally her first double-double (the only one tonight) — 22-10.

Where was Lili? She was not feeling well and did not play tonight.

Here are game reports and commentary:

• Cleaning the Glass, the Associated Press game recap
• Lobo Rally Falls Short 70-65 to Stanford, the New Mexico Lobos game recap
• Upset bid falls short vs. Stanford by Ken Sickenger (Albuquerque Journal)
• Women’s basketball narrowly avoids third OT in three games with win by Ashley Westhem (Stanford Daily)
• Former Natrona star Johnson posts career night in Stanford win from the Casper Star-Tribune
• A Report from The Pit by Wally Mersereau, FBC traveller

And the box score and play-by-play.

Lili is espnW national player of the week

Charlie Creme, Graham Hays, Michelle Smith and Mechelle Voepel have voted Lili as espnW's first national player of the week for the 2014-15 season.

Michelle Smith characterizes Lili as "poised, fearless and aggressive" in her report of the award: Lili Thompson is player of the week.

This rather weird photo used to illustrate the report:

was taken as the final buzzer sounded at Maples on Monday. Lili, who had been guarding Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (#23) for 2.6 seconds, is dropping to the floor in jubilation.

This shot was taken about one second earlier:

Up next: The New Mexico Lobos

The Cardinal are away on their first road trip next week. They'll be in the Pit in Albuquerque at 6:00 on Monday to play the New Mexico Lobos.

The game won't be televised, but it will be streamed live by the Mountain West Conference and broadcast by KZSU. Live stats will be shown here.

The Lobos came to Maples last year and six years ago, but the Cardinal haven't played in the Pit since 2007.

I went to that game and remember it well — primarily for the Lobos' awesome fan support. The Pit (a below ground level arena) was filled with almost 9,000 incredibly supportive fans. They greeted every Lobo point with thunderous cheers. They all boo-ed every foul called against the Lobos, not just the questionable ones. And when they weren't cheering or booing, they howled.

The Lobos were in the top tier of the Mountain West Conference (MWC) for many seasons under 17-year head coach Don Flanagan, during which they won six Mountain West Conference titles and made eight appearances in the NCAA Women's basketball tournament. He retired in 2011 and Yvonne Sanchez, his assistant for eleven years, took over.

The Lobos have been hard-hit by serious injuries the past three seasons and have dropped down in the conference standings. They went 11-19 last season and stood #9 (of 11) in the MWC. They've been picked to finish ninth again this season.

But, win or lose, the Lobos' devoted fans have stuck with them. The average attendance at The Pit for the past three seasons has been just over 6,000 per game. The Lobos ranked 12th in the nation in home attendance last season.

The game on Monday may be a sell-out for a couple of reasons — it will be the Lobos' first home game of the season, and it's being featured as a game against the #1 team in the nation (read more in Cardinal to bring spotlight, No. 1 ranking to the Pit).

The Lobos will be happy to be back home. They had a very tough start this season at the Maggie Dixon Classic in Chicago, where they lost three games — to No. 5 Texas A&M, to No. 18 DePaul and to UTPA (University of Texas Pan-American).

The starters in each of the Lobos' first three games were:

• #13, 6'0" junior forward Khadijah Shumpert is a strong, physical presence in the paint on both ends and ls co-leader of the team in scoring with 12.7 points per game. She was named to the Maggie Dixon Classic all-tournament lteam last week.


• #15, 5'10" redshirt senior guard Antiesha Brown makes the game look easy even though she is one of the hardest-working players on the team. She started in all 30 games last season and was the top scorer with 14.3 points per game. She, like Shumpert, has averaged 12.7 points per game this season.


• #12, 5'4" junior guard Bryce Owens is a quick, durable point guard who displays a good burst to the basket on drives ... and also likes to take the long shots. She led the team in 3-pointers last season — taking half of her shots from beyond the arc and making 32% of them.


• #0, 5'10" freshman guard Cherise Beynon is a sharp-shooter with a nose for defense, who should earn considerable playing time her first year. Her averages thus far are 22 minutes, 6.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game.


• #03, 5'11" sophomore forward Josie Greenwood is a fundamentally sound player who does the little things right for the Lobos. She's averaged 2.7 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.

Here are New Mexico's 2014-15 statistics and roster.

Cardinal hooked by the 'Horns

Updated Nov 21, 8:40 am: Added Daily News and Stanford Daily articles.

The Texas Longhorns played a great game tonight and won 87-81 in overtime.

The Cardinal fought hard for 45 minutes, but just couldn't match the Longhorns on offense or defense.

The Longhorns led for most of the game, by as much as 10 points. The Cardinal finally took its first lead (since the first four minutes) with 1:43 minutes left to play but couldn't hold on to it. The Longhorns made three of six field goals in the overtime period, and the Cardinal made just one of seven, and that was that.

There were some bright spots in an otherwise disappointing evening for Cardinal fans.

Lili led all scorers with 28 points (her career high). This was her third consecutive 20+ point game. She's the first Stanford guard to do that in a long time. I don't know when a Stanford guard last scored 20+ points in three consecutive games — maybe never. I'll wait for goStanford to research that statistic.

Kaylee led all rebounders again with 13 again — a repeat of Monday night. She has grabbed 30 rebounds so far in her collegiate career, an average of 10.0 per game. Some other great Cardinal rebounders — Chiney, Kayla and Nicole — averaged 8.0, 8.4 and 8.5 rpg respectively in their freshman year.

Bri, who is proving to be a valuable backup at the point, matched her career-high points in a single game by sinking the first eight of her ten free throws (we can only hope that it's contagious).

Here are game reports and commentary:

• Tripped up by Texas, the Associated Press game recap
• Stanford women's basketball team loses to Texas Longhorns in overtime upset by Elliott Almond (Mercury News)
• Texas corrals Cardinal women in overtime hoops stunner by Palo Alto Online
• Stanford women fall to No. 10 Texas in wake of UConn win by Tom FitzGerald (San Francisco Chronicle)
• After upper, Stanford has a downer by John Reid (Daily News)
• Women’s basketball suffers OT loss to Texas by Alexa Phillipou(The Stanford Daily)
• WBB: Texas 87 Stanford 81 OT from the CARDboard
• Texas makes statement with win by Michelle Smith (espnW)

The box score and play-by-play,

A gallery of photos by Karen Ambrose Hickey (Stanford Photo),

And photos by Beck Diefenbach (Associated Press):

Alex in a battle with Brianna Taylor for possession of the ball

Bonnie on defense against Brianna Taylor

Kaylee and Bird impede Kelsey Lang's drive to the basket

Lili celebrates an opportunity for a couple of free throws

How Stanford women reached the top

Ann Killion (San Francisco Chronicle) reports on Stanford's jump to No. 1 in the AP top 25:

How Stanford women reached the top

There's nothing in her report that an attentive Cardinal fan doesn't already know, but still it's good to be getting attention from the media.