Stanford perseveres to victory over Xavier

Stanford had an unexpectedly difficult game today, but eventually defeated Xavier 80-64.

The Cardinal used up several games worth of poor shooting karma today. It didn't look that way when Toni sank a 3-pointer on the first play of the game, but the next Cardinal 3-pointer came 32½ minutes later (from Taylor) with 12 misses in between. Their final 3-point tally was a miserable 16.7% (3 of 18).

In spite of their poor shooting, the Cardinal never lost focus nor let up on defense. They had five steals, forced 20 turnovers and out-rebounded the Musketeers 43-26 (with 21-7 O-boards).

Stanford and Xavier traded the lead with all through the first half, and Stanford didn't gain its first double-digit lead until six minutes into the second half.

Xavier's aggressive defense made it difficult to get the ball inside, but there's no stopping Nneka. She scored a season-high 34 points on 61% shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds (six of them O-boards).

Chiney was right in there with her. She had 18 points and eight rebounds (seven of them O-boards!) and made four of her five free throws.

Toni played excellent offense and defense for 31 minutes. She had 14 points, two rebounds, four steals and six assists with just two turnovers.

Here are game reports:

• No. 3/5 Stanford Controls Second Half to Beat Xavier 80-64 by Joe Kay (Associated Press)
• No. 3/5 Stanford Bests Xavier Women, 80-64 from Xavier Athletics
• No. 3 Stanford 80, XU 64 (women) Xavier Musketeers Blog (Cincinnati.com)

The box score and play-by-play,

And photos by David Kohl (AP Photo)

Nneka puts up a shot Joslyn looks to shoot Chiney looks for her shot Amber scrambles for the ball