Cardinal takes care of Utah on Senior Day

The Cardinal gave Tara her 700th Stanford victory on Senior Day with a 69-42 win over Utah.

Utah had a hard time today. Their senior point guard, Janita Badon, sprained her knee last week and did not play. Their three-point specialist, Iwalani Rodrigues, took over at the point, tried just one shot from beyond the arc and missed it.

Their star front court players got into foul trouble with their over-zealous defense of the Cardinal front court. Michelle Plouffe committed three fouls in the first ten minutes. Taryn Wicijowski committed her third foul five minutes into the second half and fouled out at the 3:33 mark. In spite of that, they each played about 35 minutes and scored most of Utah's points.

Chiney had the only double-double of the game with 16 points and 12 rebounds, half of them O-boards.

Nneka scored 15 points and had seven rebounds, five blocks, two steals and an uncharacteristic six turnovers. Two of her field goals were jumpers from jus-s-s-t inside the arc — she may yet hit a three-pointer in her college career. She's in fifth place on the Stanford career rebound list, just two behind Val Whiting.

Joslyn was a strong "third sister" again today with 12 points and nine rebounds.

Amber began the Cardinal scoring with a jumper off the tipoff. She added two more jumpers, two dribble-drives to the basket, and a couple of free throws for a total of 12 points. She also grabbed four rebounds, including three O-boards. Her defense was just as impressive. During her 28 minutes of play, she escorted the Utah point guard on every trip down the court. Her defense of Iwalani Rodrigues was a major factor in disrupting the Utah offense.

Grace delighted her teammates and the 5000 or so Cardinal fans by ending the Cardinal scoring with a three-pointer.

Here are game reports:

• No. 2 Stanford Beats Utah, 69-42 from the Associated Press
• Stanford women beat Utah for coach Tara VanDerveer's 700th victory by Elliott Almond (Mercury News)
• WBB: Stanford 69 Utah 42 on Senior Day from The CARDboard

The box score and play-by-play,

A gallery of photos by Don Feria for Stanford Photo,

And photos by Paul Sakuma (Associated Press):

Go get 'em, sister! Chiney puts it up Nneka taps the ball away Jos is robbed Mêlée The bench celebrates Grace's three-pointer Amber, Tara and Amy share the joy Nneka gets a kiss from her mother, while Chiney looks on Nneka gets a hug from Tara, while her father looks on Love for the seniors from Sara and Bonnie