Cardinal puts away the Aggies

Updated Nov 18: Added Stanford Daily game report, corrected Chiney's career-record stats.

This was not a game for the Cardinal Season Highlights video. Stanford managed to win 66-48, but it wasn't an easy victory.

The Aggies played fast, hard, and with skill for the entire 40 minutes. Their zone defense kept the Cardinal off-balance and struggling for shots. The Cardinal got to the line for 24 free throws, but missed just under half of them. Although the Cardinal won by 18 points, the scoring differential in the second half was just four.

Chiney and Amber accounted for almost 60% of the Cardinal scoring.

The Aggies tried their best to deny the basket to Chiney, but they weren't big enough or strong enough and she got another big double-double (28 points, 15 rebounds). She's now just 92 rebounds away from breaking the Stanford career record.

She also tallied two assists, three blocks and two steals.

Amber got through the Aggie zone with drives to the basket and pull-up jumpers. She scored ten points and got four rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Mikaela hobbled off the court, grimacing in pain, about four minutes into the game and headed for the locker room. Happily, she returned about five minutes later and subbed back in. She played for a total of 22 minutes, but not in peak condition (We learned later that she had rolled her ankle). She managed eight points and eight rebounds.

In spite of the Cardinal still being too dependent on Chiney and Amber, Tara is pleased with the freshmen's adjustment to collegiate play.

Karlie, "played like a senior," said Tara. She came off the bench for 33 minutes, sank two of the Cardinal's three 3-pointers and a just-inside-the-line 2-pointer for eight points, grabbed four rebounds, dished out the team-high six assists with just one turnover, and was strong and effective on defense.

Lili started again. Although not as productive as she was against Cal Poly, she again displayed her quickness and tenacity. She kicked off the Cardinal scoring with a long 2-pointer two minutes into the game and didn't hesitate to launch several other quick shots (that didn't find their target). She's an active defender against opponents of any size.

Erica M got her first collegiate start. She's strong under the basket on both offense and defense. She puts the ball up with Chiney-like moves, but she doesn't have Chiney's nose for the basket (does anyone?) and made just one of five. She also made three of four free throws and grabbed six rebounds.

At the postgame behind-the-bench session, she said that because there are two Ericas on the team, she's called out during practice as, "McCall! McCall!" Repeat that quickly and you'll know why her nickname is Bird.

Kailee didn't score today, but she played good defense for 13 minutes. Briana has a slight hamstring problem and didn't play.

Tara is also pleased that the injured upperclassmen are recovering. Bonnie played for 15 minutes and sank the Cardinal's third 3-pointer. Sara played for nine minutes. Taylor and Erica P — not yet.

Here are game reports and commentary:

• Stanford cruises to win from the Associated Press, Stanford Athletics version.
• UC Davis women take positives from loss to Stanford from the Associated Press, Sacramento Bee version.
• Ogwumike records another double-double in Cardinal win by Rick Eymer (Palo Alto Online).
• Ogwumike’s double-double paces Card past UC-Davis by Ashley Westhem (Stanford Daily).
• WBB: Stanford 66 Davis 48 from the CARDboard.

The box score and play-by-play,

Stanford-UC Davis postgame notes from Stanford Athletics

The game highlights video,