Cardinal crushes the Gauchos

The Cardinal wrapped up non-conference play with a dominating win over the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, 90-34.

Granted that the Gauchos were not a tough opponent, it was still good to watch the Cardinal finding success with their new offensive system.

The Cardinal won with a well-balanced attack. They shot 54.5% from the field, 41.7 % from beyond the arc and 80% at the free throw line. Everyone played at least five minutes, 12 of them scored, eight of them accounted for 87% of the Cardinal points.

Lili got some of her mojo back today. She made two fast breaks, shot 62.5% and led all scorers by just a bit with 12 points. Three other Cardinal scored in double-digits (Karlie and Briana had 11, Brittany had 10), Bonnie and Taylor had nine, and Kaylee and Bird had eight.

There was balance beyond the arc too. Bonnie and Karlie each sank three treys, Jasmine sank two, and Taylor and Briana each sank one.

Ball-handling was more productive today. So far this season, the Cardinal had averaged 9.5 assists per game. Today they had 17 ‐ with four apiece from Amber and Lili.

Brittany showed so much hustle on both offense and defense. Her primary skill is purported to be 3-point shooting, but she did everything but that today in her career-high 22 minutes on the court – a mid-range jumper, two layups, all four of her free throws, five rebounds, three blocks, three steals and an assist.

Bird had a strong game today. She led all rebounders with a career-high twelve and made all four of her field goal attempts. If she had made her two free throws, she would have tallied her first double-double.

Here's hoping the improvement continues on into conference play, which begins at Maples next Saturday with a game against the Colorado Buffs.

Here are game reports and commentary:

• No. 16 Stanford coasts past UC Santa Barbara 90-34, the Associated Press game recap (posted by espnW)


• Gauchos Open Three-Game Road Swing with 90-34 Loss at Stanford, the UCSB Athletics game recap


• Balanced Blowout, the Stanford Athletics game recap


• Stanford women rout overmatched Gauchos by Tom FitzGerald (San Francisco Chronicle)


• Cardinal end the year on a good note with solid victory by Rick Eymer (Palo Alto Online)


• WBB: Stanford 90 UCSB 34 from the CARDboard

The box score and play-by-play,

A gallery of photos by Hector Garcia-Molina (Stanford Photo),

And photos by George Nikitin (Associated Press):

Brittany grabs a rebound

Taylor drives to the basket

Bonnie puts up a trey

Kaylee puts up a jumper