July 27, 2015

Stanford threesome advances to championship game

By Judy Richter

Thanks to a resounding victory on July 25, two Stanford freshmen — guard Marta Sniezek and forward Shannon Coffee — and an alum, guard Markisha Coleman, ’07, will play in the San Francisco Pro-Am championship game at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 1, at Kezar Pavilion.

Markisha #7, Shannon #9 (back row), Marta #11

Their team, Bay City, thumped San Francisco 130-79 in the afternoon’s second game. Bay City will face Mission Recreation Center, which defeated Palo Alto TnT 81-61 in the earlier game.

Mission Rec has a 5-0 record, while Bay City’s record is 4-1. Its only defeat came at the hands of Mission Rec, 88-76, on June 20. No Stanford women played in that game because they were just getting settled on campus.

Tess, Alexa play for San Francisco team

July 25’s Bay City-San Francisco game involved two other Stanford women, senior forward/center Tess Picknell and freshman guard Alexa Romano, playing for San Francisco.

Tess #53, Alexa #4 (at Tess' left)

Shannon scored 17 points and had eight rebounds and one assist for Bay City, according to my unofficial tally. Marta pitched in with 7 points and three each for rebounds, steals and assists. Both were starters. Coming off the bench, Markisha had four assists and a steal. (My assist totals may not be accurate.)

On the San Francisco side, starter Tess had 6 points, nine rebounds and one assist, while bench player Alexa had 2 points, two rebounds and one steal.

Eleven players showed up for San Francisco. Bay City had 10. The Bay City coach substituted frequently, often sending in a fresh platoon of five each time, a la Charli Turner Thorne of Arizona State.

The Cardinal fan contingent was under 20 people. Among the fans for the second game were junior guards Briana Roberson and Lili Thompson with some of Lili’s relatives.

Bri, Lili play almost 37 minutes for Palo Alto TnT

Alternating at the point, Bri and Lili had played in the first game, both as starters. Bri scored her team’s first 5 points and Lili pitched in the next 3, but Mission Rec outscored Palo Alto TnT in all four quarters. Each team had only seven players, so Lili and Bri played virtually the entire game, going to the bench with only 3:13 left and their team behind 77-50.

Lili finished with 21 points, two rebounds and two steals. Her four 3-pointers helped her point total, but she missed many apparently easy shots while driving to the basket.

Bri had 14 points, including one trey. She also contributed two rebounds, two steals and one assist.

After their game, they went to the Bay City bench to greet Shannon, Marta and Markisha. They then crossed the court to join Lili’s relatives and talk with a young girl, maybe 11 or 12 years old, who obviously was thrilled to meet them. They stayed through the first quarter before leaving with Lili’s relatives.

As they have done at previous games, Shannon and Marta talked with fans after the game and thanked them for coming.

Kezar Pavilion is on the east side of Golden Gate Park at 755 Stanyan St. between Waller and Frederick streets. Admission is free. A pay-by-the-hour parking lot is next door.

Shannon and Tess tip off
Shannon launches a shot over Tess
Tess clears a lane for Alexa

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