July 25, 2016

Stanford women help with win at Kezar

By Judy Richter
Photos by Tom O'Connor

Two Stanford bigs started the game and helped their SF Bay Area Pro-Am team to its first victory July 24 at Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco.

Both senior forward Erica “Bird” McCall at center and freshman forward Nadia Fingall had double-doubles as their Palo Alto TnT team defeated Bay City 85-78 before a sparse crowd that included fewer than a half-dozen Stanford fans.

My unofficial tally shows both with 13 rebounds. In addition, Bird had 25 points and eight blocks, while Nadia had 13 points and two blocks.

Bird’s total included a couple of 3-pointers (I didn’t keep track), and Nadia took some shots from beyond the arc. Bird had one foul while Nadia had three.

Bird played all but the final 1:16 minutes of the game, when both she and Nadia returned to the bench with their team safely ahead. Nadia played most of the game but needed a two-minute breather as the second quarter neared its end.

In a brief conversation before the game, she said she loves being at Stanford but the conditioning is tough.

Because I didn’t keep stats for the other players, I don’t know if Bird had the most points on her team. It seemed that several quick guards did their fair share in the points department.

Bay City led 23-18 after the first quarter, but Palo Alto led 40-31 at the half and 62-59 after the third quarter.

Both Cardinal women were active on defense and set screens for their teammates.

My overall impression is that Bird is picking up right where she left off as Stanford’s leading scorer last season. Nadia shows lots of promise and is likely to make her mark as her Stanford career progresses.

The Palo Alto team was coached by Stanford alum John Paye, brother of assistant coach Kate Paye.

Guard Markisha Coleman, ’07, was there for the second game between her San Francisco team and Mission Recreation Center, but I left before it started. Mission Rec went on to win 101-68.

With a record of 1-4, Palo Alto TnT’s next game is at 3:30 p.m. July 30 against undefeated Mission Rec.

Kezar Pavilion is at the east end of Golden Gate Park, 705 Stanyan St., San Francisco. Admission is free. There’s a paid parking next door.

July 21, 2016

Stanford loses Lili

Elliott Almond (Mercury News) answers the question many fans have been asking since the Spring banquet:

Stanford loses star guard Lili Thompson; won't return as senior

In a series of tweets, Lili says:

Hi everyone!
I took a nice, long break from tweeting recently, but now that I'm back I want to let you all know that I have decided not to return to the women's basketball team. While I know this decision may come as a surprise, let's all remain grateful for our health and education, and focus on the many issues affecting our world that are #BiggerThanBasketball. I look forward to my senior year at Stanford and enjoying whatever wonders the next stage of my life will bring. I'd like to thank everyone who has supported me over the last three years and, as always, Go Stanford!

July 17, 2016

Gold for Team USA, silver for Team Canada

Canada and the USA traded baskets for the first quarter of the FIBA Americas U18 Championship game. Then the USA surged ahead with ever-increasing momentum to an easy 109-62 victory.

Mikaela led her team in scoring with 16 points, including two three-pointers. For the tournament, she averaged 11.8 points per game on 49% field goal percentage and 3.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.0 steals per game.

More:

Team Canada advances to championship game

Team Canada pulled ahead of Brazil in the fourth quarter of the semi-final round of the FIBA Americas U18 Tournament and beat them 68-62.

They'll play Team USA for the gold on Sunday at 5:15 pm PT. You can watch the game live on YouTube here.

More:

July 15, 2016

Third win for Team Canada

Team Canada defeated Puerto Rico 69-47 today in the final game of the opening round of the FIBA Amercias U18 Championship.

So they do not have to face Team USA in the semi-finals tomorrow. Instead they'll play Brazil (at pm 7:15 PT) and hopefully meet USA in the championship game on Sunday.

Mikaela was off her shot today, making just one of eight field goal attempts. Fortunately two of her teammates, Alyssa Jerome and Aislinn Konig, made 10-of-17 and 5-of-10 respectively to secure the victory.

More:

July 14, 2016

Team Canada clinches spot in semi-finals

Team Canada romped to an easy 88-39 win over Chile today in its second game of the opening round of the FIBA Americas U18 Championship.

Mikaela led her team with a perfect nine-of-nine fields goals, iincluding four three-pointers. She also had four rebounds and an assist.

More:

Canada's pair of wins has clinched a spot in the semi-finals. They play Puerto Rico, which also has two wins, in the third and final game of the opening round tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 PT.

The winner of that game will play Venezuela or Brazil in the semi-finals on Saturday. The loser will play USA, which has clinched the #1 spot in its group.

July 13, 2016

Win for Team Canada and Mikaela

Team Canada defeated Mexico 87-56 in the opening round of the FIBA Americas U18 Women's Championship.

Mikaela had a fine game. She scored 11 points on 3-of-8 three-pointers and a short jumper. She had four rebounds, four assists and a steal.

More:

Team Canada's next game is against Chile tomorrow evening at 5:15 pm PT.

Team Canada and Team USA are in different groups so they won't meet, if at all, until the quarterfinals on Saturday or the semifinals on Sunday.

July 10, 2016

Bird and Nadia at Kezar

Longtime Cardinal fan Otis Watson was at Kezar yesterday. So were Bird and Nadia.

Otis reports:



Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the Kezar summer league game that featured Bird and Nadia, for the first time this summer.

Erica told me she is well after her surgery and cleared to play 100%. She had a great game yesterday scoring in the paint and rebounding well.

Nadia informed me that she was glad to be at Stanford and is looking forward to contributing to the team. Nadia has a good post up shot and isn't afraid to to hit the boards and rebound.

Note: There are a couple of changes to the Kezar schedule:

  • Game times for next Saturday (July 16th) have been advanced to 2:15 and 4:15. Palo Alto (Bird and Nadia's team) is scheduled for the second game.

  • The games on the following weekend will be on Sunday (July 24th) instead of Saturday

July 07, 2016

Where's Mikaela?

The coaches welcomed DiJonai, Nadia and Anna to the Farm, but no Mikaela.

Anna, Nadia and DiJonai helped Tara celebate her birthday, but no Mikaela.

Where's Mikaela?

With Team Canada preparing to play in the FIBA Americas U18 Women's Championship in Chile. Play begins next Wednesday, July 13th. Follow the action on the tournament website.

July 05, 2016

Off-season interview with Kate

Cardinal Sports Report has published a long interview with Kate Paye, in which she discusses team activities this spring and summer, the offensive style planned for next season, recruiting, and 2017 class size and priorities: