Neither team played well, and for much of the game, Stanford played the worse.
The Cardinal opened by giving up turnovers on its first four possessions, and Tara was quick to sub in Maya, Nadia and DiJonai for starters Alanna, Kaylee and Kiana. She continued an unusually rapid series of substitutions as the tentative, sloppy offense continued.
Fortunately the Trojans were no better, except for a sequence in which they hit three consecutive three-point shots to gain a lead they would hold most of the game.
The first half ended with the Cardinal behind 23-26. At this point eight Stanford players had scored, but the leading scorer was DiJonai with five. Most of the others had two each.
The third quarter started no better. DiJonai was providing the only offense, and Stanford trailed by 14 midway through the quarter. Then DiJonai made a three, Kiana made a three, DiJonai hit two free throws, and Alanna made a layup, and the hole was a lot less deep. On the buzzer, Alanna dropped in a three to close the quarter at a more hopeful 41-45 deficit.
For the first two and a half minutes of the fourth, neither team could score. Then Marta stole the ball and laid it up to bring Stanford within one. Brittany grabbed a rebound and scored to put Stanford ahead for the first time in 30 minutes. The game was tied at 55-55 with 41 seconds to play, then Brittany scored to make it 57-55.
The Trojans called time to inbound the ball past the time line, and had 20 seconds to tie or win the game. Unfortunately for them, they instead turned the ball over on a bad pass. Marta iced the win with two free throws.
DiJonai had 15 points (on five of eight shooting, including two of four three-point shots) plus six rebounds and four steals. It was her play alone that kept Stanford from being buried in that dismal third quarter.
Brittany scored only two points in the first 35 minutes of the game, but came alive to score another 10 in the last five. She also had three assists, two steals, and two blocks.
Alanna scored nine, mostly in the second half, and blocked three shots.
Marta scored eight, including a critical steal and layup near the end. She had four assists and three steals, against two turnovers.
Here are game reports and commentary:
- Stanford women win 59-55, move into 1st-place tie in Pac-12 , the Associated Press game recap
- Stanford women's basketball fights back to knock off USC, the Pac-12 game recap video
- Stanford Fights Back To Beat USC 59-55 At Galen Center, the USC Athletics game recap
- Cardinal Clutch, the Stanford Athletics game recap
- Surprise endings give Cardinal women share of Pac-12 lead from Palo Alto Online
- WBB: Stanford 59 U$C 55 from the CARDboard
And a video interview of Brittany, "We stayed together as a team".
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