This is the second midseason list that they've been named to. They were named to the John R. Wooden Award's Midseason Top 20 two weeks ago.
This is the USBWA Announcement, which notes that the list of 20 candidates includes a pair of real sister teammates.
The Cardinal started strong and had a 10-point lead halfway through the first half. The Trojans fought back and traded baskets with the Cardinal for the rest of the half. The Trojans made some adjustments at halftime, came back and cut the deficit to six points, but that's as close as they got. The Cardinal pulled away and held a 15-19 point lead for the rest of the game.
The Trojans didn't repeat the mistakes of their last two games. They crashed the boards and drew fouls. They got to the line 17 times and made 15 free throws. They got almost as many rebounds as the Cardinal (31-37). They got more steals (7-4) and forced more turnovers (11-10).
But their defense and their pair of sisters weren't as good as the Cardinal's.
The Cardinal defense held the Trojans to 29.3% shooting and 27.3% beyond the arc — well below their season averages of 38% and 34%.
When Nneka couldn't get the ball up and in past the Trojans' double- or triple-team, she often drew a foul. She got to the charity stripe 12 times. Her free-throw shooting was off tonight, and she made only eight of her attempts, but she ended as the high scorer with 22 points. She has now scored 2,143 points and moved past Jayne Appel into third place on Stanford's career scoring list. 73 more points will take her past Kate Starbird into second place. She's not apt to usurp Candice Wiggins, who holds the record with 2,629 points.
Chiney had another superb game. She scored 21 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked six shots – a career high.
Toni's defense of Ashley Corral was outstanding. Corral, one of the Trojans' top three scorers and their three-point specialist got away from Toni for just one three-pointer and two jumpers. Toni led the offense most of the game and made five assists with just two turnovers. The play of the game was her 60 foot pass to Nneka's fast break and layup. Toni also scored 15 points herself.
Only four other Cardinal got significant playing time — Joslyn, Lindy, Amber and Taylor. They didn't tally much in the box score, but were all major contributors to the defensive effort that won this game.
Here are game reports:
A gallery of photos by Don Feria for Stanford Photo,
And photos by Paul Sakuma (Associated Press):
Nneka is triple-teamed
One of Chiney's six blocks
Toni drives in for a layup
Chiney & Joslyn fight Cassie Harbert for the rebound
Nneka is fouled
Nneka gets a hand up
Nneka checks Chiney's contact
Sweet victory
By Tom FitzGerald (San Francisco Chonicle):
For years Tara VanDerveer has bemoaned the lack of respect for the Pac-10 (now the Pac-12) in women's basketball. She's on the stump again.
National TV announcers "are always looking for something to drag the whole conference and us down," the Stanford coach complained this week. Read more...
Both of the games at Maples will be televised, and the start times are not the usual 2:00/7:00. Be sure you have the correct times marked on your calendar:
The USC/Stanford game is on Thursday evening at 6:00, and the UCLA/Stanford game is on Saturday Sunday afternoon at 12:00.
The game against UCLA on Saturday Sunday is a Play 4Kay game. If you're coming, remember to wear pink to show your support for breast cancer awareness. The game is sponsored by the Stanford Women's Cancer Center. You can buy discounted tickets here – the promotional code is: Pink
It's impossible to predict how the Trojans will play. They've been winning the hard games and losing what should have been easy ones.
Since we last played them in December, they defeated Cal by 20 points, defeated Arizona State by 12 on the road, and snapped a four-game losing streak against UCLA.
But they've lost four of their last six games — to Oregon State, Colorado, Utah and Washington. They've slipped to sixth place in the Pac-12 standings, and their postseason hopes are dimming fast.
Their last two losses were decided at the free throw line. In the game against Utah, the Trojans and the Utes scored exactly the same number of points on field goals, but the Trojans got to the line six times and made six free throws, while the Utes got there 18 times and made 14. In the game against Washington, the Trojans scored ten more points than the Huskies on field goals, but the Trojans added just six on free throws, while the Huskies added 22.
Head coach Michael Cooper thinks that the disparity in free throw attempts is due to a disparity in physicality. He commented about his team's lack of a "killer instinct" and said that until they find it, he only expects more losses in the future.
So, who's coming to Maples — the Trojan warriors or the nice girls of Troy?
Here are USC's statistics and roster.
The Cardinal defeated the Bruins by 27 points on New Year's Eve, but that's not likely to be repeated this weekend. The Bruins have worked their way up to third place in the Pac-12 standings, just one game behind Cal, and are heading into the Bay Area on a four-game winning streak.
They've accomplished this with a very short bench. Freshman guard Moriah Faulk tore her ACL in January and joined Jasmine Dixon and Atonye Nyingifa in rehab. That leaves just eight healthy Bruins – one of them a walk-on freshman guard who plays very few minutes.
The Bruins' success is largely due to junior forward Markel Walker. She is fully recovered from thumb surgery and has really stepped up her game. Since January 1st she's averaged 13 points and 13 rebounds per game and made seven double-doubles.
In the game against Washington State last week, Walker recorded a triple-double, the first in the conference since 2004, with 14 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists.
I expect that the Bruins will seriously challenge the Golden Bears for second place in the Pac-12 and play a tough competitive game against the Cardinal.
Here are UCLA's statistics and roster.
Michelle Smith (espnW) takes us along on the ride from Tempe to Tucson. Read here...
Several years ago, Tara created a tradition for the team's annual trip to Arizona in which the players with the best weekend stats in two categories are awarded a sombrero, which they must wear on the trip home.
Amber made five of six field goal attempts last weekend and won the FG% Sombrero.
Chiney grabbed 26 rebounds and won the Rebounding Sombrero.
Players not named Ogwumike accounted for 64% of the Cardinal's 91 points.
Joslyn led the way with a career high 22 points to which she added 11 rebounds for her second career double-double. She sank three of four from beyond the arc and made all three of her free throws.
Toni added a good deal of excitement to the game. She stole the ball five times and scored on fast break layups after two of them. She was fouled on a third fast break and made one of her free throws. She tried six shots from beyond the arc and sank two of them. Total: 11 points. When she wasn't stealing and shooting, she took good care of the ball, as always – four assists and one turnover.
Amber added some fine shooting to her usual careful ball-handling. She made 100% of her field goal attempts for ten points.
Erica got 14 minutes on the court today and made good use of them with six points, five rebounds and a block. Her prettiest play was an alley-oop O-board and putback worthy of an Ogwumike.
The Cardinal's other three 3-pointers came from Taylor (two) and Lindy (one).
The Ogwumikes were not entirely idle this afternoon. Chiney had 18 points, ten rebounds, two assists and four blocks. Nneka had 15 points, six rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal.
All in all a fun afternoon for Cardinal fans!
Here are game reports:
And photos by John Miller (AP Photo):
Joslyn drives past Aley Rohde
Chiney defends against Reiko Thomas
Chiney keeps defending against Reiko Thomas
Jos gets past Reiko Thomas
Toni doesn't quite stop Candice Warthen's shot
"Good job Nneka!"
The Sun Devil defense was all that it's cracked up to be. The Cardinal was stymied both on the perimeter and in the paint until well into the second half when the score was tied 40-40. Then the Cardinal busted loose – I have no idea how – and went on a 20-2 run en route to their 67th consecutive conference victory.
The Cardinal was able to stop one of the Sun Devils' star players — Kimberly Brandon was held to four points and three rebounds. They couldn't stop Kali Bennett for a long time — she was an impressive force in the paint on both offense and defense all through the first half, but had just one block and no points in the second.
The Sun Devil defense didn't stop:
Nneka, who got 22 points and 16 rebounds.
Here are game reports:
A few photos by Rick Scuteri (AP Photos):
Nneka puts one up
Jos, Nneka and Chiney celebrate the outcome
Jeff Metcalfe (The Republic) reports on Arizona State's hopes for tonight's game against Stanford.
"We've got to be really locked in and make them earn every step, every bounce, every catch," ASU interim coach Joseph Anders said. "Nothing can be easy." Read more...
The Cardinal begins the second half of the conference season in the desert with games against the Sun Devils and the Wildcats.
The game against the Sun Devils on Thursday February 2 at 6:00 pm Pacific Time will be televised by FSN/Comcast. You can join fellow Bay Area fans at a viewing party at the Old Pro to watch the game.
The Arizona game on Saturday February 4 at 1:00 pm Pacific Time will be webcast by Arizona All-Access.
Both games will be broadcast by KZSU.
The Sun Devils had a fairly hard non-conference schedule, with two games against ranked opponents (Rutgers and DePaul). They lost those two, but won the other nine. They began the conference season with a win over Arizona, then lost the next three to USC, UCLA and Oregon State. They won the next five games and are now second in the Pac-12.
This will be a really important weekend for the Sun Devils. In conference play only, they're tied with Cal for second place so that game will be a "must win" for both of them. In their game against Stanford they can take heart from knowing that Cal came awfully close to an upset.
The Sun Devils are playing their usual lock-down defense, but are lacking in offense. They lost three of their four top scorers (Dymond Simon, Becca Tobin and Tenaya Watson) and are averaging just 60.3 points per game — next-to-last in the conference. They stand last in the conference on three-point shooting, both in the number made (3.6 per game) and in percentage (28.0).
So they rely on their defense, and that's outstanding. They hold their opponents to 33.2% field goal shooting, which leads the conference and ranks seventh nationally. They allow their opponents just 51.9 points per game, which leads the conference and ranks 13th nationally. They also lead the conference in blocks per game (6.05), which ranks eighth nationally. They're second-best in the conference in steals per game (10.5).
Although the Sun Devila are a strong aggressive team, they're only so-so on rebounds. They average 39.9 rebounds per game – 2.9 more than their opponents – which ranks seventh in the conference.The probable starters for ASU are:
Freshman guard Eliza Normen has redshirted after injuring her quad early in the season. Junior center Joy Burke and junior guard Haley Parsons are sidelined after suffering concussions — they haven't played in any conference games.
Arizona State's win-loss record (15-5 overall, 6-3 conference) places them second in the Pac-12 their RPI (51) places them fourth, and their strength of schedule rank (83) places them eighth.
Here are their 2011-12 statistics and their roster.
The Wildcat offense is most effective beyond the arc. They average almost 6.5 three-pointers per game (second-best in the conference) at a rate of 35% (best in the conference).
The probable starters for Arizona are:
Arizona's win-loss record (13-8 overall, 2-7 conference) places them last in the Pac-12, their RPI (109) places them tenth, and their strength of schedule rank (130) places them eleventh.
Here are their 2011-12 statistics and their roster.
