Toni on and off the court

Mark Soltau (Buck/Cardinal Clubhouse) profiles Stanford's Second City Sparkplug, Toni Kokenis. Read here...

Wazzu and Udub at Maples

The Washington State Cougars and the University of Washington Huskies are on the road this week to play Stanford — WSU on Thursday at 7:00 pm, UW on Saturday at 2:00 pm. Neither game will be televised, but both will be video-streamed by Stanford All-Access and broadcast by KZSU. You can find the links in the Prior and Upcoming Games schedule on the FBC home page.

Stanford is not travelling to Washington this season, so this is the only time they will play WSU and UW except, perhaps, in the Pac-12 Tournament.

Lindy drives past a Cougar last season

  Washington State Cougars

In her fifth season at Washington State, head coach June Daugherty is continuing to improve the women's basketball program. The Cougars finished tied for 7th in the Pac-10 last season (8-23 overall, 6-12 conference), their best showing in 13 years. This season they already have nine wins and have a good chance of finishing in the top half of the conference.

Those wins came with a very tough non-conference schedule that included four ranked teams — Penn State, Gonzaga, Louisville and Ohio State. WSU didn't win any of those games, but they weren't blown out — one loss was by two points, another by four, the other two by twelve. They started the conference season with three wins — against Oregon and Oregon State on the road and Utah at home — then lost to Colorado by one point and to Washington last week by nine.

The Cougars were fortunate in having no major injuries — until the Pac-12 opener at Oregon, when their key three-point shooter Ireti Amojo tore her ACL. Amojo made almost two three-pointers per game at a rate of 50% – the best in the Pac-12.

The Cougars are an unusually balanced team. They have ten players who average between 12 and 24 minutes per game. They have no single player who scores in double digits — instead they have seven players who score, on average, between seven and nine points per game. Eight different players have been the top scorer in WSU's 17 games this season.

The Cougars are a quick team that likes to run and harass its opponents. They lead the Pac-12 in turnover margin (4.3 fewer than their opponents) and are second in steals (11.0 per game).

Coach Daugherty feels that the team is out of sync and still adjusting to the loss of Amojo. She has been shuffling the lineup, trying to get the team back into a rhythm offensively. The starters against Stanford will probably be:

• #11, 5'10" senior guard Jazmine Perkins is WSU's leading scorer (9.0 ppg), rebounder (7.6 rpg) and ball thief (3.0 spg). She leads the Pac-12 in steals.


• #33, 6'5" junior center Carly Noyes averages 7.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists. and 0.9 blocks per game.


• #3, 5'5" senior point guard Rosetta Adzazu averages 6.0 points 3.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.


• #21, 6'1" senior guard/forward Rosie Tarnowski averages 5.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.


• #24, 6'1" sophomore guard/forward Brandi Thomas averages 3.0 points and 1.9 rebounds per game. She has been in the starting five only once.

First off the bench will probably be senior guard April Cook (5.2 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 1.0 apg), sophomore guard/forward Sage Romberg (7.2 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.4 apg) and freshman guard Tia Presley (6.6 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 1.8 apg). Each of them has started before in more than ten games.

Another reserve to watch for is 6'3" freshman forward/center Shalie Dheenshaw. She provides length and strength in the paint, which the Cougars need badly. She hasn't played much yet, but was strong and confident last week against Washington – she grabbed seven rebounds (three of them O-boards) in 16 minutes.

WSU's win-loss record (9-8 overall, 3-2 conference) places them 4th in the Pac-12 their RPI (66) places them 5th, and their strength of schedule rank (20) places them 4th.

Here are WSU's 2011-12 statistics and their roster.

  University of Washington Huskies

The Huskies are having a rough go this season. First, they had to adjust to an all-new coaching staff, headed by Kevin McGuff, who came to Washington after nine seasons at Xavier. Then their star player, senior guard Kristi Kingma, tore her ACL before the season started. And last week, sophomore forward Marjorie Heard, a key player off the bench, tore her ACL during a practice drill.

Two bright lights for the Huskies have been standout freshman point guard Jazmine Davis and rejuvenated senior center Regina Rogers. Conditioning was an issue with Rogers last season — she couldn't keep up in a fast game and didn't have the stamina to play major minutes. This season, she's in the starting five, playing about 27 minutes a game (10 more than last season), and leading the Huskies in scoring and rebounding.

The Huskies are, as they have been in the past, an aggressive team on defense. They hold their opponents to 33% field goal shooting – the best in the Pac-12 and #8 in the nation.

They don't handle the ball well. They average about 12 assists and almost 18 turnovers per game. They rank 11th in the Pac-12 in assists and in assist-to-turnover ratio.

They're not much of a threat beyond the arc. They have the second-best 3-point shooting percentage in the Pac-12 (34.3), but attempt only about 12 per game – the fewest in the Pac-12.

The Huskies inherited a soft schedule from Tia Jackson and did pretty well with it, winning eight of ten non-conference games. The conference season hasn't started as well — they defeated Colorado and WSU, but lost to Oregon, Oregon State and Utah. Coach McGuff said, “We have a lot of places where we need to grow to feel like we could compete at the top,”

The probable starters for UW are:

• #43, 6'3" redshirt senior forward/center Regina Rogers is UW's leading scorer (16.2 ppg) and rebounder (7.9 rpg). She makes 65.3% of her field goal attempts – the best in the nation. She missed the game against WSU last week due to a bruised hamstring, and she may not play in the Bay Area games – UW lists her in their game notes as a probable starter, but she hasn't been cleared to practice yet.


• #32, 5'8" freshman guard Jazmine Davis is having a standout freshman season. She's UW's second-best scorer and the top freshman scorer in the Pac-12 with 13.6 ppg. She makes 3.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. She makes 81.2% of her free throw attempts – second-best in the Pac-12. She has started all 15 games for the UW and has played 34 minures per game – third-most in the Pac-12.


• #33, 6'3" redshirt senior forward/center MacKenzie Argens averages 9.2 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game.


• #1, 5'8" sophomore guard Mercedes Wetmore averages 7.9 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game.


• #22, 5'10" senior guard/forward Charmaine Barlow averages 2.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.

Coming off UW's short bench are sophomore guard Kellie McCann-Smith, freshman guard/forward Aminah Williams, junior forward Jeneva Anderson and senior forward Mollie Williams. Collectively they play 50 minutes per game and account for 22% of the scoring and 25% of the rebounds.

Washington's win-loss record (10-5 overall, 2-3 conference) places them 8th in the Pac-12 their RPI (103) places them 9th, and their strength of schedule rank (139) places them 10th.

Here are Washington's 2011-12 statistics and their roster.

Chiney's first Player of the Week award

Chiney averaged a double-double of 15.0 points and 12.5 rebounds against Utah and Colorado last week and earned her first Pac-12 Player of the Week award.

Congratulations Chiney!!

For more details, see the announcements from Stanford Athletics and from the Pac-12.

Stanford buffaloes Colorado

The Buffs had no answer for the Cardinal's implacable offense and stifling defense – the Cardinal won 80-54.

Montana native Joslyn was invigorated by the Rocky Mountain air. She started again for the fourth time this season, played for 32 minutes and led all scorers with 20 points, matching her career high. She began the scoring 1½ minutes into the game with a long-g-g three-pointer and followed that a minute later with a cut to the basket and two points. She sank another long one later in the first half and made all four of her free throws. She also grabbed three rebounds and was a strong, effective defender.

Chiney and Toni added 19 points each. Chiney also had nine rebounds and two assists. Toni had five rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Nneka subbed out early in the first half after she stepped on Chiney's foot and tweaked her ankle. But she got it re-taped, came back in six minutes later and played most of the rest of the game. She finished with 15 points, five rebounds and a steal.

The Cardinal defense held Chucky Jeffery, the Buffs' top scorer, to just two points on one of ten field goal attempts and Lexy Kresl, their second-best scorer, to three points on one of seven three-point attempts. Colorado had the lowest-scoring first half (15 points) in a home game in team history. Their final 54 points is the current team's second-lowest score of the season.

Here are game reports:

• No. 4 Stanford Cruises Past Colorado, 80-54 from the Associated Press
• No. 4 Stanford rolls ice-cold CU Buffs by Brian Howell (Daily Camera)

The box score and play-by-play,

A gallery of photos from the Daily Camera,

And photos by Jack Dempsey (Associated Press):

Chiney puts up a shot Nneka drives to the basket Chiney pressures Chucky Joslyn on defense Chiney goes for a loose ball Toni's not about to let go of this one Nneka reaches in Taylor is robbed

The view from Boulder

Here are a couple of previews of the upcoming Stanford/Colorado game from the Boulder Daily Camera:

• Tough to gauge how good Lappe's Buffs are by Kyle Ringo
• CU Buffs hope to keep composure vs. Stanford by Brian Howell

Hoops Homework

Michelle Smith (espnW) takes us into the basketball office for her weekly report of Stanford Hoops:

Scouting reports. Recruiting. Travel plans. There's always plenty of work to do for a coaching staff. This week, we see how coach Tara VanDerveer's crew prepares for upcoming games. Read more...

Cardinal Up-ends the Utes

Strong defense and balanced offense led the Cardinal to a 62-43 victory over the Utah Utes.

The Cardinal defense held the Utes to a tie of their season-low 43 points on 28% shooting. Toni's and Chiney's dogged defense of Iwalani Rodrigues reduced her three-point production to three of ten (she popped a fourth one, unguarded, in the Utes' last possession). The Cardinal out-rebounded the Utes 43-34 and had seven blocks and six steals.

The Cardinal weren't shooting particularly well either – 43% on field goals isn't bad, but 69% at the charity stripe and 9% beyond the arc!

However, Nneka and Chiney did get their usual double-doubles – 18,13 and 11,14 respectively. They each had two blocks and a steal.

Toni also scored in double-digits (13) and sank the Cardinal's only three-pointer of the evening.

Amber started tonight and ran the point for 20 minutes. She tallied eight points, two rebounds, two steals, three assists and zero turnovers. Not fully reflected in the box score was her ferocious defense, which Chiney described as, "... all up in the grill, forcing turnovers and deflecting the ball."

Here are game reports:

• No. 4 Stanford Rolls Past Utah, 62-43 from The Associated Press
• No. 4 Stanford breaks open tight game, beats Utah 62-43, a different story from The Associated Press
• Fourth-ranked Stanford cruises past Utah by Steve Luhm (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Chiney Ogwumike sings Stanford hoops praises from Palo Alto Online
• Stanford used new lineup to squash Utah women by Jake Curtis

The box score and play-by-play,

And lots of photos by Jim Urquhart and Chris Detrick (Associated Press):

Chiney drives past Michelle Plouffe Chiney gets all tied up Nneka reaches for a rebound Nneka grabs a rebound Nneka lays on a perfect block Nneka blocks another one Nneka jumps over a fallen Ute Nneka tries a bit of robbery The sisters gang up on Taryn Wicijowski Amber, Nneka and Chiney triple-team Taryn Wicijowski Joslyn and Amber on defense Joslyn on defense Amber battles for the ball Sarah is not so easily distracted

Cardinal heads for the Rockies

... to take on the new Pac-12 members.

This will be the first Pac-12 meeting between these schools, but Stanford has played Colorado occasionally and Utah frequently. Long-time Cardinal fans may remember Colorado as the team that defeated us in the West Regional semi-final in Boise in 2002. And remember the game at Utah in 2007 when, with 0.2 seconds left to play, Melanie Murphy sank the first three-pointer in her career and took the game into overtime ... and an eventual win.

The Utah game (Thu Jan 12, 6:00 pm PT)will be webcast by Utah All-Access. The Colorado game (Sat Jan 14, 3:00 pm PT) will be telecast by ROOT Sports ‐ Rocky Mountain, which is widely available throughout the western U.S. KZSU will broadcast both games.

  Utah Utes

Utah won seven of 11 Mountain West Conference titles before moving to the Pac-12. Last season, they won the MWC tournament and went to the NCAA tournament, where they lost in the first round to eventual national runner-up Notre Dame.

They return four starters from that team and lost none of their high volume scorers. But they are a young team with only one senior, and injuries have done major damage to the depth of their roster. Sophomore guards Brittany Knighton and Ciera Dunbar are out indefinitely with knee injuries.

Utah did well in their non-conference run. They lost just four of eleven games — all on the road and by a total margin of 19 points. They stumbled at the beginning of Pac-12 play with losses to Colorado and WSU, then won over Washington.

The Utes are a strong defensive team. Coming into the conference season, head coach Anthony Levrets said, “We have defended well and we continue to get better at that.”

They lead the Pac-12 in scoring defense, allowing their opponents just 51.4 points per game, and are second in field goal % defense (33.2%). They are ranked #16 nationally in both those categories. They are also ranked #18 nationally and second in the Pac-12 in turnovers per game (14.2) and lead the Pac-12 in free throw percentage (73.4%).

The probable starters for Utah are:

• #15, 6'4" sophomore forward Michelle Plouffe leads the Utes in scoring (15.1 ppg) and rebounding (8.7 rpg). She was MWC Freshman of the Year last season and trained with the Senior Women's Canadian National Team last summer.


• #11, 6'3" redshirt sophomore forward Taryn Wicijowski is another strong presence in the front court. She's the second-best scorer (12.9 ppg) and rebounder (8.0 rpg) and has the most blocks (1.6 bpg). She was MWC Freshman of the Year in 2010, then sat out most of last season after tearing her ACL in late November.


• #3, 5'9" redshirt junior guard Iwalani Rodrigues is the Utes' most productive three-point shooter. She set a school record last season with 110 (For perspective, Jeanette set the Stanford record with 96; the Pac-12 record is 124.). So far this season, she has taken half of her shots from beyond the arc and made 33% of them. She averages 10.4 points and 2.4 rebounds per game.


• #1, 5'7" senior guard Janita Badon runs the point for the Utes. She averages just under five assists per game (second-best in the Pac-12) and has a good assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.6. She averages 10.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game.


• #13, 5'9" junior guard Rachel Messer plays the '1', '2' or '3'. She averages 5.6 points and 2.0 rebounds per game.

The starting five account for 85% of the scoring and 82% of the rebounding. The Utes have six healthy reserves, but only two of them play more than ten minutes per game.

Utah's win-loss record (8-6 overall, 1-2 conference) places them ninth in the Pac-12; their RPI (136) and strength of schedule (148) place them eleventh.

Here are Utah's 2011-12 statistics and their roster.

  Colorado Buffs

The Buffs were used to finishing in the middle of the Big 12 (their previous conference) behind Baylor, Texas A&M, Kansas State and other ranked teams. They feel more optimistic about their prospects in the Pac-12. Head coach Linda Lappe thinks they can finish anywhere from two to twelve (she concedes the top spot to Stanford). She says, "We feel like we can do very well in the Pac-12; we feel like we can make an impact."

The Buffs' confidence increased as they won every non-conference game. They accomplished that with a very weak schedule (ranked 333 by Collegiate Basketball News), but they've jelled into a team that believes in itself and is thinking 'W' every time they hit the court.

They've started well in the Pac-12 with a win at Utah, a loss at Washington and a 1-point win over WSU.

The Buffs are a very young team with just one senior, two juniors and five freshmen. They did a lot of off-season conditioning and lifting work and are in topnotch physical condition. This is a big plus, especially in home games at 5345 ft altitude. Lappe likes her team to push the pace – they run a lot.

The probable starters for Colorado are:

• #23, 5'10" junior guard Chucky Jeffery is the Buffs' star player – a dynamic point guard who leads the team in scoring (16.9 ppg), rebounding (8.4 rpg), steals (2.1 spg), blocks (1.1 bpg) and drawing fouls (she gets almost four free throws per game and makes 78% of them). Her play is marred by careless ball handling – she has a few more turnovers than assists. (This is a weakness in the team as a whole, which averages 13 assists and 17 turnovers per game.)


• #1, 5'11" freshman guard Lexi Kresl is primarily a shooting guard. She averages 11.1 points per game. She takes almost two-thirds of her shots from beyond the arc and makes 36% of them. She also gets four rebounds per game.


• #15, 6'3" senior forward Julie Seabrook is Colorado's most dependable shooter – she makes almost 60% of her field goal attempts. She averages 8.7 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.


• #14, 6'2" junior forward Meagan Malcolm-Peck averages 5.2 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. She plays about 27 minutes per game – less than you may think – one of her teammates is her identical twin sister Brenna.


• #40, 6'4" sophomore center Rachel Hargis averages 4.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per game.

The Buffs have six reserves, four of whom play major minutes. They account for about 28% of the Buffs' scoring and 36% of the rebounding.

Colorado's win-loss record (13-1 overall, 2-1 conference) places them fourth in the Pac-12 their RPI (91) places them ninth, and their strength of schedule (333) places them last.

Here are Colorado's 2011-12 statistics and their roster.