Greetings from Hawaii where the Stanford Women's basketball team won their sixth game of the season in a game that was much closer - for three quarters - than the final 24-point margin of victory. Stanford led by two points at the end of the first quarter, by four at the half, and by eight at the end of the third quarter. That was way too close for comfort.
The CARD started out very cold - going two for seven from the floor over the first seven minutes of the game, with five different Stanford players missing shots. The team was kept in the game by Kiki Iriafen and the team's 10 for 10 performance at the free throw line (one missed attempt was wiped out by a lane violation). After those first seven minutes, the Cardinal seemed to come in off the beach and their scoring and their defense began to pick up.
Florida Gulf Coast, one of the top three-point shooting teams in the country started off hot. The Eagles hit four of their first five three-pointers, allowing them to hold an eight-point lead after just less than four minutes had gone by. This was not the cake walk expected by most of Stanford's fans (mostly family of team members with a handful of hard-core Bay Area folks and a few Hawaii transplants).
A Lead That Grew
Stanford took the lead for the first time with 3:56 left to play in the first quarter on a Cameron Brink free throw (she was perfect from the line for the game). The game stayed close, with FGC tying the score at 19 all with 22 seconds remaining in the quarter. But Haley Jones hit a jumper with 9 seconds left to put Stanford ahead. The Cardinal never trailed after that. However, Stanford never led by more eight points until less than three minutes remained in the third quarter when the CARD briefly went up by 10 points. Given FGC's identity as a three-point-shooting offense, an eight-to-ten-point lead is not a meaningful cushion.
Finally, in the fourth quarter the flood gates started to open for Stanford while fatigue - caused in considerable part by our strong defensive effort - appeared to take the legs out from FGC's three-point shooters (2 of 11 for the quarter). Although FGC never gave up, the closest the Eagles got in the fourth quarter was eight points as the CARD steadily built its lead. Tara substituted quite a bit throughout the game, perhaps wanting to avoid over taxing her players.he CARD plays three games here in three days. Twelve of the fourteen players available (Ashten Prechtel was not) played at least five minutes and only Hannah Jump (36), Haley Jones (32), and Talana Lepolo (32) played over 30. All the bench players made meaningful contributions with eleven players scoring.
STRANGE OFFICIATING
The officiating in the game was a head scratcher. In the first quarter the Cardinal shot 10 free throws, eight of them by our post players. For the rest of the game Stanford only shot six more -- and none in the second or third quarters -- while FGC players mauled our post players. It is true that Brink, Iriafen, and Betts towered over the shorter FGC players, but after the first quarter the refs seemed uninterested in calling the blows to the body, hacks, and holds that they had called earlier. Curious. And, of course, an audience composed largely of player families was not happy with that!
Interesting Stats
As previously mentioned, Florida Gulf Coast in basically a three-point shooting team. Their offense is mostly shoot the three until the defense commits on the three point line, then drive to the basket. FGC took 46 three-point shots in this game, but only hit 13 of them. The CARD, by contrast, only took 18 three-point shots but hit 6, winning the 3-pointer percentage battle, but just barely. However, Stanford shot over 52% from the floor overall while FGC only shot a bit over 34%. That is how you win by 24 points. And, of course, to nobody's surprise a Florida Gulf Coast team with no player over six feet tall lost the rebounding battle to the Stanford trees 58 to 21. That rebounding edge helped stymie an offensive strategy based on high volume three point shooting.
Excellent rebounding aided Haley Jones and Kiki Iriafen in recording double doubles. Haley had a particularly impressive 24 point (12 of 18), 14 rebounds, three assists, and one steal performance. She hit like a sharpshooter on pull up jumpers supplemented by driving baskets. Kiki got her 16 point 11 rebound line in only 14 minutes, due mostly to the interesting foul calls against her. Cameron Brink also scored in double figures, hit 100% of her free throws, and barely missed a double double. And, it almost goes without saying that Lepolo was again a solid point guard, efficient in her shooting (3 of 4 including a three pointer and 100% at the free-throw line) and her passing.
The Big Picture
Most pundits consider Florida Gulf Coast the toughest team of the three Stanford faces here in Hawaii, so this win is a good start. But, as we have learned over the years, anybody can lose if they aren't focused. (Of course, this team is so deep that if the starters aren't awake, the next seven can probably bring it home.) So, hopefully the team (most of whom we saw departing for the beach in the late afternoon) will be ready for the next two games.
No Questions - but one answer
With three games in three days, I am going to hold the questions until Sunday. But, we now know that the CARD came out of last Sunday's loss with their heads up. Haley, in particular, let us know that she is going to be JUST FINE and Kiki continues to be on her way to shining star status. If there were any after effects from the South Carolina loss, it appears they were left on the beach.
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