The Captains Lead the Way!

 Another Test Passed!

        If you only look at the scoring summary from Stanford’s heavy weight battle with Duke you would think that the only players who mattered in Stanford’s win were the team Captains — Brink, Jump, and Iriafen. Those three accounted for 86.5% (71) of the Cardinal’s 82 points.  Cameron showed why she belongs in the National Player of the Year conversation with her career high 29 points, 11 rebounds, 6 blocks, 3 assists, and a steal!  Kiki Iriafen’s career high 27 points and 9 rebounds (with only two fouls) affirmed her status as a Stanford STAR.  Hannah Jump’s five three pointers and five rebounds only scratch the surface of her value to the team as a steadying presence and solid defender.  Jump was the only player on the court for almost all of the game’s full 45 minutes (44 minutes, 40 seconds)!  But, thinking that only the captains played an important role in this victory misses the critical contribution of every Stanford player who stepped onto the floor.  They all had positive entries on the stat sheet, whether it was a rebound, an assist, or a steal.

        The team’s captains clearly led the way, but Stanford doesn’t win without Brooke Demetre’s critical three pointer to tie the game near the end of regulation. Then there was Elena Bosgana’s offensive rebound and made free throw with 56 seconds left in OT that gave Stanford the lead!  How about Chloe Clardy’s defensive tip that led to Duke’s backcourt violation with only 47 seconds remaining in OT (the official scorer appears to have given her a steal on the play)?!!! Nunu Agara played solid, physical defense and was the assist leader for Stanford with four — including the assist leading to Brooke’s three point shot.  Talana Lepolo only scored two points and was only credited with three assists, three rebounds, and a steal — but her importance to the team showed as the offense went stagnant during the two minutes she was on the bench.  

Duke Presented a Challenge

        The Kira Lawson coached Duke team presented more of a challenge to the CARD than their record predicted.  Based on the record sheet, this game was predicted to go more like the first quarter when Stanford dominated 30 to 17.  Whether Duke’s performance reflected the energy of a team coming off an unexpected loss (to Davidson), the improvement a young team makes when they have good coaches, needing time to get their feet under them in their first nationally televised game, or some combination of those and other factors, Duke played tough as they fought back from 17 down early.  

        As an observer, it can be a bit scary when Stanford gets up too far in the early going against a good team — especially on the weekend of the Stanford-CAL football game.  Of course, this game demonstrated how important Cameron Brink is to the Cardinal.  When Cam had to sit due to foul trouble (and some of those foul calls were real “head scratchers”), the Stanford offense wasn’t as potent and the Duke offense got more diversified. But, what is gratifying is that this year’s team appears to know how to battle when things get rough.  Brink may have carried the team to victory, but nobody disappeared.  Every player did her job to have Cam’s back so that she could carry them on it. 

This is a Young Team!

           If you watched the ABC broadcast (either because you didn’t get to the game or because you go to the game and then go home to watch it again), you heard the Duke team described over and over again as a “young team” while they described Stanford as an “experienced team.”  It is an interesting difference in characterization.  Duke started as many upperclassmen as Stanford.  All three of Stanford’s freshmen played. Stanford’s point guard is a sophomore.  Kiki Iriafen, one of two juniors in the starting lineup, played sparingly in her freshman year and only averaged 11.1 minutes per game last year although she started about two-thirds of Stanford’s games.  Elena Bosgana, the other junior in the starting lineup, had never started and rarely got the opportunity to play when the game was on-the-line in prior years. Elena’s improvement from last year would be a big topic of conversation if Kiki’s performance leap wasn’t so dramatic. 

        The CARD isn’t going to win every game by 30 to 50 points so it is important to see that they can fight through adversity and come out on top.  They will be tested again with three games in five days between Wednesday and Sunday, with the biggest test being a probable game against #13 Florida State.  Stanford is currently 4 - 0 on the season.  Hopefully by this time next week they will be 7 - 0.

Questions

1. Can Cam break the record?

At the risk of jinxing things (but hey, she doens’t read this blog I’m sure), it is exciting to note that Cameron Brink’s streak of 72 consecutive free throws is closing in on the D.1 women’s record.  Quite the turn around from her early career showing at the free throw line.