Stanford Really Beats up on Washington State

Streak, what streak? Didn’t Stanford end “The Streak” by defeating UConn earlier this season? Well, yes, but Stanford has other streaks to contend with, such as their home winning streak, which C and R believe to be 54 and will be tested by UCLA on Thursday, and the fact Washington State has never beaten them, home or away, for a streak of 51 games. The last game, played Sunday, had the Stanford Women’s Basketball team beating Washington State 94-50, not that we saw any of it because the number four team in the country doesn’t get any air time, go figure. In this contest, Stanford used their tremendous size advantage and out-rebounded them 49-38 and outscored them 48-16 in the paint while holding Washington State to 25% shooting.

Nneka Ogwumike got 20 points and once again 5 Stanford players scored in double figures. Even scarier, sister Chiney Ogwumike scored 14 points and didn’t miss from the floor, going 5 for 5. Even scarier still, big sis Nneka thinks she’s gotten better from the start of the season. The SF Chronicle quotes, "Not everyone gets to play with their sister," Nneka said. "Just playing with her is fun because I have watched her grow. From the first game to now, she is so much better."

Not to put a damper on this party, but what’s up with Kayla Pedersen? She was 0 for 3 from the floor; two of those misses from three-point land. Has she even gone a game where she did not score a point from the floor? She did get herself to the line (good) where she was 4-7 (bad). Using our high powers of calculations, that is shooting 57.14285 % from the charity stripe. (Wonder if Tara makes them run laps the next day in practice for their misses like C’s old high school basketball coach?) We know Stanford depends on Kayla’s intangibles, and we certainly are not advocating lessening her playing time, but if you do go to the line, you should shoot better than 60%. Jeanette Pohlen, Toni Kokenis, Sarah Boothe, and Joslyn Tinkle all went 2-2 for 100% accuracy from the free throw line. Chiney was 4-6 from the line, but that makes for a 66.66% accuracy rate.

Let’s hope Kayla snaps out of it for the UCLA game.