Life goes on, and The Stanford Women’s Basketball Team still had a basketball game to play one day after knocking off Number 1 Baylor. They played host Hawaii, and Hawaii proved the good host by letting the guests win, 69-42.
Stanford got four of its starters in double figures, and the only drama was could Chiney Ogwumike break her single game rebounding record. Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer even helped by letting her stay in for extended minutes deep in the second half, even though Stanford had the game in hand. Chiney would end up with 17 rebounds, 2 away from her record, and 15 points. The three other starters that contributed greatly were Joslyn Tinkle with 16, guard Amber Orrrrange with 13, and Toni Kokenis with 12. Amber Orrrrange has really stepped up her play, making nice penetrating moves and pull-up jumpers.
Now Stanford has to play its third game in three days when it finishes the Rainbow Wahine Classic with a game against Tennessee Martin (I think Pat Summit used to be a player there).
BTW, here is an account from our number one fan, who made the trek to Hawaii. (I know, hardship all around, but someone has to do it). Here are her unedited words:
--J and I made the journey to Honolulu for the tournament. The flight was actually easier than finding the darn stadium parking lot while the GPS kept leading us through a tangle of tiny one-way cu de sacs to an employee only entrance. Sigh. Big stadium, with almost no fans. The local paper reported over 1400 in attendance but maybe that was the total for all three games being played that night... Anyway, there were maybe eighty Stanford fans and family scattered behind the bench. About the same size Baylor crowd right next to us. We were pretty wound up before the game and delighted to find that they serve beer (!!!) in the stadium. The coaches came out in casual clothes (wow! Who negotiated that??). Brittany Griner was dunking in warm-ups. Yikes! We kept telling ourselves there was no downside to this game.... And then there was the interesting starting lineup. I'm a big Mikaela Ruef fan so I was excited to see her in the lineup. The players all looked so serious and we could see their game faces. First half super fun. We are pinching ourselves and all of us reminding ourselves and each other that it's a long game... Hands sore from clapping so hard, then the second half the fans are working as hard as they can to cheer every play and shout Go...Stanford...at every break. Whew. It was amazing. I was sure I was going to burst into tears at the end. Just so proud of those girls. And those coaches! Kim Mulkey looked each Stanford player in the eye and told them "Good game!". Yowza. Totally bummed it was not on TV and so glad we were here. Truly amazing and a real team effort.--
Another BTW, has any school had a more amazing sports weekend then Stanford? First Stanford Women’s Basketball team knocked off number 1 Baylor. Then Men’s Football knocked off number 1 Oregon. Number one Stanford Women’s Volleyball Team clinched the Pac-12 Title with a win over UCLA. Lastly, number one Stanford Women’s Soccer beat a tough Santa Clara team to advance to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament. Whew. It’s either be number one, or beat number one. Dang!
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