Bad passes, turnovers, fouls, Stanford’s leading rebounder Chiney Ogwumike losing rebounds out of bounds, Sanford was not itself and out of sync. Ruef makes a pass to Chiney for the easy basket underneath, but no, she is called for charging, and the Washington player gets a belated Oscar. Jos tinkle blocks someone from behind, twice, yet the Huskie gets both rebounds and scores on the third.
Then it rained in Seattle. Rained Stanford threes that is, hee hee! Three-point specialist Bonnie Samuelson came off the bench and missed her first one. Then hit her next four. Stanford went on a 23-2 run, making six three-pointers, to take a 26-11 lead. Joslyn Tinkle had two in that run.
Then Stanford starting bombing fours…well, you can’t get four points on a regular shot, but they were so far away from the line, they might as well have. Guess what, shooting from that far back, they lost their accuracy. And the rain all but dried up in the second half. Stanford would shoot 9-39 from behind (way behind) the line for the game. The 39 attempts were a season high They gotta temper that a little.
Washington had some weirdness of its own. The Huskies played without leading scorer Jazmine Davis and third-leading scorer Talia Walton. According to EspnW, “the pair, along with Deborah Meeks, was suspended earlier this week for one-game by coach Kevin McGuff for violating team rules.” Washington’s coach said the suspension “did not involve academics, drugs or alcohol.” So what’s left? Luckily it is only for one game, and the players will be in full force against Cal.
When Stanford went cold while shooting, Stanford dominanted defensively. Washington shot just 17% and Stanford allowed a season low in points. The half time score was 39-18. Anytime you can hold a team under 20 points for a half, that is good defense. In fact, those 18 points would stand until 13:30 in the second half. Now that IS some good defense. The final score was 71-36. Stanford also had 11 blocks for the game.
 Chiney Ogwumike scores 24 and grabs 13 boards (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) |
Mikaela Ruef grabbed 12 boards, one away from her career high. She also had 6 assists, I think all to Chiney. Bonnie Samuelson had 15 points on her five three pointers. Stanford was able to take advantage of Washington’s zone by quick passes to hit an open Bonnie. Tinkle and guard Amber Orrrrange each added 12 points and each had two three-pointers. With four scorers in double figures, you know Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer was happy.
So the Pac-12 Regular season title all comes down to one game. Stanford and Cal are tied, but they are not playing each other this weekend. Stanford plays Washington State and Cal plays Washington.
Last year Cal and Stanford were in the exact same situation. They were tied, same as this year, and Cal went into Washington and LOST, lost the game, lost the title. This year, Cal will come into Washington again, and Washington will be back in full force with all starters reinstated and has a chance to play spoiler, again. We shall see.
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I think you're thinking of a few years back. Last year, Cal lost five conference games, including two at the hands of Stanford
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