Stanford Wins Defensive Battle over Utah

Two Pac-12 games gone, two wins for the Stanford Women’s Basketball team. This second win was over visiting Utah, the final score 55-44. You could say it was a defensive struggle, the half time score 20-14 with the edge to Stanford, or you could say both teams struggled to find the bottom of the net. Both teams combined to go 14 for 59 for the first half.

Stanford shot 36% from the field for the game. Utah was worse, shooting just 28% from the field, and was 4-21 for 3-pointers. Stanford went back to their full court press again and while they didn’t force many turnovers, (Utah had eight to Stanford’s ten) they still got them out of rhythm. Utah, conversely, had a hard time keeping up with the Stanford guards, especially in the second half, and fouled them when they drove, which they did a lot. Stanford as a team attempted 20 free throws, making 15 of them.

Amber Orrange scored 17 points to lead Stanford past Utah (Photo by Bob Drebin/stanfordphoto.com)

Speaking of guards, it really was the guard show for Stanford, the two starting guards combined for 31 points. Senior Amber Orrange again was high Stanford scorer with 17 and Lili Thompson easily keeping pace with 14. Speaking of Lili, she went down hard under the basket with 5:40 remaining and left the game after being called for an offensive foul. She appeared to hit her head on the court and didn't return. We wish her the best and hope it is not a concussion.

Stanford is trying a new offensive set this year, one that includes many high screens by the post players, and they certainly tried that again in this game. Sometimes the screens were not effective, and if there was a shot, the post players were out of position to get the rebound. Speaking of screens Utah did a fairly good job of switching on the screens defensively, but the few times they were too slow to switch or lost their player, Stanford made them pay.
It is tough to beat Stanford when both guards are driving and clicking. Just hope they can get some more of the bigs involved and in double figures.

Shout out to freshie Kaylee Johnson, who made it her mission to contribute tonight. She did not score the last game versus Colorado and in this one had seven points and seven boards. She also had a career-high four blocks. Another shout out to another freshie, Brittany McPhee who had three blocks in ten minutes.

This just in, we learned Stanford Head Coach Tara VanDerveer broker her left wrist New Year’s Eve. The 61-year old Hall of Fame coach purposely took a charge from 6’5 Tess Picknell, a Stanford reserve. Man, she still got it! And Happy New Year to you, coach!

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