Stanford WBB Pac-12 Champs

They were calling her “Tournament Taylor.” The can now call her MVP. Taylor Greenfield helped propel the Stanford Women’s Basketball team over the semifinal hump from an ASU team that beat them twice, and helped them knock out Cal to win the championship. She, of course, was named the tournament MVP. (Curious she was not on the All-Pac-12 Tournament team, though Stanford’s Amber Orrange was). She is also the first non-starter to win the Most Outstanding Player in Pac-12 tourney history.

In the semifinal game vs Arizona State, Greenfield's driving basket with 44 seconds left gave Stanford the lead for good and hold off ASU 59-56 (although Stanford had built a 12 point lead and again failed to stop ASU). The last minute was filled with wild plays, fouls and non-called fouls. Boy it gets rough in the Pac-12. Taylor finished with 17 points (one off her career-high) including a key offensive rebound and free throw with 10 seconds left.

Wearing their road uniforms for the first time in Pac-12 tournament history, Stanford leaned on senior guard Amber Orrange and her 18 points, and Greenfield all game. How bad was the Pac-12 officiating? With about 5 minutes left in the game, Stanford had been whistled for 17 fouls, ASU just one. Finally ASU had to play the foul game in the closing minute.

In the finals vs Cal, Stanford once again leaned on Taylor. Could lightning strike twice? It could. Taylor G came off the bench and went off for 20, breaking her career high and winning the afore-mentioned MVP honors.


Stanford beats Cal for Pac-12 Tournament Championship.
(Photo courtesy of Pac-12 Official site)
Unfortunately, at the 15:32 mark or so in the first, Stanford’s Brittany McPhee went for a rebound against Cal’s Brittany Boyd. McPhee hit Boyd in the face (certainly not intentionally) and cut her cheek. Boyd left the game, and we were told stitched up in the locker room. She came back with a bandaged cheek about 2:22 minutes left in the first and it was clear she as not herself the rest of the game.

BB’s stat line was seven points, two rebounds and three assists. Matters were not made batter when a Stanford player, I think Taylor Greenfield, also accidentally hit Boyd on the other cheek in the second half. That is a shame. We hate to see an athlete injured in the course of a game, and you always want to beat your opponent at full strength. Cal was also affected by the super center Reshanda Gray getting in foul trouble early in the first half and limited her minutes. Her stats were six points and three rebounds, although other CAL players (Cowlings and Range) stepped up in their absences. Cal lead at the half 25-23.

Stanford took the lead with 12:53 minutes left in the second on a Taylor G jumper. Cal wouldn’t go away, and it was a four point Stanford lead with a minute left. That gave Stanford some breathing room to let Cal score. Cal hit a three at the buzzer, but were down by four. Stanford won 61-60.
More importantly, Stanford wins the automatic bid in the NCAA tournament and is placed in the part of the bracket away from UConn. They also have chance at hosting the first and second rounds, too. Home court is so huge come March.

Congrats on Stanford persevering in the Pac-12 tournament!

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Stanford Women's Basketball, Round 1, Tulsa

Stanford Women’s Basketball Team takes on the Tulsa Hurricanes in round 1 action at Maples. Game time starts at 2:20. Be there and be square as nerd nation starts their quest for a record sixth straight final four, and to finally bring home that trophy. More insights of the match up at the Stanford Official Site. 

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Stanford Survives Colorado, in Pac-12 Finals against UCLA

Wow, that was a close call. With the air in KeyArena still heavy with upset vibes from UCLA smacking Cal out of the pac-12 tournament, Stanford looked like they might suffer a similar fate in the semi-final round against Colorado. Although to be fair, Cal only scored 14 at the half and was down by as much as 22 points. Stanford was never down more than four, and went on a 9-0 run in the second with 14 minutes left in the game to get some breathing room and keep the lead for good.

Chiney Ogwumike struggled, yet still scored 25 and had 19 rebounds (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Colorado played a physical game, and the refs all tournament long have been “letting them play.” Colorado tried to take advantage of that by pushing on All-Everything Chiney Ogwumike. She missed shots, she was blocked (never seen so many blocks on her), she was knocked to the ground, she was harassed. She was held scoreless for the first 11 minutes of the game, and that has to be some kind of record. 

Usually, Stanford will respond to Chiney getting double and tripled-teamed with others stepping up to score, maybe some three-point shots to open things up for her, but not this time. Stanford made one three-pointer ALL game. Senior starter Joslyn was quiet (six total points). Sara James, who had five three-pointers last night, made only one this game and had five total points. She was held scoreless in the first half, and that’s never good.

Thank goodness for guard Amber Orrrrange. She might not get a lot of assists per game, but her specialty is driving in and hitting pull up jumpers. And that she did. She would score 13 points for the game, and kept Stanford in it when Colorado would go up by a bucket or two. Then, you can only keep an Ogwumike down for so long, especially after she loses a contact.

After Chiney got her first points of the game at the 11:04 mark in the first, she would go on to score 14 points and grab 10 rebounds, another double-double at half time. Stanford as a team was shooting just 28 percent in that half. Colorado had a slight one-point lead going into the locker room, where Stanford coach Tara Vanderveer could yell at her team for not playing good defense. That was only the fourth time all season Stanford was not leading at half. The last time was in January. Against Cal. And Stanford lost. And Cal had just lost. Hate to admit it, but C and R were a little nervous.

However, Colorado had their physical strategy back fire. They got seven fouls within 10 minutes in the first and Stanford shot bonus all night long. Stanford was 22-29 from the line for the game. Colorado, by contrast, did not get to the line much, and was only 3-4 from free-throw land.

In the second, Amber Orrrrange got a three-point play at the 15:51 mark to put Stanford ahead by three, for their first lead since the first half. Colorado’s Chucky Jeffrey, who had an outstanding game with 19 points but no supporting cast, kinda like Chiney sometimes, hit a three to tie it up for the tenth time in the game shortly after. Then Stanford went on that 9-0 run, clamped down on defense, and never looked back. The final score was 61-47.

Stanford’s Mikaela Ruef was a big part of that 9-0 run and had strong play in the final minutes. With Colorado keying on Chiney, she could drive to the basket before someone would pick her up and she finished some tough shots. She finished with 11 points, seven rebounds, and a team-high four assists.
Chiney would end up with 25 points and 19 boards, just short of a 20-20 game again. Although looking closer at the stats, she was 9-24 from the floor. That’s a lot of misses, especially for her, who shoots something like 60% from the floor. She made her shots in the second, but Colorado did not make it any easier on her. She earned every shot. Several times we saw her miss on the blocks, sometimes twice in a row. That was a rare sight indeed.

Three Stanford players in double figures, yay. Now, Stanford will meet a tough, physical UCLA team on ESPN2, where the rest of the nation can see them play. And what’s a Pac-10 or 12 final without a Stanford in it? Because they have been in every single time. Let’s hope for another positive outcome and that Stanford is well rested.

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Stanford Beats Washington State in 1st Round of Pac-12 Tournament

Just a quick blog about the Stanford Women’s Basketball team playing in the Pac-12 tournament, because with three games in three days, C and R have to pace themselves. Stanford played Washington State in their opening game with predictable results. They won 79-60, a repeat of the last regular season game. A lucky WSU basket with 5 seconds left is the only reason WSU broke 60.

Cal also won, although they will next play UCLA. UCLA plays a physical game like Cal, so should be an interesting match up. If any team can beat Cal before the inevitable championship game with Stanford, it would be UCLA. Unfortunately for Stanford, UCLA s banged up and not at full strength.

Even triple-teamed, Chiney Ogwumike scores 23 and grabs 21 boards (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

First, just as you can’t have a game without an Ogwumike losing a contact, you can’t write a Stanford Women’s Basketball story this year without first mentioning All-Everything Chiney Ogwumike. She continues to impress and breaks records. 

Chiney Ogwumike had a double-double by half time, with 17 points and 12 rebounds at the break. In fact, she ended the first half with a nifty steal and went coast-to-coast for the lay in to bring Stanford up 35-23. Chiney would end up with 23 points and 21 rebounds for the game. It was her second career 20-20 game. It was the first time in Pac-12 tournament history a player had a 20-20 game. It was also a single-game rebounding record. And, there was a stretch of seven and a half minutes to start the second where she was scoreless.

Chalk up four assists, so it is nice to see Chiney can also pass when double or tripled teamed. One was especially purty when Sara James threw a ball half the distance of the court to a Stanford three on none. Chiney caught it and whipped it behind her back to her twin, Tinkle for the easy lay in. Even coach Tara VanDerveer cracked a smile at that one.

Also breaking records was Sara James, starting in place of injured Toni Kokenis (no, we don’t know what her injury is, we are as clueless as you). Sara made a career high five 3-pointers for 17 points, and scored 14 in the second half alone. It’s nice to see when Chiney is struggling, Stanford can have others step up, and in this case, hit from the outside.

Joslyn Tinkle would add ten points, all in the second half. Wish she could consistently score throughout the game. But maybe when you have an Ogwumike scoring inside, you want to watch. Or feed her. Stanford did have 20 assists to WSU’s ten. Mikalea Ruef had a team high seven, one more than guard Amber Orrrrange.

Three-point specialist Bonnie Samuelson hit three 3-pointers. She also took one charge, hitting the ground, although she looks so small and frail, it does not take much contact to knock her to the ground, we noticed. Prophetic words, she got knocked to the ground a second time on a rebound and as she fell straight back, she did not break her fall or pull her chin to her chest. He head went straight back and whammed the floor hard. She was taken to the bench and did not return. That looked an awful lot like a concussion to us. Hope she is okay and we wish her well.

Still Stanford was up by 17 in the first and then had sloppy play and let WSU come back within nine. Stanford also had 16 turnovers to WSU’s nine. Stanford needs to tighten up for the next two games. They will play the winner of Colorado and Washington. Then, if Stanford wins, they play the winner of Cal-UCLA.

Coach VanDerveer praised Chiney Ogwumike’s game, of course, but said she was disappointed in their defense. She also liked how Sara James knocked down her outside shots and said other swill step up tomorrow. We will see who it is.

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