A Look Back at Stanford Draft Day

Hey hey, two Stanford, basketball players, or should we say former players were drafted by the WNBA. It was not surprise that Chiney Ogwumike was drafted number one by the, dare we say it, Connecticut Sun. She and sister Nneka join Peyton and Eli Manning as the only two siblings in pro sports to be drafted #1. Cool. Hope Chiney does as well as Nneka, who won rookie of the year her first year. Although it will be the first time they have ever played on opposing teams.

Chiney Ogwumike, front right, hugs forward Mikaela Ruef after Stanford defeated Nortth Carolina in a regional final of the NCAA's (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

The other former Stanford player drafted was Mikaela Ruef. The fifth year senior wasn’t even sure she was coming back or if there would be a scholarship for her, but there was and she grew as the season went on. He career was capped with getting nabbed as the most outstanding player in the regional NCAA’s. Everyone assumes it would be all everything Chiney Ogwumike. That helped her stock and Ruefie as drafted 31st by the Seattle Storm. Good news for her, she is reunited with bestie and former Stanford alum Joslyn Tinkle (remember tinkle bells?) Going to a team with a friendly face was a good thing because she has a million questions about how to be a pro.

To quote the Stanford official site: Ruef is the 23rd Stanford player to be selected in the WNBA Draft (Chiney was 22^nd). Ruef’s and Ogwumike’s selections give Stanford multiple picks in a single WNBA Draft for the seventh time (1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2011, 2014), and the first since Kayla Pedersen (seventh, Tulsa Shock) and Jeanette Pohlen (ninth, Indiana Fever) both went in the 2011 first round.

Looking forward to following the summer!

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Stanford Beats North Carolina, Back in the Final Four

There is a cheer the Stanford band does. Two X plus 4, where X is your score. It is a brainiac cheer. It would be chanted, for example, when one team has 9 points and the other team has 22 points. Two times 9 is 18, add four and you get 22. It is pointing out that the team with 22 has more than doubled your score, and it rhymes. The band has used it against many, many Stanford opponents over the years. C and R have never, ever seen it used against Stanford. Cue a dark and stormy night at Maples.

The Stanford Women’s Basketball Team was playing North Carolina in the Elite Eight with the winner going on to the Final Four. As C and R mentioned, it was raining outside, and raining threes inside Maples. Just it was North Carolina making it rain. They popped 5 of 6 threes early in the first half, Stanford had four straight turnovers, and before you could dry off, it was 9 to 22 with 12:46 left in the first half (Two X plus four indeed!).

To Stanford’s credit, they did not panic. UNC did their job and was taking All-Everything Chiney Ogwumike out of the game. They were double and triple teaming her in the paint and not letting her get an offensive rebound. She was not touching the ball.

Stanford responded by hitting some threes of their own. By the end of the half, both teams combined for 15 made threes. Seven for UNC, eight for Stanford. Stanford was lucky to be down only 30-36. And they were hoping and praying UNC could not keep making those threes, or else head coach Tara Vanderveer told her team to guard the 3-point line. Either way, UNC only made two more 3-pointers in the second half.

Give an assist to older sister Nneka Ogwumike giving Chiney a pep talk at the half, too. Also keeping Stanford in the game was Mikaela Ruef, the fifth year senior who did not want to remember last year’s loss in the Sweet Sixteen. She hit three 3-pointers, a career high. She has never hit more than one in a game before. Before this game, her career total for threes was seven for all five years. She scored a career high 17 and grabbed nine rebounds.

With Stanford hitting threes, UNC came out on the perimeter and left Chiney Ogwumike alone one-on-one in the paint. And what, Stanford fans, do C and R say when they leave Chiney alone one-on-one in the paint? Chin-nay all day. That was the turning point. Chiney Ogwumike scored 16 of her game-high 20 points in the second half, and added 10 rebounds for her 26th double-double of the year. Mikaela Ruef does the things not noticed in the box score. Someone must have noticed, though because she was awarded the regional MVP. A shocker it was not Chiney, but we are sure Chiney does not mind Ruefie picking up some hardware.

Mikaela Ruef, regional MVP (Photo: Don Feria/isiphotos.com )

Stanford had five players in double figures, and when has that happened? Never? Amber Orrange scored 12 of her 14 points in the first half to help Stanford stay close. Bonnie Samuelson made three 3-pointers for 13 points off the bench. Freshman  Lili Thompson, who doesn’t play like a freshman, scored ten points.

Lili only scored ten because she had her hands full guarding UNC’s shining freshmen Diamond Deshields (get it, shining). Diamond was limited to 13 points (she averages about 19) and only made one three pointer. To be fair, she was injured with a sprained ankle, knee and wrist and you could tell she was bothered. She said her ankle was hurting in warm-ups but like a warrior, did not want to miss this game. She has a very accurate pull up jumper, but clearly the ankle was affecting her. We have not seen the last of that Freshman.

The lead see-sawed back and forth and it was a one-point game with 1:48 left and a three-point lead for Stanford with 22 seconds left when Bonnie (Miss Automatic) was fouled. She made both of them and Chiney added two free throws and Amber a lay up and Stanford would hold on to win 74-65. The score was not indicative of how close this game was.

Don’t know if we have ever seen Stanford come back from so far down. All those Pac-12 blowouts didn’t help them prepare. But we have Chiney Ogwumike (and Mikalea Ruef), and a supporting cast that did their role jobs well. Stanford going to the Final Four. Let’s just enjoy this before we look to see whom Stanford is playing (Hint: It’s UConn).

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Stanford in the Elite Eight

By now, everyone has heard the story of the Penn state coaches hanging out with Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer in the offseason to pick her brain on the triangle offense. Guess Tara forgot to show them the back door option.

Stanford played their best ball in a long, long time. Perhaps the long season wore on them, but the last quarter of the Pac-12 season was a little lackluster. Not today. And not when playing in Maples.

Penn State and the Stanford Women’s Basketball team were playing in the Sweet Sixteen, held on Stanford’s home court. Much has been written about having neutral sites, but the truth is fans don’t come out if their home team is not playing, the site loses a lot of money, and a lot of empty seats happen. So while this is an inelegant solution, the powers that be are still scratching their heads on how to make this better.

Penn State came out powerful and athletic, and kept it close for about half of the first half. Then Stanford got hot, All-Everything Chiney Ogwumike got going, and Stanford played shutdown defense. Stanford outscored Penn State 25-7 to end the half and held Penn State without a field goal for nearly six and a half minutes.

Bonnie Samuelson, Mikaela Ruef and Lili Thompson play good D on Lucas (Photo Courtesy of Kelley L Cox )

Stanford’s Lili Thompson got the assignment to guard Penn State’s great scorer, Maggie Lucus. She averages about 21 points a game. Lili held her to 6 points in the fist half. And for the game? Six points. That’s right they shut her down in the second half. Lucas was scoreless. Tied her career low, too. She was 3-for-14 from the floor, including 0-for-5 on 3-pointers. Her last points were nine and a half minutes left in the first. Wowsa! 

Penn State set screens, and even double screens, to try to free up their outside shooter Lucas, but nobody prepares for a game like Tara Vanderveer. Stanford knew the screens were coming and either got over them or switched personal on her so she never got an open look.

Shout out to Mikeala Ruef. Ruefie helped on a lot of those switches on Lucas and played intense defense. She also contributed 11 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and two steals. She was one of two Stanford players that got a double-double. The other was that beast Chiney Ogwumike. She had 29 points and 15 rebounds. That marked her 25th double-double of the season, and 83 for her career. Double Wowsa! Amber Orrrrange was second in scoring for Stanford with 18 points.  Lili Thompson and Mikaela Ruef both finished the game with 11 points. That’s four, count-em, four in double figures. Stanford will need that kind of effort from everyone from now on.

Shout out to former Stanford alums Nneka Ogwumike, Jayne Appel, Kayla Pedersen, Lindy Larocque and Sarah Boothe in the house. Noticed Toni Kokenis was sitting in the stands with them. Wonder if it was a NCAA rule she couldn’t be on the bench?

Come back to Maples Tuesday night at 6PM Stanford time when they take on North Carolina (Oh yeah, number one seed South Carolina didn’t even make it to the elite eight, go figure).

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Stanford in Sweet Sixteen

Give credit to Florida State University. They had a definite game plan on defense that gave Stanford trouble. But credit Hall of Fame and Olympic coach Tara VanDerveer with a better defensive game plan, even if her assistants all thought she was crazy.

To recap, the Stanford Women’s Basketball team was playing Florida State for the right to advance to the Sweet Sixteen that just happens top be held at Maples in PA CA (Palo Alto, California) and is Stanford’s home court.

A very athletic Florida State came out in what is called a pressure half zone. Around the three-point perimeter. Stanford couldn’t get the ball inside to all-everything Chiney Ogwumike and Stanford certainly couldn’t get open for a three. And oh, they were committing turnovers left and right that were resulting in easy scores for FSU. Soon Stanford was down 14-6.

Then Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said, let’s go to a standard 2-3 zone even though we have lived on playing man-to-man all year long. Well, we don’t know what she said exactly, but the Associated Pres reported that her assistants wanted to say in man and Tara insisted on the little used zone. Guess what, she outranked them.

Stanford traps a Cheetah (Photo: Associated Press )

Then Stanford went on 26-2 run to end the half 32-16. Really, it was a 30-2 run if you count the start of the second. FSU was held scoreless for nine and a half minutes in the first. Still not impressed? FSU only scored ONE basket in the final 12 and a half minutes. FSU was 7-28 in the first, missing 20 of 22 shots to end the period. Chalk that up to good Stanford defense and a coach who knows to stick to her guns when she is right.

Stanford’s unsung hero of the season, Mikaela Ruef, was matched up with FSU high scoring post player, Natasha Howard, even when in the zone. She was held scoreless in the first and scored her first basket of the game with 17 minutes left in the second. Howard ended up with nine points for the game, usually averaging 21.

Speaking of Ruef, she banged her head last game and was held out as a precaution. This game, she wanted it. She was diving after balls, taking charges and hitting the deck often and with abandon. She scored eight and grabbed seven tough boards.

Stanford’s leading scorer, Chiney Ogwumike, did not disappoint when she was left one on one, or alone under FSU’s basket. She had 21 points and nine rebounds. She also got help from her supporting cast. Freshman guard Lili Thompson added 14 points and Bonnie Samuelson had 11 with three 3-pointers (she even made a rare two). Team-wise, Stanford had 17 assists on 22 field goals. Now that’s good teamwork.

See everyone back at Maples on Sunday and Tuesday, rain or shine.

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Stanford Shines in Senior Night

Senior Night for the Stanford Women’s Basketball team is always emotional. Some get overwhelmed emotionally. Some cry. Some feed off the energy and family in attendance and set a new career high during the game. That someone is Chiney Ogwumike.

Stanford Seniors! Sara James, Mikaela Ruef, Toni Kokenis, Chiney Ogwumike (Photo courtesy of Pac-12 Networks )

A few years ago, Stanford broke with tradition of having the senior ceremony right before the actual game, due to several players being overcome with emotion and then not playing very good basketball. So after Stanford beat Washington by a score of 84 to 64 and officially won the Pac-12 regular season title, Stanford fans stayed behind and the players and families were introduced, speeches were made, and yes, tears were shed. But not from one Chiney Ogwumike. She said she wouldn’t cry, she is too happy, too happy for her four years at Stanford and all the rich and varied experiences it has brought her.

Chiney was honored along with Sara James (must be called Sejjie we learned), Mikaela Ruef, who is a fifth year senior and went through this last year as she was not sure if she was coming back, and Toni Kokenis. Toni retired last year after repeated concussions, yet choose to stay with the team and attend every practice and game even though she could no longer participate. Of course someone asked if she missed the game. The emotional answer was yes.

A big shout out to Mama Ogwumike for an eloquent speech on how thankful she has been for the Stanford family and how they had embraced her daughters. Yes, you can’t talk about Chiney Ogwumike’s Stanford career without mentioning older sister Nneka Ogwumike, who had a stellar Stanford collegiate career and was the number one draft pick in the WNBA and went on to win rookie of the year (and that last year with Nneka as a senior and Chiney as a sophomore was a thing of remarkable beauty to watch unfold). But Mrs. Ogwumike said when it is all said and done, it is the relationships that have been built that will be remembered and treasured forever. Dad Peter was reluctantly prodded into speaking too, and his booming voice showed where Chiney gets her heart and passion for playing. Don’t you want to be adopted by the Ogwumikes?

So in the game, as we mentioned, Chiney scored a career high and Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer let her, meaning she kept her in long enough to get number 37, a point over her old record before Tara took her out for a rousing standing ovation with two minutes left. And truthfully, Stanford needed her points AND her defense. Washington State was not going away, despite being down all game. They have two really good guards in Lia and Tia who did not give up, and really took it to the basket. I am sure WSU and the entire Pac-12 nation is glad Chiney is a senior.

More game facts:
Senior forward Chiney Ogwumike scored a career-high 37 points with 13 rebounds for her 13th 30-point game and 22nd double-double of the season. She scored 21 of those points in the first half. Chiney Ogwumike’s 37 points increased her career scoring total to 2,580, bringing her to 50 points away from breaking Candice Wiggins’ Pac-12 record of 2,629 career points. Chiney already has the Pac-12 career rebounding record, so every rebound builds the record. She currently stands at 1,483.

Junior point guard Amber Orrange scored 20 points to go with eight rebounds and four assists. She came just two points and one rebound shy of her respective career highs.

Junior forward Bonnie Samuelson scored 10 points for her fourth double-digit scoring performance over the past five games. She hit two 3-pointers in the game.

Speedy Freshie Briana Roberson continues her energetic play, scoring eight, which I believe ties her career high.

One disturbing trend, Stanford was 4-23 for 3-pointers. When teams key on inside player Chiney Ogwumike, Stanford must make outside shots to open things up and have a more balanced scoring attack. This will be imperative in the NCAA tournament, especially if Stanford wants to come back to Maples for the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight.

Stanford is the 14-time Pac-12 champion and the No. 1 seed at the Pac-12 Tournament for the 13th time this year. They get a bye in Seattle and will start in the quarterfinals, facing the winner of Thursday night’s UCLA-Colorado first-round contest.

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Stanford Can't Come Back Against Washington

Maybe it was the snow, maybe they were tired, but the Stanford Women’s Basketball team did not play their game and lost to Washington 82-87.

Washington's Kelsey Plum puts a shot up over Stanford's Mikaela Ruef (Elaine Thompson - AP Photo)

Hats off to Washington, as they played Stanford’s game. They shot uncontested threes (9-22 for the game, or 40 %) and when they were contested they drove the lane to get buckets or fouls. Help defense, which Stanford has been so good at it all year long, was again noticeably absent for Stanford for the second game in a row. Washington freshmen Kelsey Plum scored 23 in a variety of ways, including making three of five 3-pointers before fouling out in the final minutes. Washington also played a zone defense that limited what Stanford could do.

Stanford’s offense, meanwhile, was staying on the three point line, and the guards were not driving, not penetrating, not rebounding and not forcing Washington to come off of Chiney Ogwumike, who usually has a great game inside against one on one pressure. Chiney was held to eight first half points. She did come out and score nine straight in the second then Stanford forget about her. She did not make a basket in the final 7 and a half minutes (she made one of two free throws with 7 seconds left).

And those threes that Stanford shot! Stanford missed the first seven in a row, setting the tone that Washington didn’t have to guard them up top and could sag on Chiney. Stanford went 9-41 on three point attempts for the game (three of the nine made came in the last two minutes in a furious comeback attempt). And those long, crazy rebounds would bounce far away form Chiney waiting under the basket, but not back out to the three point line, so Stanford had no hope of getting an offensive rebound.

Hats off to Stanford, too, for those last two minutes. For all of Stanford’s mistakes and lack of effort, they almost turned it around. Gotta admire the “no quit” attitude. Stanford was down by 11 with 2 minutes left and started the “foul game.” Stanford got it to within three points, 85-82, with five seconds left. Bonnie Samuelson scoring 11 of those 14 points, connecting with three 3-pointers and two free throws. But with 5 seconds left and Washington inbounding under Stanford’s basket, Chiney had to grab the jersey of a streaking Washington player to stop a fast break. It was correctly ruled a flagrant foul, meaning Washington gets the shots and the ball to effectively end the game. The forcefulness of Chiney’s foul wasn’t like other games, such as the two Cal games, that were let go as regular fouls, but we don’t want to be cry babies. Washington would hang on to win by five, 87-82.

Washington’s 87 points were the most scored against the Stanford this season. The loss snapped a 62-game road conference winning streak for Stanford as well.

Kudos to fifth year senior Mikaela Ruef. She set personal bests with 16 points and 22 rebounds, her 4th double-double of the season. Chiney scored 23 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, for her 18th double-double and 21st game of at least 20 points this season. Freshie guard Lili Thonpson added 13 points, and made three 3-pointers. Bonnie chipped in 14, as we mentioned, and 11 in the final two minutes.

Back to Maples for Valentines Day. I think they are going to need some lovin’ from their fans.

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Battle of the Bay Part II

Second time is a charm, too. So the Stanford Women’s Basketball team figured out a better way to beat Cal. Forget building up a 30-point lead only to have it slip away and barely win in the final seconds, as it went just four days ago at Stanford. This time, Stanford, on Cal’s floor, knew to instead keep a nice 10-point cushion all game long. Well, first go on a 24-7 run late in the first half to go ahead 33-19 to build that nice lead, mostly with All-Everything Chiney Ogwumike, then, play they score a basket, we score a basket.

Well, it wasn’t that simple. At first Chiney, who plays center and has made a living of scoring off the low blocks, in particular with a wicked one-handed bank shot off the glass was settling from long jumpers and even a three point attempt. There was an air ball in there somewhere. Then she said, oh forget this, and went back inside and scored at will (Can’t remember if that was before she lost a contact or after).

If any team were to look at film of when Stanford lost in the last two years and Chiney had a bad game, they would see it was because she was pushed off the low block and had a bad angle to the glass and couldn’t bank a shot in (in particular the UConn games). Teams have tried to replicate that but C and R have noticed that in the last few games Chieny has now adjusted and when pushed outside the paint or has a bad angle to the basket, she hits a floater from the side of the basket, eliminating the glass. Guess what, it goes in. And she did that a lot during Cal Part II.

The ESPN 2 announcers said Cal’s plan was to double team Chieny with a guard coming over to help. But the guard would come late (basket for Chiney) or arrive on time and Chiney would pass out of the double team to set up her teammates. That opened up driving and scoring opportunities for players like freshie forward Karlie Samuelson, who finished with 16 points and guards Amber Orrange, who added 13 points.

Chiney Ogwumike looks for an open teammate as California double-teams her with defenders (D. Ross Cameron/Bay Area News Group)

Chiney scored a game-high 29 points to go with eight rebounds. Mikaela Ruef scored nine and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds with five assists and once again played shut-down defense on California’s leading scorer Reshanda Gray. Gray got her first basket with about a minute left in the first and finished with had just seven points with five rebounds after being held scoreless three days ago. Gray also fouled out with 5:09 left.

This being Superbowl weekend, they say defense wins championships. The defense of Ruef and Ogwumike limited California’s top three post players (Reshanda Gray, Gennifer Brandon, Justine Hartman) to a combined 11 points on 4-for-16 shooting.

Last game, a hard foul by Cal’s Brittnay Boyd sparked Cal and lead their comeback from the 30-point deficit. Early in this game, Cal's Gray took her arm off the basketball to swing at Chiney and hit her in the face. The announcers said that should be flagrant...yet the refs just kept it as a regular foul. This time, though, it did not spark a rally. These teams don’t like each other.

The refs made a point to call contact in this game, though, a contrast from last game. Cal had seven personal fouls before Stanford got whistled for one with about eight and a half minutes left in the first.  Everyone’s favorite ref, Melissa Barlow, gave the Cal PA announcer a sharp warning after announcing Stanford’s first foul with a little too much emphasis. Don't think she appreciated the sarcasm, said Twitter.

Still, Cal has swagger at home, and in the second half, their best play was guard Brittany Boyd driving down the lane and drawing contact. And again, Stanford did not stop it. Except for the final minutes, both Ruef and Chiney blocked her. Boyd would finish the game with 20 points.

Cal had to play the foul game the last few minutes and Stanford went 12-of-14 from the free throw line over the final four minutes to take a 79-64 win. Karlie Samuelson made all six of her attempts from the line over the final 1:40. Stanford was 24-30 from the line.

Stanford is undefeated in Pac-12 play and now plays everyone again. The announcers pointed out that Stanford will have a hard time not because the teams they play are ranked in the top 25, but because everyone will bring their “A” game when they do play them. We will see if the unblemished record stands.

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Stanford Survives Texas

Subtitled: Don’t Mess with Texas, Just Beat ‘em

The Stanford Women’s Basketball team played Texas, and it was a home coming of sorts with four former Texas players for Stanford, three on the starting roster.

Texas had some interesting players, too. One was a Nneka, Nneka Enemkpali, who shares the unique name with Nneka Ogwumike, who had a stellar career for Stanford and graduated two years ago and is sister to current Stanford starter Chiney Ogwumike. And it was Chiney vs. Nneka as they took turns guarding each other. C and R have never cheered against a Nneka so it was new territory for all of us.

Texas also has Imani McGee-Stafford, who is 6 foot 7 inches. It’s like playing another Brittney Griner. Her mother is basketball standout Pam McGee, who played in the WNBA, won two national championships at Southern California and a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics, and her brother is JaVale McGee currently plays for the Denver Nuggets. Wowza!

The game opened with Stanford in their black uniforms that C loves. Freshmen Lili Thompson and Karlie Samuelson (now nick named KSam to differentiate her from her sister, Bonnie, BSam) got the start, to compliment veterans Amber Orrrrange, Mikalea Ruef and all-everything Chiney Ogwumike. (Ogwumike, Thompson and Orrrrange are the three from Texas).

Then 6’7 (sorry, takes too long to type her name) is blocking and shooting threes. Which brings an interesting point, why is she at the high high post at the three point line? C and R see she is setting screens out there but then she is so out of place for rebounds. Good thing she missed a lot of open shots close to the basket when she did move inside, going 4-14 for the game.

On one play 6-7 split two Stanford defenders and went straight to the basket and no one in a black uniform could stop her. Her lay in is practically a dunk. Good thing she did not do a lot of that and good thing her jump shot is suspect, because when she did shoot, she missed. She also traveled a lot when she put the ball on the floor. As we have said about Brittney Griner in the past, just have her stand on the low block and throw her the ball to her outstretched hands. No one can stop that without fouling. Good thing this was not in the game plan for Texas. And when she did screen, she shifted and stuck out elbows. Stanford finally got a call when she elbowed Lili, who at 5’7 gives up a foot off height to her.

Early in the first half, it was Mikaela Ruef stepping up and scoring. Ruef was guarded by 6-7, and when the Texas center stayed in the paint to help against Chiney, Ruef was left open. Ruefie was the lone bright spot in first half with 10 points.

Texas also got to the free throw line a lot more than Stanford in the first. It was 16 free throw attempts for Texas vs. three for Stanford, with Texas getting 10 points off of the FTs. Stanford did not go to the free throw line in the first 17 minutes.

In the first half, Stanford was missing rebounds. The announcers did point out at the top of the show that Texas is also a good rebounding team, and dang they were. Texas dominated the offensive glass, getting 10 points off of second chances. Texas was beating Stanford at its own game with offensive rebounds, and the first half stats were 28 rebounds for Texas, 17 for Stanford. The second half wasn’t better, Stanford getting out-rebounded 55-40.

So that brings us to Chiney. First of all, through no fault of her own, Chiney couldn’t get her usual traction around the basket due to 6’7.  UConn proved in two games in two years that if you push Chiney off the low block, she doesn’t do well. Texas saw this tape and kept Chiney out of the paint. Stanford would have NO points in the paint in the first half. That’s right, not a typo, no points in the paint in the first.

Chiney said she is working on her outside game, just as her sister Nneka before her. So this was as good as time as any to use it. Except, it wasn’t quite ready for prime time, at least not in the first half. Chiney shot a long two, not even close, air balled a three, and consistently hit the front of the rim on her long shots. In Stanford’s final possession, she had to throw up a quick three with time running down, her second air ball of the half, much to the amusement of the Texas student body.

Lest you think C and R are picking on our Chiney, here is her post game quote: “This game forced me to be outside, and it was a little uncomfortable at times,” Ogwumike said.

Chiney was held to just four first half points.

To be sure, Stanford was lucky to “only” be down 37-30.

But we would be remiss to point out that Chiney still contributed in the first. She set up a screen to free up KSam that allowed her to knock down a three. Had a block. And then after (we are sure) a verbal tongue lashing from Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer in the locker room at half, (we’ve been inside those lockers a half, we know), came the second half.

The second half started and here comes Chiney, or “You can’t keep an Ogwumike down” (for long). Chiney opened the second half with another perimeter shot and missedThen the next time she touched the ball she drove in, pump faked and got the basket over 6’7, like old times. Then back to the outside jump shot and a miss. Ugh. She was 3-13 from the field after 23 minutes. Settling for jumpers instead of attacking the rim.

Then the announcers decided to interview Jody Conradt, the long time University of Texas coach who has 900 wins. They let her talk while the action was going on. In fact, the more she talked, the better Stanford seemed to do.  Stanford got the lead for the first time in 10 minutes with a wild back and forth fast breaking and stealing and stealing back and Amber finishes for the 41-40 lead. Then Chiney gets a steal and a lay up. Then she hit one from outside, and she could do no wrong.

In fact, Stanford went on a 15-0 run to go up 47-40 as Jody is talking. Chiney scored 10, had 2 steals and a block in the seven and a half minute stretch. Amber Orrange provided five of the 15 during that run. Amber would have 13 points and eight rebounds for the game, including five in the final 60 seconds of the contest.

Stanford held Texas without a field goal for the opening 9:20 of the second half, and to just five field goals and 17 points in the final 20 minutes. The five field goals were a season-low for any half this season by a Cardinal opponent.

Chills when Chiney fouls out with 2 minutes to play and Stanford leading 56-47. Hang on Stanford! (Their Nneka fouls out with 33 seconds to play.). Chiney would leave the game with 18 points, 14 in the second half.

Stanford guard Amber Orrange to the rescue (AP Photo/Michael Thomas)

But Amber Orrange to the rescue with Chiney on the bench,. Amber had a big steal, two big rebounds and shoot six big (everything’s bigger in Texas) free throws, making five in those final two minutes. Stanford would hang on to win 63-54. 

Other notables: Mikaela Ruef played a team-high 36 minutes, posting her first double-double of the season with a season-high 11 points and 10 rebounds. Curious, as good as Chiney was in the second half, Ruefie scored all of her points in the first. Need those two to score in tandem.

Sara James played a season-high 18 minutes Saturday, scoring six points (She is coming off double compartment syndrome surgery to her  lower legs).  Stanford matched its season high with six three-pointers, led by two apiece from Sara and Lili Thompson.

Coach Tara VanDerveer earned career victory No. 898, moving her closer to being just the fifth women's coach to reach 900, like Jody Conradt. Unfortunately, TVD will probably get it at the tournament in Mexico that will not be televised or seen by local fans. What a shame.

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Chiney Ogwumike’s Record-Setting Performances Sinks Oregon

Sorry this is so late, C and R were up late watching the Oscars. Stanford was all business and dismantled Oregon in a very business-like manner. They beat the Ducks 74-50. Oregon was stuck at nine total points until 5:45 was left in the first half. The crowd exhorted Stanford’s stingy defense to hold them under 20 for the half. Oregon got 19 points with 40 seconds left in the half, and although Stanford hustled on defense, The Ducks got a three-pointer with five seconds left. Half time score was 40-22.

Chiney Ogwumike Scores Down Low against Oregon. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

First, we cannot say enough about Chiney Ogwumike’s ability to score down low. She is so explosive and quick to the basket. And she is fierce putting that ball up in the air and in the hole. She is virtually unstoppable if she catches the ball with her feet in the paint (In the UConn loss, she was pushed out of the paint before she touched the ball, and therefore could not score). Tonight against Oregon, she scored and scored some more. 

She scored so much she had a double-double by halftime. She scored 11 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. For the game, she scored 27 points and grabbed an eye-popping 24 rebounds. Yes, her 52nd double-double of her career, which breaks the Stanford record previously held by her sister, Nneka. Her 24 rebounds was also a career high. What is the Stanford single game rebounding record? Well, it was 23, previously held by, you guessed it, her sister Nneka. Well, if anyone is going to break Nneka’s records, it might as well be Chiney. Chiney also became the sixth player in Stanford history with at least 1,000 rebounds (1,010) and 1,000 points (1,600).

It was senior night at Maples, with Mikaela Ruef and Joslyn Tinkle wearing the Stanford “S”  on their home court for the last time (unless you count the two NCAA games they could play there). C and R wore their Tinkle bells one last time, and heard several others tinkling throughout, but Jos had a quiet night. She scored a basket on a turn-about-is-fair-play with Sara James. Tinkle had given up the rock to a streaking Sara James and the next fast break Sara gave it back. But that two points were the only two of the night for Jingle. Gonna need more at that tournament time. Ruefie was getting the few rebounds Chiney missed. She was a woman on a mission. She would end up with nine for the night and five points.

The rest of the team didn’t fare so well. Amber Orrrrange scored 12, and did a great job driving, pulling up and scoring. However, no one else for Stanford got in double figures. That is a little disconcerting. “I don’t think we played particularly well,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. “I thought we were kind of flat, honestly.” She doesn’t pull punches.

After the game, the Stanford faithful gathered near the Stanford bench to hear some heartfelt stories from the Stanford Senior Dads. Ruef has always had a head for basketball, and might get into coaching some day. She also might play again next year. She just got accepted into her Master’s program. Chiney decided they were going to “retire” Jos’s bow, and Tinkle was asked how she keeps her make-up on during a game.

Cal had a scare, coming back from a 17-point deficit to win by two points to beat Oregon State. Must admit we were crossing our fingers that Oregon could pull it off so Stanford would win the Pac-12 regular season title outright. Looks like Cal and Stanford are going to share it. The Pac-12 tournament will sure be interesting.

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Stanford Overwhelms USC

Saw the Stanford Women’s Basketball Team defeat USC on Pac-12 TV last night 79-55. Although C and R are grateful for the coverage, it is not the same as seeing the victory live.

Highlights include:
The debut of the new “Road Warrior Uniforms”, all black, with an “S” on the chest and “Cardinal” on the back instead of last names.

USC’s coach Michael Cooper’s “T” after the non-call on Chiney Ogwumike fouling his player, and Chiney draining both free throws (hee hee!). What, he doesn’t know Pac-12 refs are horrible and make bad calls?

Chiney Ogwumike scored 26 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for her 20th double-double of the season, 9th in a row. That 20 sets a Stanford record for the season. Chiney now has 50 double-doubles for her three years at Stanford. The record is 51, set by her sister, Nneka Ogwumike in her four years at Stanford. Oh, did we mention Chiney is only a junior? Think that record is going to be broken, probably on Sunday. Chiney started out slowly in the first half (eight points), then scored seven straight points to open the second. Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer must have lit a fire under her at half time.

USC tried to stop Chiney Ogwumike, but she still scored 26 points and got 15 rebounds. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Mikaela Ruef hitting her 1st three pointer of the season, fifth of her career, AND scored a career high 12 points. Ruef sure has been making a lot of “firsts” these last few weeks. Against Arizona on February 8th she scored her then career high of 11 points and got her first double-double ever.

Joslyn Tinkle also had a double-double of her own, scoring 17 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Tinkle's 17 points leave her just 14 away from becoming Stanford's 34th member of its 1,000-Point Club. She might be able to do that on Sunday, too.

Four players scoring in double figures, the fourth being guard Amber Orrrrange with 10. She did a nice job with driving in and drawing contact or pulling up for a jumper, both her specialties, as she is a scoring guard more than a distributing and assisting guard. Although, she scored all 10 in the first half, than disappeared in the second. Still, it is good to see others scoring along with Chiney’s amazing stats night after night.

We missed Stanford guard Toni Kokenis, who is still sick and did not play. The maddening part is the coaching staff’s decision to not tell anybody exactly what is wrong with her. The closest we have heard has been “upper body” injury. She is listed as day-to-day and the coaching staff will make the decision at game time.

Next up is #15 UCLA. Note that #6 Cal, who is tied for the Pac-12 lead with Stanford, crushed UCLA 79-51 last night.

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Stanford Crushes Arizona

C and R could not make the Stanford Women’s Basketball game vs. Arizona tonight due to a prior commitment.

Here are the Things We Missed:

Stanford 's Mikaela Ruef gets her first double-double. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

-Chiney Ogwumike got her 18th double-double of the season (18 points and 12 boards).
-Mikaela Ruef got her first career double double of …ever (11 points and 10 boards).
-Mikaela Ruef scoring a career high 11 points.
-Seeing the Ruef on Fire (sorry, we couldn't resist)
-Three Stanford players scoring in double figures (the third was Jos Tinkle with 15).
-Tinkle hitting three of four from the 3-point line.
-Tinkle scoring her 15 points in 15 minutes due to foul trouble. Still, wowsa!
-Chiney Ogwumike missing her first three of her first four shots allowing Arizona to hang around thought the middle of the first half.
-Seeing Chiney hit her next four of five shots to help Stanford go on a 17-6 run in the second part of the first half and go up 31-19 at the half.
-Seeing the taller Stanford team lead the rebounding battle at half 25-9, and 47-28 for the game.
-Seeing Stanford’s defense hold Arizona’s best scorer Davellyn White to six points. She averages 16 a game.
-Seeing almost all of Stanford’s bench players play (you know it’s a blow out...).
-Seeing Toni Kokeins in street clothes (No one on Twitter knew why, illness or doghouse). The SJ Mercury reported “undisclosed medical issue” and that she might miss Sunday’s game too.
-Seeing Stanford destroy Arizona 73-43, a 30-point spread for those of you doing the math at home.
-Catching a victory ball for the 30-point win.    But C and R will be at Sunday’s game vs. Arizona State, especially since it will be the “Wear-Pink-For-Breast-Cancer-Awareness-game.” We hope they are giving out free Pink T-shirts!

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Stanford Women's Basketball Team Wipes Out Pacific

The Stanford Women’s Basketball team finally got to see some court action after a long lay off for those pesky finals, which C and R are sure those Stanford kids blew away. Their latest victim was Pacific, and they blew them out 78-43.

And once again, C and R couldn’t be there due to their little girls having a game at the same time, and believe me, we know how Pacific feels ('nuf said). So we missed Chiney Ogwumike getting a career high 31 points and 13 boards (glad it wasn’t 12 and 12 and 12 assists or some other Mayan nonsense). Oh, she only played 28 minutes, so she averaged more than a point a minute she was on the floor.
Pacific even double teamed Chiney, and she would not be open on the first or even second pass, but maybe on the third or fourth pass, and she credits teammates for still looking for her deep into the shot clock. It’s hard to double-team a perpetual motion machine for most of 30 seconds. Even Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer stressed how Chiney had to keep re-posting and demanding the ball. Let that be a lesson to you young folk.

Even tripled-teamed, Chiney Ogwumike scores vs Pacific. Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP Photo

While Chiney is scoring the points, Mikaela Ruef continues to be a force that does the little things to ensure the victory. She added a career high 13 rebounds and dished out five assists. Joslyn Jingle Tinkle added 10 points. The only low point was when Taylor Greenfield fell on her chin and trainers evaluated her neck. She walked to the locker room under her own power, but no word yet on how she is doing.

Stanford won their 82nd consecutive home game at Maples, the longest active streak in the nation. The next two games are on the road (south Carolina and Tennessee), so the steak won’t be tested until December 29 when they play…UConn. To which we say, bring it on!


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Stanford Beats Baylor

STANFORD WINS THE PENNANT! Stanford wins the pennant! Well, not the pennant, that being our little pun about the Giants, and The Stanford Women’s Basketball Team did not win a national championship or even any championship, but they just beat Baylor in the regular season, something nobody, least of all C and R, expected them to do. And it sure feels like a championship of some sort. Even the media was calling it an “upset” even though Stanford is ranked #4 to Baylor’s #1.

This blog is a day late because C was hung over from eating humble pie all night long. Yes, both C and R, who are arguably the biggest Stanford fans when it comes to arguing women’s basketball, had been saying all preseason and through the short regular season, “we’re going to get killed by Baylor!”

Well come on, let’s look at the evidence. Stanford is a young team. They have eight freshmen and sophomores out of 15 players. They also have three players who hardly played last year due to injury; Mikaela Ruef, Jasmine Camp and Alex Green (who still is not ready to play). Plus a veteran who has been injured to start the year (Toni Kokenis, rhymes with tennis). The Stanford exhibition games were a little shaky for the level of competition, getting out rebounded by a much smaller Vanguard University. Add to the fact that #1 Baylor, undefeated defending national champs riding a 42 game win streak, thrashed then #5 Kentucky earlier in the week. Stanford was ranked #4, even though they lost their top scorer, rebounder and heart and soul in senior Nneka Ogwumike. It just didn’t seem possible.

First of all, this incredible game was not televised anywhere. The twitter-sphere was aghast and complained mightily, but all our tweets go to other women’s basketball fans and to no one who has any real power to actually make this happen. (We gotta figure that one out.) The Pac-12 did throw up a feed at the last second, so hats off to them. On our computer, though it was a little jerky, and there was no audio. We streamed KZSU over the Internet, so we would hear what happened and see the compressed action a few seconds afterward. Taylor Greenfield hits a three, now we see it. Joslyn Tinkle gets a rebound and a put back, there it is.

The worst thing about not having the game televised was we couldn’t see Baylor coach Kim Mulkey’s outfit, although photos showed it was subdued athletic clothes. The real surprise was the photos afterward that proved Tara VanDerveer cut loose and wore her Hawaii tourist clothes!

The first half opened when most of us were at work, and imagine our surprise when Stanford went up by seven, nine, twelve….FOURTEEN points over Baylor in the first half. Granted, Baylor did lose their excellent point guard and defender in Odyssey Simms, when she went down just four minutes into the contest with a hamstring injury and did not return. But every team has to deal with injuries or a good player on the bench with foul trouble…or a contact lens issue.

Baylor did come back, thanks to a Baylor’s Jordan Madden, stepping up for 13 first half points. National Player of the Year last year, 6’8 Brittney Griner, was held to just four at the break, due to Stanford’s excellent double team of her. By contrast, Stanford’s Chiney Ogwumike had nine in the first, taking it to BG early and often. Chiney Ogwumike even hit her first three! She had a second, but it was called back for a long two.

At the half the score was 31-29, Stanford holding on to a two-point lead. Stanford was buoyed by defensive play from Mikaela Ruef with 12 big rebounds, eight of them defensively. Taylor Greenfield ended up with 16 total points, making four from three-point land. Baylor’s coach was exhorting her team in the first half to show some energy and intensity, like Stanford was. Mulkey would later say after the game that during their streak, they were not tested and didn’t know how to react to a close game. Also, I believe Baylor was 1-13 from three-point range at the half. By contrast, Stanford would shot 7-14 from the three-point line for the game.

The second half, well it was all a blur, what with rushing home through traffic, trying to coordinate when to dash inside from the car with the KSZU radio on and get the computer fired up to see and hear over the Internet. Just when we were believing Stanford could do this, imagine our surprise, again, when Baylor took the lead with 7:11 left to play. Brittney Griner got unleashed and showed some of her moves and scored 18 more points in the second to have 22 for the game.

After trading leads, none other than Chiney Ogwumike does a reverse lay up over Brittney to put Stanford up by four with 22 seconds left. Chiney would end up with 18 points for the game. Of course we could really couldn’t see this, so we just took the KZSU guy’s word for it. After Destiny Williams hit her first three of the year, and just second three-pointer of the game for Baylor, to draw within one, Toni Kokenis would hit one of two free throws, making the score 71-69, Stanford. Baylor had the ball with four seconds, down by two, and Stanford knew the ball was going to Brittney for the last shot. It did, she shot, she missed and Stanford wins…the…the…Best Women’s Basketball Game nobody saw.

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Stanford BBall (Sorta)

So R and I decide to head up to cool San Francisco to see some championship basketball. We are still waiting¦ no, no, no, that wasn’t nice, was it? This is C here, one half of C and R, and let’s start over shall we?

Out of the goodness of our hearts, R and I decided to head up to see the best two out of three games in a championship series in the SF Summer Pro-Am league. Well okay, it was not really out of the goodness of our heart, it was for purely selfish reasons, we wanted to see the baby Stanford incoming freshmen play and maybe catch a glimpse of the seasoned Stanford veterans who show up to cheer them on. We are talking about watching the play of future Stanford players Sara James, Toni Kokenis, and already our fave, Chiney Ogwumike, plus, yes dear readers (reader) plus current Stanford players Mikaela Ruef and Sarah Boothe. (Try saying those last two names really fast, it’s fun! Roof and Booth.)

So anyhow, we find ourselves in R’s car heading in the general direction of San Francisco guided by my fancy GPS thingie. Now I love my GPS but it usually gets in a fight with R. Well, that’s not true, it guided us through the lakes of Kirkwood and South Lake Tahoe just fine, but for some reason, we have messed up twice now on our way to see the Stanford women. Well, part of it might be operator error on C’s, meaning me, or my part. Or whatever. The first time we missed our exit, so R reminded me NOT to do what we did last time and wouldn’t you know it I guided us right to the wrong exit again. After negotiating the CRAZY drivers of SF, we arrive at our destination. Which is a big track stadium. Oops, I have successfully guided us to Kezar Stadium. The Stanford women play basketball in Kezar Pavilion! After a joy ride around the park including going the wrong way on a one-way street and just a little sidewalk driving, we find Kezar Pavilion and park.

(R is rolling her eyes and waving her hands to get on with it, so I shall)

So we walk into Kezar PAVILION and C spots a cute-cute little dog like the one on the TV show “Frasier” and bends down and R stays upright and whispers under her breathe, “That’s Sara James right in front of us.” So C, uh, meaning me, geez I hate this third person thing, so I stand up and sure ’nuf I was petting Sara James’s dog, who was on a leash with what we can only assume was her dad. (She’s a local product, so we think both her dad and mom were there at the game. Hi Mrs. and Mr. James, we are excited about your daughter coming to Stanford!). Because we are staring, I take the plunge and say, “You’re Sara James, hello, nice to meet you,” and shake her hand. R, wearing all her Stanford gear, sounds more intelligence and says, “Hello, nice to meet you we are Stanford season ticket holders for almost 20 years, and good luck today.” I want to say, well, technically R has been the season ticket holder and I just ride her coattails and really only jumped on board the Stanford band wagon about 5 years ago and… but Sara has already run down the ramp and jumped and touched the support bar holding the basket, so R shoves me out of my stupid self indulgent reverie and we take our seats.

We sit on the “Stanford Side”, which is really the whole other side of the gym opposite the team benches. There are probably about 100 people, mostly the Stanford faithful. The Stanford players are on the Golden State team and they are playing the Mission Rec team. Mission Rec has 2 subs and we have 4500. Seriously, I think we have 10 players to choose from. We notice Sarah Boothe, Sara James and Chiney Ogwumike are starters. Will this be a foretelling of the Stanford year to come? We can only hope.

Finally the game starts (and finally R can stop poking me to get to the basketball part). We also notice Sarah Boothe has 6 inches over the tallest member of the other team. This should be a cake walk…And yet…

The first time we watched the Stanford players, the game plan was to get it into Boothe and she scored. A lot. This time that game plan flies out the window. Well, the other team, full of small, fast, quick, aggressive guards, pressure our guards and we cannot get it into Boothe. Plus the other team is taking advantage of the fact the refs are not very good and let a lot of contact and slapping go uncalled. A lot of slapping. So we cannot get it in to Boothe and when we do shoot, we take rushed shots.

Then the coach of the other team starts yelling at the refs for his version of non-calls. He gets T’d up. Then the refs feel so bad for giving him a technical foul that they give him back two quick fouls that are hardly fouls, especially compared to what was allowed moments ago. Sarah Boothe goes to the bench with 2 fouls and stays for a long time. We can’t buy a basket.

Ever eagle-eyed, R spots Stanford veterans Kayla Pedersen and Nneka Ogumike coming in the gym and taking position up high opposite the Stanford faithful. We make a mental note to switch seats at half time. Shortly, we see more Stanford veterans enter. First, Lindy La Roque and then Jeanette Pohlen, IN A DRESS! Not often you see such fancy duds at a basketball game.

Chiney looks more aggressive on the boards and even Toni Kokenis is looking much improved. In fact, around the 7:22 mark, all five Stanford players go in. Cool. And boy does the guard Sara James have a nose for rebounds.

But the Stanford team is so rattled by the slapping, missed shots, non-calls and shouting of the other coach, plus the pressure on their guards, that by half time it is only 15-22. Our Stanford team has only scored 15 points? This is not good. Will this be a foretelling of the year to come? We can only hope not.

It was neat to see Mikaela Ruef so animated talking with the rest of the players at the half. Chiney and Sarah Boothe also chimed in and everyone listened raptly. Plus big sis Nneka came over to add in her two coaching cents. Jeanette Pohlen went out to her car and brought back a water bottle for Tony. So nice to see the Stanford players taking care of each other.

The second half starts and it is more of the same, intense defensive pressure, but this time the other team is bombing threes. Sarah Boothe fouls again and the coach takes her out. We hear someone in the gym yell, “Keep her in!” And turn to see it was Lindy. You go, girl! A few minutes alter she yelled, “Put in your high scorer!” as Sarah was still on the bench and obviously had the most points for their team. Chiney starts to get aggressive and made an athletic steal but cannot corral the ball from going out of bounds. Then she fiercely grabbed a rebound, dribbled down court and went coast to coast for the rare basket. All the way Chiney.! (T-Shirt rights patented and copyrighted by C and R, thank you very much). The other team counters by raining more threes.

Sarah Boothe finally goes in and she is posting up strong but the other coach is now yelling “Three seconds in the key!” so loudly that Sarah hears him and instinctively leaves the key, as a good player will do when listening to coach. Problem was, it was not her coach, he was for the other team and he intimidated her to stay out of the key. Then the other team’s speedy little guards start faking the three and driving in. They usually lose their guard defense and make it to the second line of bigger players, where they are fouled while leaping in the air. Sarah Boothe goes back to the bench, then Chiney joins her with her foul trouble and then the other team is so confident they launch threes or drive at will. It is now a 20-point game.

In the closing minutes, everyone on the Golden State team looks tired and there is no sense of urgency. Yes, they are down by 20 with a few minutes left and probably can’t catch up, but they aren’t even trying. That was disheartening to see. This is a championship game, for cryin’ out loud. The final score is 61-77. We go to Chevy’s to drown our sorrows in salty chips and the cute waiter gets points for listening to our sob story and being interested in our blog about women’s sports (unless he was just pretending to be interested and fishing for a big tip, which in case it worked because we gave him one, we are such softies sometimes).

The Stanford women play again tomorrow, but with a performance like that, getting beat by a smaller team was hard to watch. We should have wailed on them. Oh well, basketball Sunday, same time, same place (can C and R find the gym on the third try? Tune in tomorrow and find out).

Saturday in the Park with Stanford Players

Well, by miracles of miracles, both C and R were available and able to get away from our shabby lives and puny responsibilities and make the pilgrimage to San Francisco to see the baby Stanford players and… Chiney Ogwumnike.

Yes, yes C and R were excited to see ALL the incoming Stanford women’s basketball players who are here taking summer school and playing in the San Francisco Pro-Am league, and the second year players as well, but really, we wanted to get a look at the National Player of the Year up close and personal. (BTW, she won so many awards and Gatorade kept giving her something every month so C and R are not exactly sure what her official title is, but we hear she can play).

So after getting a little lost and having several battles with either each other or C’s GPS, we finally make it to Kezar Pavilion. (So small, we were expecting bigger.) We get there half an hour before the game and no one is warming up. See lots of familiar faces in the stands. Finally with about 20 minutes left the players start to trickle in. Can you say “casual?” We see the Stanford players and elbow each other several times for each player. “There’s Chiney,” we announce to each other as if neither of us has eyes. And she just looks like a baller, too. Figured out who Sara James and Toni Kokenis were (quick someone, email us and tell us how to pronounce her last name) to mark the three incoming freshmen. Then spy second year players Mikaela Ruef and Sarah Boothe. The other team is non-existent. Courtney Paris is listed on the other team’s roster, but she was not “In Town”. Too bad, C and R have never seen Courtney play live so we were bummed.

Not much warming up, which is a little bit of a shock to C and R as we are used to seeing the Stanford players go through elaborate warm up and stretching and drills before every Stanford game. Only Sarah Boothe takes the time to do elaborate stretching moves while most just shoot around. Finally the other team has at least five and we can begin.

When the game starts, C and R are very impressed with Sarah Boothe. She red-shirted last year and lost a lot of freshmen weight and re-sculpted her body. She was aggressive and hungry, calling for the ball, and running on fast breaks. Her teammates trusted her and got her the ball whenever they could. Opposite her was DeNasha Stallworth, Cal’s center, and although she had more meat on her and tried to push Sarah around, Sarah fought back and showed her a thing or two. Sarah was all business. Which made a thought pop into C and R’s head (yes, we do have them every once in a while). Sarah could be the X factor for us next year. Everyone knows we will be missing Jayne Appel and everyone knows who the established stars are and what they can do. Everyone will also look to Chiney to have an immediate impact. This preseason, none of the experts mentions Sarah Boothe and we think she is going to contribute greatly, and half way through the year everyone outside of Stanford will be scratching their heads saying, “Where did she come from?”

Sara James also impressed us. Played the guard spot, good court vision, had a nose for the ball and knifed in for offensive rebounds. She shot threes and when she missed, got her own rebound. Toni and Mikeala still look like they need more practice, especially at court vision and knowing where everyone was and when to shoot or pass. There were a few times Mikeala launched some threes but rebounders weren’t in place and to C and R, we thought she should have shown more patience.

And then there was Chiney. Okay, let’s just put it on the table and sum it up. The first half she played uninspired. And her defense was still in a high school mind set. Her team was playing man-to man, yet she would often leave her man and play the ball, counting on her athletic ability to either steal the pass to her man or get back in time if she can’t get to the ball. That ain’t going to happen in college and besides, Tara will beat that out of her when official Stanford practice starts.

And then sister Nneka came in. She arrived with Stanford buddies, Kayla Pedersen and Lindy LaRoque. They showed up close to the end of the first half (and yes, C and R fans, we went and sat behind them after half time to, um, you know, sit by them, shh.... don’t tell them.) So anyway, at the start of the second half Chiney was a different player! She had more intensity and you should have seen her go up and grab, and we mean snatch, a rebound out of the air. (And to the coach of the Golden State team, why was Chiney playing point guard in the second half?)

At one point, Nneka in the first row called out some coaching advice and Chiney stopped and made sure she got whatever it was Nneka pointed out. Maybe she needs that sisterly rivalry/admiration to get her going? Because before Sis Nneka came in, the rest of the Ogwumike family came in, Mom, Dad, all the other Ogwumike sisters who are going to go to Stanford for basketball and build an Ogwumike dynasty over the next 10 years. That wasn’t enough to get her going, it was Nneka. Wow, this should be an interesting year.

Other notes:
We were impressed with Eliza Peirre, who played on the opposite team and goes to Cal. She will be one to watch out for next year. We thought the PAC-10 refs were bad, but these refs were really bad. We think everyone one of the Stanford players attempted a three, the two guards of course, and Ruef, Chiney. Maybe not Sarah Boothe, although she brought out this great hook shot in the second half reminiscent of Brooke “The Hook” Smith from a few years ago. At least once the coach had all 5 Stanford players in, so that was cool. The Stanford team won, although we weren’t so interested in the score as checking out how everyone played. We were so excited we wanted to come back for play-offs next week but according to the schedule the Stanford team won the league and plays again August 7th. We hope to be there. Stay tuned.

Chiney Ogwumike is A-Okay and Wins Gatorade Female Athlete of the Year!

This just in, Stanford recruit Chiney Ogwumike (and current Stanford player Nneka Ogwumike’s sister) won the Gatorade Female Athlete of the Year. Yes, we know she was already honored as the Gatorade Player of the Year in Basketball out of 50 states, but now she is the top female athlete according to Gatorade (she was picked among the 12 Women Gatorade National Players of the Year). In addition to athletic excellence, the award recognizes academic achievement and exemplary character on and off the field. She got to meet Lisa Leslie and Brandi Chastain at an ESPN sponsored luncheon and walk the red carpet at the ESPN ESPY’s and be on TV! Cool. Hope it increases interest and coverage in women’s basketball, says C and R.

Wait, when did she find time to go to the awards ceremony? First she lead the USA Women's U18 National Team to a Gold Medal in the 2010 FIBA Americas U18 Championship in June, dominating in scoring and  praised for her leadership skills, and also competing in the San Francisco Pro-Am league on weekends. Does the girl sleep?

So speaking of Chiney and the SF Pro-Am League, and we were, C and R haven’t been able to get to San Francisco to watch the Chiney and the Stanford freshmen and almost freshmen play in the SF Pro-Am League, but that doesn’t mean our intrepid readers haven’t gone. MM reports that “Chiney’s length is incredible” and “even quicker off the floor than Nneka and gets higher than almost any Div 1 player”. He also had great things to say about Sara James and her long outside shooting (good, we need that). “She set and released in a split second - high arching shots that all hit the back of the net the same way. She made some successful forays into the paint”. SJ, Shooter and slasher, love it. We have to get up there.

Ms. MC reports that in her game she got to see Mikaela Ruef (The Roof is on Fire), Sarah Boothe (Booooo-th), Sara James (SJ), Toni Kokenis (nickname pending), and Chiney Ogumike (is A-Okay) play for Golden State. She also reports the pro-am games featuring the Stanford gang are well attended by Stanford alums. And last weekend, about 10 minutes in, who should walk in to the stands but current Stanford team members Jeanette Pohlen, Kayla Pederson and Nneka Ogwumike, giving some sister love. She also said she was impressed by the former and current Cal players (very diplomatic of you, MC). She said Alexis Gray-Lawson was very fan-friendly. She also invited us and everyone else to come on out.

Well, we just might take you to heart, as it is on our calendar to go this Saturday, unless we play golf… ahhh! Tough Choice!

We Miss Women’s College Basketball!

Sigh. When does college basketball start up again? We here at C and R are counting the days, as we are going through basketball withdrawal. Here is a little fix to help tied you through. There is a summer pro-am basketball league in San Francisco at Kezar Pavilion featuring the Stanford rookies, to give them more playing experience. Games are on the weekends and starts the 19^th of this month. Best of all, games are free. You can see the Stanford stars and future stars….the tentative line up includes old timers Sarah Boothe and Mikaela Ruef, along with soon to be Stanford players Chiney Ogwumike, Sara James and Toni Kokenis. (Well, Chiney will join after her stint with the National Team).

C and R just checked out all the rosters and saw there are a lot of Cal and former Cal players, too. Former Cal standouts Alexis Gray Lawson is back in the Bay Area, as well as Ashley Walker and Devanei Hampton. And hey, Courtney and Ashley Paris are back together on the same team. It is a shame Courtney, with all her blocks and rebounding records in college couldn’t catch on in the WNBA.

Let’s hope the Stanford players get good experience for the fall! When basketball season will finally start.

Fun With Video

Okay, C and R don't know who makes these Stanford Women's Basketball Videos, but we love them, especially the "Superhoopsters with Ineffective Powers" Series. Right now we are on episode six. The cutest thing is that these players (Who have probably been told they are great most of their basketball careers) are not afraid to make fun of themselves. So if we have programmed them right, enjoy! (Scroll down a little!)

Episode One The two freshmen, playing off Joslyn's booted foot. (We've shown this one before).	Episode Two Michelle Harrison, in laser vision.
Episode Three A Shimmering Nneka, 'nuff said.	Episode Four Assistant Coaches Bobby and Amy - "Every time, B, every single time!" Cracked us up. ("I’m just saying, every time!")
Episode Five Jeanette Pohlen, Flying? In Sandals?	Episode Six Jayne, such a ham, even running, she is still social and waving to everyone!

UConn Long Gone

Well, start throwing the red victory balls. We ONLY lost by 12 to top ranked UConn. Stanford actually had the lead going into half time. A victory for us, considering how they came out after halftime and used their incredible athleticism to out rebound and out shoot us, especially the three, and run the lay up drill.

In the first half it was Nneka Ogwumike in the first 10 minutes or so, and Kayla Pederson in the second ten minutes or so. I love that Stanford Women's Basketball Head Coach Tara VanDerveer broke out of her rigid offensive scheme, probably knowing UConn had scouted and ran film on that “hand-off” offense, and gave Stanford the green-light to create. Since when does Nneka grab a rebound, dribble up the floor, and go coast to coast for the lay-up? I don’t even remember a non-guard doing that for Stanford with the game on the line. Nneka was at her best when she would dribble penetrate. Until she stopped driving in and hit some long range jumpers. We, and UConn, had never seen her do that, either! And that made it so much harder to watch her disappear in the second half.

To beat UConn, instead of shutting them down, you have to match their scoring and practically outlast them. At least that’s what we did the last time we, or anybody, beat them in the Final Four game almost 2 years ago. Kayla was able to keep us in it in the first half of this game and also disappeared in the second. Jayne Appel couldn’t get going in either half and that was hard for Stanford to recover from. She looked uncomfortable and flat, possibly still bothered by injuries and not being in top shape. And Tina Charles did come alive in the second half. Although to be fair to Jayne, we thought she was fouled repeatedly on her shots in the second half and did not get the calls, coupled with some calls on us we thought were non-existent. But we might be a little biased!

What killed us the most in the second half is we watched UConn shoot and then get the rebound and score. How many points did they get off a second chance? And if they got the second chance, it was going in. We seemed to lose our intensity and focus on boxing out and going aggressively for the ball. We also lost track of Tina Charles and let her get a lot of those rebounds and put backs.

And the UConn players were incredibly accurate shooters. The final stats said they hit 14 threes! Maya Moore got into early foul trouble (We sure did hoot when she got her first foul in the opening seconds of the game!) but was able to adjust and stay in the game. And once we let them pressure us in thesecond half and get a steal and a strong-to-the-basket lay-up, it seemed like it opened the flood gate for 2 or 8 more. And you just can't do that against UConn.

Tara also agreed that she could learn a lot from the loss so it is really a winning situation and that is fair. What galled us the most was right after the game ended, ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo, former UConn player, asked UConn coach Geno Auriemma about the differences in the two halves and Geno said his team was “holding back” in the first half, making sure to save energy for the second, and in the second he let them go. We don’t know, but it sounds a little revisionist in theory. Unfortunately, the ESPN analyst crew repeated that right after the game as if it was fact. Grrr. They “let” Stanford have all those points and be leading at half time…

It was nice to see both teams put in their subs and let them get experience in front of a sell-out 16,000 plus crowd. Mikaela Ruef (Roof, the Roof, the Roof is on fire…) made a nice reverse lay-up and drew the foul. We think Michelle Harrison scored a basket, too. Hope Tara was kind to them going into the Christmas Break, and by the way, Happy Holidays to you, too.

Wonder what Pat Summit thought about the game?

Going to UC Davis

So we find our way around the UC Davis Campus. Very clean, very nice, my daughter looked at this school last year when she was deciding on colleges. It is an agricultural school out in the middle of nowhere, near Sacramento.

Walking to the basketball Pavilion, we see lots of signs encouraging the student population to come out to this game. They say this is the highest ranked opponent to come play at UC Davis (Stanford is ranked #2 in the country) and while it doesn’t say it, we bet that is for men or women. Besides, there ain’t a whole lot to do out here on a Sunday afternoon! (ah, we tease UC Davis, because we love!)

Even with a lot of people coming to the game, UC Davis and Stanford included, we get really good seats near the court. Unfortunately we are right behind Davis’ bench.

We walk in at floor level and see the team warming up. We are a few feet from them, star struck. Boy, they are so tall! Ha Ha. The team is doing lay ups and the players in the center line have do a “move” at the foul line then drive to the basket. We see center Jayne Appel, all 6’4 of her, dribble behind her back and go to the basket. It was slow, but actually not bad. We are sorry for making fun of Jayne’s dribbling ability from the previous game! Mikaela Ruef (Roof), of similar height, also does the behind the back move and that has become her signature move, since the freshmen center did it twice in one game, no correction, make that twice on one play!

The student section for UC Davis has filled and their band is playing. No sign of the Stanford Band, though. The Davis band is more polished, and the students have coordinated chants and cheers. Corny, but they are totally into this, it is so cute!

Pregame, the poor announcer tries to say the Stanford girls’ names. He botches Rosalyn Gold-Onwude. He mistakenly calls Kayla Pederson “Peterson”, but to his defense, there is a Lisa Peterson who plays for the Aggies. Then he comes to Nnemkadi Ogwumike. It was not pretty. He informs us Stanford’s head coach is Tear-a VanDerveer, instead of Tar-a.

Memo to Stanford, have the public relations person go up to the announcer at each away game and pronounce the names for him/her or write them out phonetically.

Stanford is wearing the black uniforms I love, and Nneka gets the jumping duties. She wins easily. Poor announcer guy tries again to say her name. Somebody, please go over and say her name for him!

Davis comes out in a half court trap, something like a 2-1-2. They pressure the guards at the top. They trap Ros and steal it. We have got to solve this press business before we meet Tennessee!

Nneka swats at a Davis player trying to score a lay up. Nneka hits her with her body and gets called for the foul and Tara takes her right out. Just like she did for Jayne her first two years. The poor announcer guy says foul on….#30. She stays out for along, long, time. I think someone finally whispers to the announcer how to say her name as he gets it right in the second half.

Nneka scored 25 points her first two games and the next two game she scored significantly less. We were reading an article that asked, “what has happened to Ogwumike?” The answer is Tear-a VanDerveer. Tara takes her out when she makes dumb fouls and keeps her out for a long portion of the first half. It is hard to score points from the bench, no matter how high you can jump.

Davis’ center dribbles hard to the middle and Jayne is awaiting her with heavy concentration. Jayne is going to block her as soon as she goes forward to the basket. But the center pulls up and shoots a fade away jumper, not giving Jayne time to go towards her to block it. She makes her basket over Jayne. You don’t see that every day!

Davis’ pressing is not letting us get the ball inside so we are “skip” passing to the opposite side, meaning instead of throwing it from the wing to the top guard to the wing on the other side, we are skipping the guard at the top and throwing it directly across court from wing to wing. Jeannette Pohlen uncharacteristically throws it across court and out of bounds. Tear-a instantly yanks her. Pohlen is mad, mad at herself, mad at getting yanked and mad that she is mad about getting yanked. Hmmmm, C and R wonder if that is a good strategy to pull someone for making a mistake instead of letting them take responsibility and show they will not do it again.

Oh, I forgot to tell you I brought my tiny new baby computer to write this blog. My tiny little baby computer instantly finds free wi-fi and I am able to watch the Game Tracker on the Cal and Baylor game. Cal is losing. Thanks UC Davis!

Okay, we cannot penetrate this half court defense. Jayne gets the ball on the high post but nowhere to go with it. They seem to leave Jayne alone down low, but put two people on the guards so they cannot make a quick lob to Jayne. An interesting strategy. It is like saying we know we cannot stop Jayne, but if we can stop the pass into Jayne, she cannot score. And so far it is working. UC Davis consistently keeps the score within ten points. They also run this back door/pick play that consistently gets them open. We will have to stop that.

So we go to Tear-a’s plan B, which is bomb the threes. So far that is working! JJ Honesoff the bench gets hot. Kayla gets a three and makes them pay for leaving her alone at the top of the arc. We start puling away.

Before we know it, it is half time and even though we are up 42-25, the game feels a lot closer. The band goes to the floor to play and the announcer says the big bad Stanford tree has come to scare the Aggie band. We look over and they have a bogus tree, repeat, a FAKE Stanford tree on the court. It actually is pretty cute, made out of green construction paper and all. Then the announcer calls for some cow to help them. The whole student body and the band then break into this elaborate cow cheer/dance. We don’t know what they are saying but they all sure do…like we said, aint’ nothing else to do out here but memorize cow cheers. Then a girl in a cow costume comes out and chasing the fake Stanford Tree. The band plays this really long song, and the cow has to keep chasing the tree until it is over. Both cow and tree look winded. The song finally ends and the tree collapses, rather thankfully. The cow sits on the tree but is so tired slides off and falls to the floor on her back. The band leaves and it takes the cow and tree awhile to catch their breath and get up. Good thing the Stanford Band wasn’t here, because I am sure they would have rushed the floor to defend the tree’s honor, fake or not.

Basketball play resumes and Stanford steals the ball on the back door play that previously went so well for Davis. We play stepped-up defense. We force two shot clock violations.

A quick peak at Cal and they are losing by 20. Hee hee.

Then, with about 7 minutes left, Davis’ Haylee Donaghe, sister to injured Stanford player Hannah Donaghe, gets super hot. They mug JJ Hones in the back court and Haylee misses the lap up but gets her own rebound and puts it back. Haylee gets a three. Haylee makes another steal and Davis gets a three.

I am impressed with UC Davis’ hustle. They are still pressuring in the half court, and now Stanford’s threes are not falling. Live by the three….die by the three. Worse, when we miss, the rebound is long and we area not beating UC Davis to the ball. This is most troubling. Nneka fouls offensively and gets taken out again. We cannot quite put this game away; Davis keeps having spurts and keeping it close. Well, close in that we were up by 27 and they battled back to us being up by 17. It feels like we are losing.

It occurs to us that we have not gotten a single fast break. Davis hustles down the court the whole game. Again, impressive. Finally, with 2 minutes left and a 20 point lead, she subs out Jayne and the rest of the starters. A minute later she lets Roof into the game. (announcer guy calls her "Rough"). She makes a nice back door pass to Michelle Harrison for the score. We win 76-51. Jayne got 18 points and 9 boards and Kalya got 17 points with 11 boards. Nneka ended up with 11, playing only 23 of the 40 minutes.

More practice on the press and half court pressure, please. On the brighter side, we were 12 of 13 on our free throws. Hurray!

On an even more brighter side, Cal did lose to Baylor 69-49. Brittney Griner missed again on her dunk try but she did have 5 blocked shots to go along with her 15 points and was a factor in affecting Cal’s shots.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and we will see you the day after at the game,