Stanford’s Defense Whips Washington

Stanford played Washington tonight in Seattle, and the game opened with some weirdness for the Stanford Women’s Basketball team.

Bad passes, turnovers, fouls, Stanford’s leading rebounder Chiney Ogwumike losing rebounds out of bounds, Sanford was not itself and out of sync. Ruef makes a pass to Chiney for the easy basket underneath, but no, she is called for charging, and the Washington player gets a belated Oscar. Jos tinkle blocks someone from behind, twice, yet the Huskie gets both rebounds and scores on the third.

Then it rained in Seattle. Rained Stanford threes that is, hee hee! Three-point specialist Bonnie Samuelson came off the bench and missed her first one. Then hit her next four. Stanford went on a 23-2 run, making six three-pointers, to take a 26-11 lead. Joslyn Tinkle had two in that run.

Then Stanford starting bombing fours…well, you can’t get four points on a regular shot, but they were so far away from the line, they might as well have. Guess what, shooting from that far back, they lost their accuracy. And the rain all but dried up in the second half. Stanford would shoot 9-39 from behind (way behind) the line for the game. The 39 attempts were a season high They gotta temper that a little.

Washington had some weirdness of its own. The Huskies played without leading scorer Jazmine Davis and third-leading scorer Talia Walton. According to EspnW, “the pair, along with Deborah Meeks, was suspended earlier this week for one-game by coach Kevin McGuff for violating team rules.”  Washington’s coach said the suspension “did not involve academics, drugs or alcohol.” So what’s left? Luckily it is only for one game, and the players will be in full force against Cal.

When Stanford went cold while shooting, Stanford dominanted defensively. Washington shot just 17% and Stanford allowed a season low in points. The half time score was 39-18. Anytime you can hold a team under 20 points for a half, that is good defense. In fact, those 18 points would stand until 13:30 in the second half. Now that IS some good defense. The final score was 71-36. Stanford also had 11 blocks for the game.

Chiney Ogwumike scores 24 and grabs 13 boards (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Chiney Ogwumike scored 24 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, for her 23rd double-double of the season, and her continuing team record setting 53rd of her career. It was also her 22nd 20 point game of the season.

Mikaela Ruef grabbed 12 boards, one away from her career high. She also had 6 assists, I think all to Chiney. Bonnie Samuelson had 15 points on her five three pointers.  Stanford was able to take advantage of Washington’s zone by quick passes to hit an open Bonnie. Tinkle and guard Amber Orrrrange each added 12 points and each had two three-pointers. With four scorers in double figures, you know Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer was happy.

So the Pac-12 Regular season title all comes down to one game. Stanford and Cal are tied, but they are not playing each other this weekend. Stanford plays Washington State and Cal plays Washington.

Last year Cal and Stanford were in the exact same situation. They were tied, same as this year, and Cal went into Washington and LOST, lost the game, lost the title. This year, Cal will come into Washington again, and Washington will be back in full force with all starters reinstated and has a chance to play spoiler, again. We shall see.

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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 Obliterates Oregon State

Oregon State figured if they can’t stop the Stanford Women’s Basketball team from scoring, maybe they could limit them by tackling. They tackled Chiney Ogwumike after she stole the ball and went up for a lay up, wrapping her up and wrestling her to the ground. That Oregon State player got a flagrant foul, and if you get two flagrant fouls in a game, you are ejected, unless you are Brittney Griner. Bonnie Samuelson was jumped while trying to dribble and that should have been a flagrant foul, too. She just got two free throws out of it.

Chiney Ogwumike reacts after scoring against Oregon State. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

Chiney got the best of the wrestling match when she was being pushed out of bounds behind the backboard and threw the ball up. It arced high and straight thorough the basket without touching the rim. Since she was knocked to the ground, she had no idea what happened until her teammates pulled her up and said it went in. The look on her face was priceless. She also sunk that free throw shot to give her 11 made FTs, which was a career high for her. 

Once Oregon State realized they couldn’t tackle, it was all over. They had no defense. They played Chiney one on one and let her score. They let four Stanford players get in double digits, and lost 90-53, even though the Stanford starters had a healthy rest.

Stanford Highlights:
Chiney scored 19 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for her 21st double-double of the season. She now has 51 career double-doubles, which ties the Stanford record set by her sister Nneka Ogwumike. Did we mention Chiney is only a junior? As we mentioned, she made a career-high 11 free throws. She also had 4 blocks in the win.

Coming from the bench, Talyor Greenfield matched her career high with 18 points.  She was 4-5 from three-point land, and it is good to see her contributing. Stanford will need her to score in double digits in big games.

Senior Joslyn Tinkle, maybe realizing her time at Maple is finite, broke the 1,000 point barrier, the 34 th Stanford player to do so. She hit two late threes to end up with 11.

Guard Amber Orrrrange had 15 points and was 7-9, with six assists. She is a good scoring guard.
No Toni Kokenis again. The undisclosed medical condition watch is now at five straight games.

Sunday is you last time to see the Stanford Seniors Joslyn Tinkle and Mikaela Ruef on their home court during the regular season. Don’t forget, in honor of Joslyn “Jingle” Tinkle, bring your Tinkle bells to ring for her.  And stay for the Senior Tribute after the game!

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Stanford, Tough D, Beats UCLA

This was a tough, physical game. It featured one flagrant foul and technical for swinging elbows, and one player getting an elbow in the face and a lacerated cheek. Yes, those were two different plays.
Still, the Stanford women’s basketball team prevailed 68-57 over UCLA in a game that featured both teams taking turns going cold and letting the other team go on long runs. Stanford had 15 turnovers and UCLA had 21.

Chiney Ogwumike, right, tries to score over Markel Walker. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Stanford’s Chiney Ogwumike got going early and often, scoring 12 points in the first and 26 for the game. She only grabbed seven rebounds so her streak of nine straight double-doubles came to an end. Same with her hopes of tying the Stanford record of 51 career double-doubles set by her sister Nneka Ogwumike. Chiney is currently on 50. That’s okay, she can do it in front of her home crowd this coming weekend. 

UCLA’s Alyssia Brewer’s quote on Chiney was a little cryptic. "Overall I think we did a pretty job on her," UCLA senior forward Alyssia Brewer said. "I know she had 26 points but all of her shots were tough shots. I gotta give her credit for being able to make those shots and she does come prepared." Yes, they were tough shots, but that’s what Chiney does, she makes those tough shots. You might have forced her to take tough shots, but if she is knocking them down, you are not making it hard enough. Turns out this is Chiney’s 20th 20 point game this season. In ten games against ranked opponents, Chiney is averaging more than 21 points and11 rebounds.

The game was so physical early on that Stanford coach sent in backup 6’5 center Tess Picknell in the first half. She scored a basket and swung her elbows and got the aforementioned fragrant foul. To some observers on Twitter, they thought the UCLA player did not give her room to clear the ball and baited the center into the foul. As for the second vicious elbow, Chiney Ogwumike got an alley-oop pass and was going for a lay up when Kari Korver got in her way. Chiney’s elbow came down on her cheek and sliced her cheekbone, spouting quite a bit of blood. In this case, Korver got the foul, had to leave the game and will need multiple stitches to her cheek. Chiney, to her credit, went over to the bleeding Korver and apologized and said she didn’t mean to injure her. Pretty classy.

As we mentioned, both teams would go on runs and then get cold. UCLA got within two right before the half but Bombing Bonnie Samuelson hit a three to put Stanford up by five. UCLA would get within five points in the second half, too, but could not get closer.

Mikaela Ruef, who is experiencing a renaissance of scoring, had her second double-double of her career. She scored 10 and grabbed 10 rebounds. Joslyn Tinkle was one rebound away from matching that, also scoring 10 and grabbing 9 boards. That would have been her third straight double-double. However, she is four points away from joining the 1000 point club. Again, it is nicer to do it at home this weekend.

Stanford has two games at home this weekend against Oregon State and Oregon(and senior night) and two away games at the Washingtons. Both sets of teams are bottom dwellers in the Pac-12 conferences. Looks like Stanford and Cal will share a piece of the Pac-12 regular Title if everybody wins as they should.

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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 Bombs Arizona State

Beautiful, sunshiny day in the Bay Areas as the Stanford Women’s Basketball played their Breast Cancer Awareness game vs. Arizona State. Stanford looked all-cool in their pink, pink shoes with neon pink laces and pink piping on their shorts. Arizona State was all in pink, pink everything. Shorts, shirts, numbers. I guess since they were the away team they got to be “dark” so could pinkify their uniforms to the max. It didn’t help them score, though. Stanford beat them 69-45.

All season long Stanford Coach Tara VanDerveer has been imploring other team members not-named-Chiney-Ogwumike to step up and score. Last game it was Mikaela Ruef with a career high 11 points and her first career double-double. Ruef even said in the post-game interview that the coaches were asking her to shoot instead of looking to pass.

Bonnie Samuelson goes in for a layup and hit five 3-pointers for a career high 19 points. Photo by Bob Drebin.

This game it was Bonnie Saumelson’s turn to step up. She scored a career high 19 points and made a career high five 3-point shots. She is not nicked named Bonnie the bomber for nothin’. Joslyn Tinkle also got in on the “First” act, by getting her first double-double of the year (11 points and 13 rebounds). 

Bonnie said Tara pulled her aside and said, “I have confidence in you.” Bonnie would have scored more in this game, but she picked up her fourth foul at the 8th minute mark and Tara did not have confidence in her not fouling out.

Chiney Ogwumike, on the other hand, scored 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for her 19th double-double of the season, and her 8th in a row. You can see why Tara has been begging other players to match her or at least score in double digits.

On the other hand, after the trio of double-digit scorers, starters Ruefie scored five and Amber Orrrrange four. The only bench player to score was Jasmine Camp with two points. Bonnie scored five 3-pointers, but Stanford was 5-20 from behind the arc. Really? No one else could make a three? Stanford needs scoring consistency at every position, not just one or two, possible three players.

Speaking of starters, Toni Kokenis was in the sweat-suit-of-injury for the second game in a row. Fans who sit next to the bench got the word that it was for “an upper body injury.” That’s more then we got from the staff at last game’s press conference of  “undisclosed medical condition.” Toni has missed games before with the same “undisclosed medical condition” and “upper body injury.” What’s weird is how evasive the staff is being about her condition. Anyway, we wish her a speedy recovery from whatever it is that ails her.

Stanford definitely missed the experienced guard play of Toni, sometimes having only one guard in at a time. When Arizona State went into their half-hearted press, Chiney Ogwumike brought the ball up. Why is our post player the only one capable of dribbling the ball out of a press? Hard-pressing teams will eat us up comie NCAA tournament time.

Speaking of guards, Stanford’s Alex Green made her first appearance in 15 months. She played the last few minutes of this game and scored no points. She ruptured her Achilles tendon in Nov of 2011. Ask Candice Wiggins how difficult it is to come back from that when she missed a whole year of the WNBA for the same injury. We wish Alex continued success at recovery.

Stanford’s win keeps them tied with Cal for first place in the Pac-12. Next up is a trip down south to see USC and UCLA.

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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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