Three ball from Bigs Beats Baylor

Hidey ho Stanford Women’s Basketball fans. Just a quick blog to tell you that the Stanford Women’s Basketball team, ranked 11th just beat the number 3 ranked team, Baylor.

Yes, the score will show a final of 68-63, however it was more of a beat down than that. Stanford was up 41-25 at the half. Yes, you read the right.

Baylor has two bigs, 6-7 Kalani Brown and also very tall Lauren Cox. What if we told you they held Lauren to TWO total points, and Kalani Brown to five? Lauren and Kalani each had two in the first half!

I will say this, give Tara VanDerveer enough time, in this case about two weeks, to prepare for a team, and she will figure out how to beat them with lesser players (no offense, Stanford starting five!). She will key on your two best players, Brown and Cox, and make you beat them with your third or fourth option. This disruption to the super stars who are used to scoring is usually hard for teams to handle, as Baylor witnessed this game. Baylor did get a nice game out of NaLyssa Smith and Chloe Jackson, each with 15 points, but it was not enough.


Photo courtesy of Stanford Women's Basketball
Then came Coffee

We have to give major props to Senior Shannon Coffee, for my home town of Dayton, Ohio!! She has been a bench player and was called on this afternoon to guard Kalani Brown, due to her 6’5 size. And she did a good job on the the afore mentioned five points of Brown. However Shannon is not known for her offense. However again, she made three 3-pointers, chipping in nine points to the cause. They were especially timely in the fourth, when Baylor mounted a comeback from that disastrous first half, and got within seven.

Tara-ism at its best:

"Shannon has been someone that has been a role player for our team and a lot of times she's led the cheers on the bench," VanDerveer said. "Today people were cheering for her. She made some big shots. Her defense was really good. It was really exciting for her to have such a big game in a big game."

Some fun facts:

• Our two tallest players, Allan Smith (lead Stanford scorer with 21) and Shannon Coffee were 8-of-13 from deep.
• Seven of Shannon’s 12 career 3-pointers have come against Baylor, including three this Saturday!
• Baylor had more turnovers (15) than assists (13)
• Brown had a season-low five points on 2-of-7 shooting

Some not so fun facts:

• Stanford was 9-21 at the free throw line. Maybe with all that scheming, Tara forgets to have the team practice free throws?

Next up is Tennessee on Tuesday at ol’ Rocky top. See ya there (or on the SEC channel if you get it!)

More Stanford Goodies at the original C and R's Stanford Women's Basketball Blog

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Stanford Women’s Basketball beats Coach’s old team

This was a game of numbers. First, the Stanford Women’s Basketball team took on Idaho, for the third time in program history, but first time for Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer. Why is that important? Idaho gave Tara her first head coaching job forty years ago and according to my trading card I got at the game, she was 42-14 in those two years.

Stanford won handily, 115-71, and no, the 115 is not an infamous misprint, Stanford really did break 100, the first time in two years, and fifth highest total since 1994, when they scored 122. And this was a three-ball affair.

Tara Vanderveer spoke after the game and said Idaho is known for hitting threes. Yes indeedy. They hit 15 of ‘em (way to go, Ida-ho!). That’s okay, Stanford hit 16 of ‘em, tying a program record. Idaho has two players that have over 300 made threes in their career. And Stanford actually stopped those two! It was the other two they didn’t know about.


Photo courtesy of Bob Drebin/ISIPhotos.com
More numbers:
• Stanford outrebounding Idaho 46-20, including a 17-2 edge on the offensive boards
• Stanford had 34 points in the paint
• Idaho made 63% of their threes
• Stanford’s Alanna Smith had 19 points and 9 rebounds
• Kiana Williams, also of Stanford, also had 19 points and 9 assists
• Stanford freshie Lexie Hull, starting in her second game has 17 points and 5 rebounds, although it seemed like more
• Stanford’s Nadia Fingall had 16 points
• Stanford’s Maya Dodson and Anna Wilson each had 10 points.
• Lexie Hull and Kiana Williams combined to go 9 of 15 from three-point land

Stanford plays San Francisco at home, against Coach Molly Goodenbour, a former player under Tara VanDerveer. Old teams, old players, doesn’t matter, Tara just mows then down. San Fran will be fun, then Stanford welcomes Ohio State on Sunday, Nov 18. See ya at Maples Thursday and Sunday.

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Stanford Opens Season with a win over UC Davis

Hidey ho Stanford Women’s Basketball sports fans! Long time no blog. Does anyone even blog anymore? Well, I have been doing this for upteen years, so why stop now.

First games are always fun because you get to ask all of your friends and seat mates, how do you think they will do this year? And everyone says it’s hard to tell. Same for this game against UC Davis. Oh, Stanford won, handily by a score of 71-43. However the offense looked stagnant at times. Why does the post have to catch the ball at the free throw line with her back to the basket? Speaking of free throws, Stanford was worst in the Pac-12 last year. This game they started out weak, but finished the game at 72%. Let’s hope they keep improving.


Photo courtesy of Bob Drebin/ISIPhotos.com
So Stanford the last few years has always been a sisterhood. Then the Ogwumike sisters came (Nneka and Chiney) and it really WAS a sisterhood. Two of the three Samuelson sisters (Bonnie and Karlie) kept up the tradition (although Stanford fans lament the one that got away…. Katie Lou…. To UConn!). However Stanford always has to take things up a notch, so this year we have freshmen identical twins Lexie and Lacie Hull. And boy, these freshmen are already making an impact. Lexie started the game, and Lacie played significant minutes, with Lexie finishing with 11 points and 11 boards. So the freshie got herself a double-double her first game out. C and R expect big things out of you, young lady!

Although there was a strange session where three Stanford players jumped as a UC Davis player was in the air shooting, and it did look like Lexie flew in hard. They at first gave the foul to Shannon Coffee (shout out to Dayton Ohio) and then they reviewed the play. For a long time. And then the refs (Missy!) said the foul was on Lexie Hull and gave UC Davis two technical shots for unsportsmanlike conduct. And now I am not allowed to use the word “and” anymore. I guess Lexie hit her in the head. I don’t know, wish they would televise these games. *Editor’s note, ESPN reported that the technical foul was for “making contact with the opponent under the basket.”

Good to see that four Stanford players were in double figures, the afore mentioned Lexie, Alanna Smith, off of her silver medal in the FIBA World Cup for team Australia, Kiana Williams, and Maya Dodson. Maya was especially good to see as she (and Coach Tara VanDerveer) stuck to her strength, which is around the basket. She has great post moves from the low blocks and every time she scored, you could see her confidence grow. She also led the team with three blocks, and you can tell those are just as fun as a basket.

Next up is Idaho at home. See you at Maples!

PS
UC Davis has twins, too, senior sisters Karley and Kourtney Eaton. Hey NCAA, has that even happened where two teams played each other with two sets of identical twins?

PPS
Did you know Tara coached at Idaho two season (well, it was 40 years ago, so you are excused if you forgot)? And also coached at Ohio State, which Stanford plays Nov 18?

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