Stanford Whips the Washingtons

After a four game road trip, the Washington Schools came to town and the Stanford Women’s Basketball team enjoyed playing on their home floor. Lili Thompson, in particular, likes playing at Maples.

After scoring 27 to help Stanford beat Washington 69-53, two days later she scored a career-high 30 points to beat Washington State 69-52. Don’t get C and R wrong, though, these games were very different, and the WSU game was much closer than the score indicates.


Lili Thompson scored 57 points in two games.
Photo courtesy of Stanford Official site.
However, C and R would be remiss if we did not point out Stanford’s defense in the first game. Washington had the leading score in the country, Kelsey Plum, and Stanford limited her to seven first half points. Granted, she got loose in the second and man, can she create her own shots, ala Steph Curry, and she had 23 for the game. However, Stanford held her four points under her average. In that game, Stanford got hot early, thanks to Lili and enjoyed a double-digit lead from the first quarter on.

Contrast that to the Washington State game. Stanford was down by two at the half, 27-25. A little birdie told us WSU was filled with international players and they definitely did not back down. They certainly were not afraid of Stanford and never gave up hustling. WSU was very aggressive, especially in the defense. Stanford had to earn every basket. Curious, WSU used full court pressure in the fourth to rattle Stanford, yet inexplicably backed off of it. Stanford traditionally is not good with full court pressure.

One thing that saved Stanford in this game was the rebounding, Stanford had 46 boards to their 26. Kaylee Johnson regained her rebounding mojo by pulling in 19, with Erica McCall hot on her heels with 14. Erica added 11 points for another double-double, her 12th of the season. Karlie Samuelson added 10 points, including two three-pointers. However, it was Lili who helped Stanford build a second half lead with her 30 points in 33 minutes, 24 of them in the second half. She was 5-11 from the three-point line.


Kaylee Johnson had 19 rebounds vs WSU.
Photo courtesy of Stanford Official site.
Again, the defense came through, limited WSU’s leading scorer Borislava Hristova to nine points, half her season average. Lili Thompson drew that assignment and it was just the third time the Bulgarian native has failed to score in double figures this season.

Next game…Cal at home and away!

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Stanford Glad to be Or-e-Gone

The Stanford Women’s Basketball team (ranked #11) split two in the state of Oregon. First they played unranked Oregon, were trailing the whole game, and barely won 64-62. Then they played #12 Oregon State, built up a huge lead, and then couldn’t score in the fourth to lose 58-50. Two very contrasting games.

Oregon
Stanford was without their tall tree Erica McCall, who was “not feeling well.” However they held Oregon’s lead scorer Jillian Alleyne to only three points in the first half and five total points. Stanford’s defense is often overlooked.

Kaylee Johnson got the start and made the most of it, and scored in double figures, finishing with 16 points. In fact, Kaylee looked like a different woman out there, hustling, yes, but so sure and confident, really going up strong when she got the ball, or an offensive rebound. We have not seen the type of swagger in her one and a half years on the farm.

What happened in the game, quite simply, Oregon was beating Stanford with threes. They connected on 12-21. Hats off to Karlie Samuelson for making a few herself (4-5) to keep it close. The fourth quarter started with Stanford only down by four.

In the fourth, after trailing the whole game, sometimes as much as nine points, Stanford got it within one with four minutes left, trailing 61-60. That score stuck around until Oregon’s Jillian made a free throw with 53 seconds left.

Lili Thompson wanted it! Samuel Marshall/Emerald)

Cue the music, cue lights, cue our hero, Lili Thompson. Lili drove to her left and made a very tough lay up over two defenders with 35 seconds left to tie the game. And she was fouled! And she missed the free throw. Then rinse and repeat. Lili goes left, makes a tough lay up to go up by two with 2.2 seconds left, is fouled, and misses the free throw. A timeout advances the ball for Oregon and they even got a shot off, but it missed. Stanford hangs on to win 64-62.

Kaylee Johnson with 16, Lili with 16, and Karlie Samuelson with 18.

Oregon State
Which is harder for a fan to watch, trailing all game and heart attack with 2.2 seconds left for the win, or building up a huge lead, feeling good and munching popcorn, only to watch your team slowly starve to death for points and finally lose 58-50? C and R will answer for you. The second one.

This game was not without some Stanford highlights. It was good to see Kailee Johnson (no relation to Kaylee Johnson) have a break out game, take the ball up strong against a taller post and score 14, I believe a career high. Erica McCall was back in the lineup and scored 12. Alas, Lili’s magic from last game could not save them, and she ended up with nine points, and Karlie Samuelson had seven and fouled out of the game.

Tale of Two Halves
After trailing early in the first quarter, Stanford built up a nice lead against the Beavers in the second and even held them to nine points in the second quarter with a 17-6 run. The half time score was 30-21.

Then, Stanford held the Beavs (no relation to Justin Bieber) to nine points again in the third, but only scored ten points themselves, leading 40-30 to start the fourth. Then two things happened, Oregon State went to a zone and Stanford stayed in their same offense, which was not working, and Oregon’s Jamie Weisner got untracked. Wesiner only scored four points in the first half, and ended the game with 18. Also, Devan Hunter made 5-7 threes to end the game with 19. She had only made seven all season long.

How bad was it? Oregon State went on a 22-4 run to win 58-50. Wait, our math must be wrong. Oregon State outscored Stanford 28-10 in the fourth. Yowzza. Here’s more math. This win for Oregon was the first time in 15 years, snapping a29-game losing streak. The last time they won was 2001.

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Stanford Beats Pac-12 East Teams

The Pac-12 East teams of the Colorado Buffalos (Yes! Really!) and the Utah Utes (believe it or not, not a typo from C) came in to town this week and Stanford beat both of them to climb up to  a three-way tie for third.

The Stanford Women’s Basketball team played the Utes first, and they get off to a slow start. Both teams. And this was after Stanford’s worst scoring performance against Arizona State. The first quarter in the Utah game ended with Stanford leading by a point, 13-12. Half time score had Stanford enjoying a slight 30-28 lead. Remember C and R’s last blog, saying this was a Jekyll and Hyde team. Well, it seems like when the Cardinal remember to drive in to the basket to score or draw a foul, or when they get an offensive rebound (and this is important) put it right back up, they do well, and win. This was the case with these two games.

Stanford finally pulled away early in the third quarter against Utah using this strategy and won 72-52. Four players scored in double figures. Lili Thompson and Brittany McPhee each scored 16 points. Karlie Samuelson adding 13, hitting 3-of-5 from beyond the arc, and Erica McCall added 11 points to go with her 11 rebounds. Another double-double for Erica. Brittany McPhee was the catalyst for the third quarter surge, and mostly, her ability to penetrate and draw contact. She was 6-6 from the free throw line.

Colorado
This game started out as a rinse and repeat game. Slow start, score tied at the first quarter 14-14. However, Stanford turned up the intensity, especially in the second half. And, they drove and rebounded, and were not afraid to put it back up, in particular our two bigs, Kaylee Johnson (why doesn’t she start) and Erica McCall.


Kaylee Johnson and Erica McCall each grabbed a double-double.
Photo courtesy of Stanford Official site.
The two trees each recorded a double-double, with Kaylee totaling 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Erica finishing with 16 points, 11 rebounds, and a game-high three blocks. Kaylee's 17 points was a career-high, and she also topped the team with four assists, a personal best. At one point in the game, she was leading in points, rebounds and assists.

This game, Stanford showed a lot of hustle and intensity, something sorely lacking in other games. Lili Thompson really wanted it, and a lot of white and red jersey hit the floor diving after loose balls. Stanford went 1-10 with their first 10 shots in the opening quarter, but the thing was they were all good shots, lay ups, put backs, etc.

The difference in the subsequent quarters was that they made those shots, and had confidence when they did take them, including those strong-to-the-basket put backs. And when Stanford drives to the bucket, good things happen. Stanford had 34 free throw attempts (!) and made 23 of them. That’s 67% for the game for those of you keeping score at home, and C and R are sure head coach Tara VanDerveer would like to see that percentage go up. Those are free shots, y’all!

Strangely, Lili didn’t score until deep into the second quarter, however she nailed a three, which also put her over 1,000 career points. She is the 36 Stanford player to reach that milestone. Congrats. Lili!
Final score against Colorado, 71-56.

Keep it going (or stick to your Mr. Hyde side!), Stanford!!

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Stanford Sweeps LA Schools

The Stanford Women’s Basketball Team continued their line-up of three guards and two bigs against USC and told themselves not to get down early as they did the last two games. They listened to themselves and beat USC 71-60.

Couldn’t find a photo of Lili Thompson, so used this older one (MIKE KHEIR/The Stanford Daily)

Let’s correct that and say they listened to Hall of Fame Coach Tara VanDerveer. She told Lili Thompson, who did not score a basket against UCLA last game that she needed to make better decisions on offense and better shot selections. She listened. She got her first points, a layup, right away. Then she continued to attack the basket.

This game she was pump faking and putting the ball on the floor to get to the basket. And it worked. She got to the rim practically whenever she wanted. And when she didn’t she was fouled. She went 10-10 from the free throw line before she got a miss. She finished the night shooting 12-14 from the line (both career highs, BTW) and had 21 points.

Erica McCall listened, too. She has had an up and down season. Some of it could be the new offense focusing on the guards driving and kicking out ot the three point specialists. When McCall has been in she has either been ineffective or made great post moves but could not finish. Today she got some good finishes and scored 11 solid points for the game and grabbed six boards (with authority).

Strangely, though, after Lili’s hot start to make up for last game, her back court teammate Amber Orrange, who had 20 points last game, didn’t score in the first. Those two need to sync up on offense instead of taking turns. Granted, Amber likes to come through and make the acrobatic shots when no one is scoring, so maybe she didn’t feel the need to score with Lili carrying the load. She did have a much better second half and ended up with 10 for the game.

Speaking of post play, Stanford again was called for moving screens on their bigs. I believe they had three in the first half. Coach Tara questioned the calls again on the Pac-12 Half Time TV show. Hope she doesn’t get fined.

In the first, instead of waiting for the second half to make their move, Stanford went on a 15-0 run. USC didn’t help themselves, missing eight straight shots in first. USC also couldn’t hit threes. They went 4-15 from behind the line compared to Stanford’s 5-12. USC also did not get to the free throw line much, and when they did, they missed, going 8-16 for the game compared to Stanford’s 20-24.

Stanford has two other players in double digits to match Lili’s 21. Erica McCall scored 11 and Amber Orrange added 10 points for Stanford. Bonnie Samuelson made 2-4 3-pointers and scored eight total. Freshie Kaylee Johnson also added eight points, and three of the buckets came from easy walk-in lay ups when USC’s defense swarmed the top of the key trying to stop the guards and the three ball. The first time Kaylee turned near the top of the key and thought about a jump shot and was surprised to see no one in front of her. She paused and finally put the ball in the ground to the backboard and had the uncontested shot. She was ready when it kept happening.

Even with the win and leading most of the way since seven minutes in the first, C and R read these startling statics: USC outscored Stanford 36-22 in the paint, held a 20-5 advantage in offensive rebounds and scored 20 second-chance points.

Yikes. Stanford will need to shore that up with their post play. Everybody hear that?

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Stanford Wins in OT over Washington State

Just a quick write up about Stanford’s overtime win over Washington State, as there was a LOT of football on today. Did you know that Stanford has played three overtime games this season, and are two out of three? Did you also know Stanford has NEVER lost to Washington State, and had a 57-0 record going into this game? Think if they lost!

Stanford leaves the state of Washington with a win over Washington State and Washington. Both games had similar themes. In this game vs WSU, Stanford lived and died by their guard play. The post players continue their struggles to finish, but got some better results. Kaylee Johnson got it together and scored 13. Erica McCall also pulled down six rebounds. This game, though, Stanford’s Taylor Greenfield stepped up in the first, scoring seven, which earned her a starting spot in the second. She would end the game with eleven points. It was nice to have more players in double figures than just the guards.

Kaylee Johnson had 13 points and 15 rebounds in Stanford's overtime win. (Photo by Hector Garcia Molina/stanfordphoto.com)

In the first half both teams were pretty evenly matched, with both teams shooting around 38%, the difference being WSU forced Stanford into eight turnovers which lead to nine points. WSU by comparison only had two turnovers and Stanford got no points from them. Stanford also was 4-8 from the 3-point line, in the first, but WSU kept pace, going 4-9.

The Stanford guard play of Amber Orrange and Lili Thompson, as we mentioned, was well scouted by Washington. When Amber drove left, they were on to it and were able to limit it. It didn’t help matters that Lili Thompson started out cold and didn’t score in the first half. She would make up for it in the second.
WSU has a pretty impressive pair of guards as well, so nickname the Tia and Lia show. Tia Presley and Lia Galdeira can score, too. However, Stanford can scout, too, and held them to 3-12 shooting in the first.

Stanford had several long stretches in the first where they could not score, and were lucky to only be down by five, 28-33, at the half.

In the second, Amber Orrange played lock-down defense on Lia, but Lili had a more difficult time with Tia. She got hot and scored 16 in the second, totaling 23 for the game. Washington lead for most of the game, and at one point Stanford was down by 11, but good ol’ three-point specialist Bonnie Samuelson knocked down a three with 2:19 left in regulation to put Stanford within one. Then she knocked down some free throws a few seconds later to give Stanford a one point lead.  Both teams kept trading the lead, mostly on free throws in the final two minutes until Bonnie hit a three with 10 seconds left to put Stanford up by two. But then Stanford made the rookie mistake of not stopping ball and Lia scored a jumper to tie it in the final seconds, 71-71.

When overtime started, one of the Washington State, Mariah Cook players got called for her fifth foul and went down hard. After being helped off the court, all the life seemed to go out of WSU. Stanford’s Briana Roberson iced the game with 6 free throws in the final 44 seconds and Stanford would win 86-76.

Shout out to Six Stanford Scorers in Double Figures (say that seven times fast):
-Amber Orrange scored 19, including a three
-Bonnie Samuelson scored 18 and was 5-of-7 for 3-pointers, her second time this season with at least that many 3-point makes
-Lili Thompson added 13, including 2-4 from three point land
-Kaylee Johnson notched her third career double-double with 13 points and 15 rebounds and one block
-Taylor Greenfield scored a season-high 11, and was 4-4 from the line
-Roberson was a perfect 8-8 from the line, to end up with 10 points.

Now back home against the Arizonas.

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Stanford Wins Defensive Battle over Utah

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Stanford Can’t Score Against Chattanooga

So the Stanford Women’s Basketball Team traveled to Tennessee and played an unranked team they have never played before, and…lost. Stanford, ranked #7 lost to Chattanooga (UTC) 54-46 (and just what is a “Moc,” that school’s nickname?).

So what happened is…well, I don’t know what happened really, as my boss pulled me into an impromptu meeting at 3 PM Stanford time, just as the game was starting (and we hate these starts during work hours). When I came out, Stanford was down by 1, 29-28 at the half despite going on a 10-0 run. Talk about low scoring. Looks like UTC kept themselves in the game by making a bunch of threes (7 out of 15 in the first half).

Stanford’s Erica Payne-(Billy Weeks-AP Photo)

What I did see of the second half was no presence in the post for Stanford. Stanford tried the high screens for the guards at the top of the circle, but like so many other teams that have the advantage of watching game film, UTC was on to it and cut off the guards’ drive to the basket. Then there was nowhere to go with the ball. Plus Stanford’s three ball was not working, going 4-17 for the game, and making only one in the second half. Stanford only shoot seven free throws for the game, so the lack of a drive was also not creating trips to the free throw line. Stanford was averaging something like 80 points a game, so to be held to under 50 is either good defense on UTC's part or shall we say lack of scoring on Stanford's part, or both.

Wanna hear something weird? UTC did not score a single basket in the final 11:26 of the game. That’s right, not a one. Their defense did hold Stanford to just 12 points in that same time frame. However, UTC went to the line and made 11 of 12 free throw in that basket drought. Don’t know if we have ever seen that before. Wanna hear another weird fact? For the second game in a row, the other team did not shoot a free throw in the first half. Is that a testament to Stanford’s tough defense without fouling?

Lili Thompson was the Stanford high scorer with nine, so that goes to show you no one was in double figures. The Stanford site says “It's the first time in nearly two decades that the Cardinal has not had a double-digit scorer in a game.” A #7 ranked team needs someone to step up in these games. Shout out to senior Erica Payne who played a season-high 18 minutes and went 3-4 for six points. Freshmen Kaylee Johnson continues to rebound in the double digits, grabbing 12.

Well, Stanford shouldn’t feel too bad, Chattanooga did knock off another ranked team in their last game. It was, yep, Tennessee, which was ranked #4 at the time. Stanford will meet them Saturday, maybe they can commiserate.

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Stanford Beats Santa Clara After Long Lay Off

The Stanford Women’s Basketball Team shook off the rust of a two week vacation, if you call studying and taking finals at Stanford a vacation, and beat neighbor Santa Clara in a not very neighborly fashion. Although the final score was 82-43 and Stanford Head Coach Tara VanDerveer got to play everyone healthy, Stanford really did look rusty.

Stanford came out slow, and played from behind for the first four and a half minutes of the game. Stanford also did not make many threes, just going 4-9 for the game. In fact, Stanford’s three point specialist Bonnie Samuelson made the first Stanford three with about one minute to play in the first half. However Stanford did finish the first half strong, going on a 22-4 run.. Santa Clara had zero free throw attempts in the first (and went 1-4 for the game).

Kaylee Johnson had 22 rebounds. (Photo by Bob Drebin/stanfordphoto.com)

What was working in the first half was freshmen Kaylee Johnson. She was a rebounding fool. She has 11 boards in the first half, and finished the game with 22, which tied her career high set at New Mexico this year. She also scored nine points. In only eight games so far this season, she has two 20+ rebounding games. Quick, can you name another outstanding Stanford rebounder who had multiple 20+ rebounding games in a season? Answer, Chiney Ogwumike, who holds the Pac-12 rebounding record. Kaylee’s high school coach said she would break that record, and now we know he was not blowing smoke! But wait, there’s more. Kaylee Johnson is the only player in the whole NCAA with multiple 20-rebound games this season.

What was working for Stanford as a team in the second half was better ball movement, points off turnovers and second chances on put backs. They won the rebounding war 57-33. And Tara rested her starters to give her bench playing time.

Other career highs
Amber Orrange scored a season high 20 points and it was her 4^th career game of at least 20 points. Her career high is 22, I believe set against UConn (‘remember that game?). Freshmen Brittany McPhee scored a career high 11 points (Bonnie Samuelson was the only other player besides Brittany and Amber to score in double figures. She added 11 from the bench).

So now Stanford travels back east to the land of too early games and too cold weather to play two Tennessee teams. They first play pardon me boy, is that the chattanooga choo choo (Chattanooga) and then the Tennessee Lady Vols. Pat Summit might be gone, but they physical style of play is not. Will be another big test on the road for Stanford. Hope they pass.

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Stanford Holds off New Mexico

So the Stanford Women’s Basketball game at New Mexico started out Stanford enough. Stanford, even though without their leading scorer Lili Thompson (illness), found themselves up 22-6 in the first five minutes. Credit Karlie Samuelson (KSam) with four made threes for 12 points in that span.

Then New Mexico stopped the threes, and like Texas, they also stopped Stanford’s screen and drive to the basket game. Stanford was stuck, could not score, and when you watched on the free streaming video from the Mountain West Network, no on in a black uniform (which C and R love) was even within three feet of the paint. New Mexico clawed back and took the lead. Stanford didn’t have an inside game and could not penetrate inside. The low scoring half ended with Stanford’s Amber Orrange heaving a three and banking it at the buzzer to tie it at 35 (yes, Stanford was down at that point, as NM went on their own 21-4 run).

One fiery locker room talk from Stanford coach Tara Vanderveer later and Stanford comes out and goes on a 14-2 run in the first five minutes. Then Stanford, without a strong post presence, could not stop NM when they drove. New Mexico actually took the lead, 65-64, with 45 seconds left in the game, going on another run, this time out scoring Stanford 12-1.

Stanford forward Kaylee Johnson (MARK HOLM — AP Photo)

Still, credit Stanford for rebounding tough, especially Kaylee Johnson. The Freshie starter and pride of Wyoming grabbed a career-high 22 boards, 15 in the first half, and Stanford won the rebound battle 50-31. She also scored 10 points and hit the go-ahead free throws with 30 seconds left. Stanford would hang on to win 70-65.

Other notables, KSam hit six 3-pointers and scored a career-high 23 points and sister Bonnie Samuelson (BSam) added two free throws in the final seconds to help preserve the victory. As R said, Bonnie is automatic. The ball didn’t even rest in her hand before it was in the hoop. Kaylee Johnson’s 22 rebounds is only the 12th time in Stanford history a player has produced 20-plus rebounds in a game. Brianna Roberson, she of the tiny and the speed, knows she can’t take on a post player straight up on offense, so continues to use her speed and just run at the basket and shoot. She gets the foul call almost every single time. She was 3-4 from the line. Amber Orrange added 18 points, including that banked-in 3-pointer from more than 30 feet at the first-half buzzer. She also had the block with seven seconds left to keep New Mexico from even getting a shot off when Stanford was only up by three, 68-65.

Get better Lili. Get taller Erica McCall and Kailee Johnson so Stanford can utilize the post position more. Go soak up some sun in Hawaii, Stanford. Should be good for what ails ya.

Everyone have a happy Thanksgiving.

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