On Friday, December 1st, #3 Stanford women’s basketball will take on San Diego State on the road. Tipoff is at 11:00 AM PT on Mountain West Network and Varsity Network radio. Stanford comes in at 7-0 overall while San Diego State comes in at 4-3.
Last time out: Stanford dominated Albany 79-35 on Sunday. Cameron Brink went wild for the Cardinal with 21 points, 19 rebounds, and four blocks while Hannah Jump (16 points) was the number two scorer. Jump eclipsed 300 career threes.
VIDEO: Stanford WBB Postgame Press Conference | Albany
BOX SCORE: Albany at Stanford-Sunday, November 26th
“I thought Albany played really hard,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said. “They moved the ball really well. They just didn’t have an answer for Cam in there. Didn’t have an answer for Hannah Jump. They kinda had to pick their poison. So if they doubled Cam, Hannah was knocking them down. If they were out on Hannah, Cam was hurting it. I thought Cam did a great job going on the boards. 19 boards. Double double at halftime, played really hard, and was I thought, did a really good job helping us run our offense.
“Hannah was a point guard out there a little bit. Ran our offense. I think that for our team, it’s great to be able to play a lot of people. Get experience for a lot of our young players and I thought they did really well. Getting double digit minutes for our three freshmen. I thought Jzaniya stepped up and did well and then everyone got to play. So, no one got hurt. It was a great win.”
Stanford led 20-12 at the end of the 1st quarter as Brink was up to seven points, six rebounds, and three blocks. Kiki Iriafen was up to six points and two rebounds while Elena Bosgana had five points. The Cardinal were on cruise control.
At halftime, Stanford led 47-24 as Brink already had a double double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Jump (13 points) and Bosgana (11 points) were also in double figures. It was clear at this point that the Cardinal were going to pull this one out with little difficulty.
Stanford really put the clamps down in the 3rd and 4th quarters. In the 3rd, Stanford outscored Albany 15-7 and in the 4th quarter, they destroyed them 17-4. 79-35 was the final score. To Stanford’s credit, they didn’t let Albany get any life or take their foot off the gas, they were dominant all the way through.
“Our team works really hard defensively,” VanDerveer said. “And it’s nice to have Cam back there. She’s kind of a rim protector. Hannah’s defense has really been awesome. She’s really improved her defense so much. And everyone’s working hard at it. Talana is a fabulous defender. Chloe is a fabulous defender. So, I think everyone is working really hard at it."
Probably the only alarming aspect of this game for Stanford was the point guard play. Talana Lepolo had zero points and only two assists. They’ve tried using Hannah Jump at point guard, which just isn’t going to work. Bottom line is Lepolo needs to find her groove at point guard again and be the floor general that Stanford knows she can be.
On a personal note, VanDerveer reflected a bit on the one year she spent playing at Albany. Facing off against her former team brought back some memories for her.
“I told our team that it was a division three basic program then and they’ve come a long way,” VanDerveer said. “I jumped center, I was like leading rebounder, leading scorer, and leading turnover. So, I’m really happy for them. I thought they played very well. They moved the ball well, they share the ball, they had some nice shooters out there, number twenty is a really nice player, Cooper. Twenty three we did a better job in the second half. She hit three threes in the first half. But, there’s just not an answer for Cam. I mean, she can go up against anybody in the country and can score on anyone one-on-one.”
On San Diego State: The Aztecs have a good athletics program, but their women’s basketball program needs some work. They lost at home to Cal Baptist this season as well as UC San Diego. Their third loss came at Portland.
Senior forward Adryana Quezada leads the way with her 14.1 points and 7.0 rebounds per game while senior guard Jada Lewis (11.3 points), senior guard Abby Prohaska (11.1 points), and senior forward Kim Villalobos (10.4 points) are also scoring in double figures. The Aztecs do have some scoring balance, which is nice.
Keys to the game: Stanford needs to dominate the glass. San Diego State only averages a +1.7 margin on the glass while Stanford averages a +21.7 rebound margin. Stanford should look to clean up inside.
Secondly, Stanford needs to play a clean game. As long as they take good care of the ball and take good shots, there’s really no way San Diego State can win this one.
Finally, Stanford needs to contain Quezada. If they pin her down and don’t allow her to have a big game, they’ll be fine.
Prediction: I got Stanford winning big. 80-57. They’re just on a different level than San Diego State.
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