On Sunday at 12:00 PM PT on ESPN2, Stanford women’s basketball will take on the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Stanford comes in at 2-0 overall while Gonzaga comes in at 1-0.
Last time out: On Thursday, Stanford defeated Washington State 94-65. Elena Bosgana was the leading scorer for the Cardinal with 19 points, five rebounds, and three steals.
RECAP: Stanford WBB powers past Wazzu
Tara VanDerveer Court: Stanford will unveil the name of the court as Tara VanDerveer Court before the game to honor former women’s basketball head coach Tara VanDerveer. It’ll be a special day for Stanford as they get another opportunity to honor who I think is the greatest coach in the history of Stanford athletics.
“This is awesome,” Stanford head coach Kate Paye said of the naming of the court. “This is gonna be a really special day event and a special day. There’s no other way it could be. That is Tara VanDerveer Court and we’re all really fortunate to be a part of such a special day. And I’ve said this before, but if I know Tara, which I do, she’ll be most focused on us playing well against Gonzaga and that’s the best way that we can honor her on special day and Gonzaga is an excellent team and an excellent program. We have tremendous respect for Lisa Fortier, she’s a great coach, she’s a great friend. They have a great staff. They have a system to be successful. They have some new faces, they return Yvonne Ejim, who’s a fantastic player, so we have our work cut out us and maybe we’ll enjoy this for the rest of the night, but we’ll get right back it tomorrow.”
On Gonzaga: The Bulldogs are coming off a season in which they went 32-4 overall and 16-0 in the WCC. Last season, they defeated Stanford 96-78 up at their place and over the years, they have been a very difficult opponent for Stanford. This has become a legitimate women’s basketball rivalry.
Freshman guard Allie Turner is averaging 18.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game this season while fifth year forward Yvonne Ejim is averaging 17.0 points and 10.0 rebounds. Ejim had a strong season last year and will look to lead the Bulldogs once more to a victory over the Cardinal. Junior guard Ines Bettencourt is averaging 16.0 points per game, so she’s another player to keep an eye on.
Keys to the game: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is contain Yvonne Ejim inside. She’s the top player on this Bulldogs team. If Stanford is to contain her, sophomore forward Nunu Agara is going to need to have a big performance. How Agara does in this one is going to be crucial.
Secondly, Stanford needs to keep up their quality shooting and ball movement. Strong shooting from the perimeter from a variety of people is an early hall mark of this year’s team. If that continues, Stanford should be in a good spot.
Finally, Stanford needs to win the turnover battle. They had 10 steals in their last game against Washington State. If they can remain as active in passing lanes and win the turnover battle, I like their chances of winning this one.
Prediction: Given the emotion of the day and all, I’m going to roll with Stanford to win by a final score of 80-70. I actually think it will be a close one with Stanford pulling away late. Should be a fun afternoon of hoops.
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