On Friday, #2 Stanford women’s basketball defeated Pacific 98-44 on the road. Stanford sophomore forward Kiki Iriafen led the way for the Cardinal with 15 points and 8 rebounds while senior guard Hannah Jump had 14 points on 5-6 shooting from the field and 4-4 shooting from 3-point range. Stanford senior forward Ashten Prechtel was the other Stanford player in double figures with 11 points. Stanford improves to 3-0 overall while Pacific falls to 1-1.
The 1st quarter was close as Stanford led 17-12 at the end. Stanford’s bench was yet to get rolling as they had just four points. Iriafen was the one who was leading the way for the Cardinal with 6 points inside. She was off to a strong start and doing her part early.
In the 2nd quarter, Stanford started to gain separation as they outscored Pacific 28-8. Iriafen added another four points to her total and was up to 10 points on the night. At the half, Stanford led 45-20.
With 5:29 to go in the 3rd quarter, Stanford led 58-27 after Jump nailed a 3-pointer. Stanford would end up winning the quarter 33-18, leading 78-38 at the start of the 4th quarter. With 4:38 to go in the game, it was an 89-40 lead for Stanford as Iriafen (15 points) and Jump (14 points) were at their end-game totals.
In the end, Stanford walked out with a 98-44 victory. My prediction was 98-48, so it basically went as expected. The big thing from this game was that all 15 players got to play and 12 of those players played 10+ minutes. These games are all about getting everyone experience so that when their number is called upon in big games, they’ve had some game experience and it’s not all new to them.
If there’s one thing Tara VanDerveer is probably at a least a bit unhappy with, it’s the 16 turnovers. Her team could have done a better job of taking care of the ball and against other elite teams, that could make or break a game.
Up next for Stanford will be another road WCC game. They’ll take on Portland on Sunday at 2:00 PM PT on ESPN2 and Varsity Network radio.
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