On Monday, #2 Stanford women’s basketball defeated #18 Arizona 73-57 in a matinee at Maples Pavilion. Stanford senior guard Haley Jones led the way for the Cardinal with 18 points, 16 rebounds, and 5 assists while senior forward Francesca Belibi had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Arizona fifth-year guard/forward Jade Loville was the top performer for the Wildcats with 12 points. Stanford improves to 15-1 overall and 3-0 in the Pac-12 while Arizona falls to 12-2 overall and 3-1 in the Pac-12.
“I told our team this was maybe not pretty, but it was gritty,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said after the game. “I thought our team really battled, got on the floor for loose balls. We struggled early turning the ball over, Haley obviously getting two quick fouls is not what she does, but she’s really smart, she stayed in the game. And I think a real big contribution was Fran coming in guarding number 30, she did a great job on her and her offense was fabulous going five for six, eight o-boards, double-double, it’s really I think a good example for our team of someone that is ready to play. She’s ready to play no matter what the situation is and I think it’s a great example for our team because Fran started for us, she’s come off the bench, has played limited in some games, but in this game she took advantage of her time and she let them know she was in the gym and on the court. I’m really proud of her. She is just a great teammate and had a great game tonight along with Haley.
“I thought Talana did well for us, too. Playing as a freshman. Just taking care of the basketball, she had more assists than turnovers, which was hard to do in this game because of their aggressiveness. I thought her defense was good and we just, I think we just stayed with things really well. Great leadership from Haley and Fran and Ashten and Hannah Jump.”
Arizona got off to a strong start, leading 6-0 within the first three minutes. Cate Reese, Jade Loville, and Esmery Martinez each had two points for the Wildcats. Stanford responded with a 6-0 run of their own as Hannah Jump hit a 3-pointer followed by a three-point play by Cameron Brink with 5:02 to go in the quarter.
Things would continue to go back and forth for a bit, but Stanford would lead 19-15 at the end of the 1st quarter. Haley Jones and Hannah Jump each had 6 points for the Cardinal while Jade Loville was leading the Wildcats with 7 points. Arizona was hanging tough, continuing to put a lot of pressure on the Cardinal.
“Yeah, I think Arizona is a great team and they’re known for their defense creating their offensive defensive pressure and things like that,” Jones said. “And so, I think they came out and they executed their game plan at the beginning and we were a little flustered by that. But I think, yeah, whenever Hannah hits a three it gets us going. We expect it to go in every time.
“So, I think it might have been a sigh of relief. I don’t really remember, but I think just once you see the ball go in the basket, no matter who it’s from it just kinda gets you going and I think we had a media timeout or some other timeout, Tara talked and said we just gotta settle into the game a little bit. So, I think it was a mix of things, but also just having conversations on the court knowing that’s not the basketball we want to play.”
With 3:29 to go in the 2nd quarter, Stanford led 27-19. Jump was up to 9 points on 3-7 shooting from 3-point range while Jones was up to 8 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. Stanford was out-rebounding Arizona 21-14.
At halftime, Stanford led 36-22. Jump (9 points), Jones (9 points, 9 rebounds, & 4 assists), and Brink (8 points, 3 rebounds, 1 block, & 1 steal) were all balling out for the Cardinal. Stanford really put the clamps down on Arizona in the 2nd quarter, outscoring them 17-7.
“I guess we just locked in,” Jones said with a bit of a shrug when asked about holding Arizona to seven points in the 2nd quarter. “I don’t really know. Kiki and Fran did a really good job on number 30 on their team. They did a great job locking in with, our scout team did a great job while we kept practice. Kinda showing what type of players they were, so I think we just did a good job executing that second quarter once we settled into the game.”
Stanford led 45-26 with 4:59 to go in the 3rd quarter. Jones was now up to 11 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 assists. Stanford was 11-18 at the foul line while Arizona was 1-1. Free throws were making a real difference.
At the end of the 3rd quarter, Stanford led 57-41. Jump and Jones each had 13 points for the Cardinal. Stanford was dominating Arizona on the glass with a 41-23 rebounding advantage.
Stanford continued to maintain their lead in the 4th quarter, leading 71-51 with 2:52 to go. Jones was not going to finish with a triple double, but still had a fantastic night with 18 points, 16 rebounds, and 5 assists. As the late Stuart Scott would say, she was as cool as the other side of the pillow.
In the end, Stanford would win 73-57. Francesca Belibi really came alive in the 4th quarter, scoring 6 of her 14 points. She did a great job of helping the Cardinal close it out. This was the best performance of the season for Belibi as it was her first double-double of the season and also her season high in both points and rebounds. With Kiki Iriafen having a quieter night, it was huge for Belibi to step up like she did.
As a whole, Arizona played Stanford pretty close except for that 2nd quarter. That was where the Cardinal really gained their separation. Looking at the stats, Stanford’s 53-35 rebounding victory as well as 20-34 shooting from the foul line (Arizona shot 7-9) made the difference. Stanford did a better job attacking the glass while also getting to the foul line. If you win in those two departments, that goes a long ways towards winning the game.
“We were attacking and that’s a great thing for us to get to the free throw line,” VanDerveer said. “And we are a very good free throw shooting team and just didn’t, we didn’t connect the way we needed to. And I think it’s just the attacking the basket and not fouling them. I think we really focused a lot on not fouling Arizona State because they are a top team in drawing fouls, so that carried over.”
Up next for Stanford is a road game at Cal on Sunday. That will tipoff at 4:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks and Varsity Network radio.
Note: Agnes Emma-Nnopu did not play for Stanford. She was questionable coming in. She remains day-to-day.
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