On Friday, #2 Stanford women’s basketball defeated Arizona State 78-50 at home. Junior guard Haley Jones (12 points & 10 rebounds), junior forward Francesca Belibi (12 points), freshman forward Kiki Iriafen (12 points), and sophomore forward Cameron Brink (11 points, 7 rebounds, & 1 block) all scored in double figures for Stanford while senior guard/forward Jade Loville was the top performer for Arizona State with 19 points. Loville reached 1,000 career points in the loss. Stanford improves to 15-3 overall and 6-0 in the Pac-12 while Arizona State falls to 9-7 overall and 1-2 in the Pac-12.

“I thought that was a great team win for us,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said after the game. “Arizona State’s a real aggressive, scrappy team. We had to work really hard and I was really excited about how people came off the bench and made some major contributions for our team. Jana [Van Gytenbeek] came in and hit big threes for us. What was it, three-for-seven. It was awesome. Especially without Hannah Jump. I just thought this would be a great opportunity and Jana took advantage of it.

“Kiki’s 4th quarter was awesome. Coming in going five-for-six. Rebounding. She really helped our team and helped herself get in the mix. Make it more competitive. I would just say we have to do a better job of not fouling. That was one thing. We fouled too much. But otherwise we took care of the ball, we moved the ball well, and we had a lot of different people contribute. Great team effort.”

Early on the game was a bit sluggish as Stanford led 7-2 with 3:50 to go in the 1st quarter. Lacie Hull was up to 3 points for Stanford, who was shooting 3-8 from the field as a team. Arizona State was shooting a 1-9 from the field, really struggling to get going.

Stanford would soon turn on the jets to lead 13-2 with 1:46 to go in the 1st quarter. Stanford was on a 10-0 run over the last 4:33. Brink was up to 4 points and 4 rebounds for Stanford. Stanford was now shooting 5-10 from the field while Arizona State was shooting 1-12.

At the end of the 1st quarter, Stanford led 15-4 as Haley Jones was also up to 4 points. Arizona State was unable to get into any sort of rhythm as they were up to 7 turnovers. All things were going the Cardinal’s way.

“Well I think the defense,” VanDerveer said of the key to that strong 1st quarter. “Anna Wilson’s defense, Haley played well defensively, Cam, Fran. I thought Fran had a great game. Basically our post, Cam had 11 points. What did Fran end up with? 12 points. Kiki with 12 points. We dominated inside. I’m really excited to see that. That group just really got the ball and went to the basket real strong. So I think that was the biggest thing. Our defense was great for the whole game, basically.”

With 4:47 to go in the half, Stanford led 26-8. Stanford was on a 9-0 run over the last 2:57. Jones was up to 10 points and 7 rebounds for Stanford while Loville had 6 of Arizona State’s 8 points.

At halftime, Stanford was up 36-17 as Jones now had 12 points and 8 rebounds. As for Arizona State, it was Loville leading the way with her 10 points. Stanford continued to dominate.

Stanford continued to lead up 48-21 with 4:23 to go in the 3rd quarter. Brink was now in double figures for Stanford with 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 1 block. At this point of the game, it was beyond clear that Stanford would win. The only question would be by how much.

At the end of the 3rd quarter, Stanford led 60-29. Jones (12 points), Belibi (12 points), and Brink (11 points) were all in double figures for Stanford. Loville was up to 16 points for Arizona State. She simply wasn’t getting enough help from her friends. Arizona State was up to 13 turnovers while Stanford had just 5.

With 4:53 to go in the game, Stanford now led 70-40. Stanford was defending better and simply knocking down shots better. They were also moving the ball better with 12 assists to Arizona State’s 6.

In the end, Stanford walked out with a 78-50 victory as Kiki Iriafen joined the double-digits club scoring all 12 of her points in the 4th quarter. This was a game that was never in question. Stanford dominated from the jump and it really was that 15-4 1st quarter that set the tone. Stanford sucked the life out of Arizona State early and that was pretty much that.

“Every minute for me counts,” Iriafen said. “I’m trying to make good deposits, have my coaches trust me more, get on the floor a little bit more. So, I think just my teammates, my upperclassmen just cheering me on, getting me a lot of confidence allows me to play with no fear at all. So honestly it was go out there and just play, honestly. Because I have the support of my teammates.”

For Stanford, this was a really nice win. They had fans back at Maples for the first time all winter quarter and really should feel good about the way they dominated an Arizona State team that is very respectable. Those Sun Devils teams always play hard and it’s never a given that you’ll beat them with ease.

“I love it,” VanDerveer said of the effort from her team. “And what I really like is the fact that we were able to and I’m just going to call it Warrior basketball and Stanford basketball. Everyone was playing, everyone was encouraging everybody. I know Ashten [Prechtel] was standing behind Kiki. Cheering for her, encouraging her, Anna’s helping Jana. It was a great team win. I loved it.”

Up next for Stanford is a home game against #8 Arizona on Sunday at 1:00 PM PT on ESPN2 and Varsity Network radio. That will be a rematch of last year’s national championship game.

Note: Stanford was without junior guard Hannah Jump in this game. She’s in COVID protocols. Her status for return is up-in-the-air.

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