On Thursday, #2 Stanford women’s basketball defeated Oregon State 57-44 in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 tournament. Stanford came in as the 1 seed in the tournament while Oregon State came in as the 8. Stanford junior guard Haley Jones led the way for the Cardinal with 20 points, 14 rebounds, and 6 assists while sixth-year guard Anna Wilson (11 points) and sophomore forward Cameron Brink (10 points & 6 rebounds) also finished in double figures. Redshirt senior guard Emily Codding (13 points) and redshirt senior forward Ellie Mack (13 points & 9 rebounds) were the top performers for Oregon State.
“I thought it was a little bit like a heavyweight fight,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said after the game. “These are two teams that know each other really well. They're very talented. And I think we just had to step up defensively, which we did. And I think Anna really got it going defensively and helped us in the first half, and Haley really got her offense going in the second half. We got out in transition. She knocked down shots that are great shots for her. And we had a lot of different contributions from different people. I thought Cam played really well. I thought that Agnes came in and gave us some good minutes, Kiki came in and gave us good minutes. But a lot of it was about who was playing defense.”
Stanford got out to an 11-2 lead with 3:49 to go in the 1st quarter. Anna Wilson (3 points), Lexie Hull (3 points), Cameron Brink (3 points), and Haley Jones (2 points) were all on the board for the Cardinal. Things were looking good for Stanford early.
Stanford would lead 16-2 at the end of the 1st quarter. Wilson was up to 6 points for Stanford on 2-3 shooting from 3-point range. Stanford was shooting 4-7 from 3-point range so far.
“The first quarter was awesome,” VanDerveer said. “And, again, I thought people were really locked in defensively. And it helps our defense when our offense scores. So Anna making her 3, Cam, Lexie. I think it helps motivate our defense when we score. So getting out to a 16-2 lead and then I'm not sure what the biggest lead was. I know in the second half it was 20-something. But I was glad that our team just didn't really relax and think the game was over because it's a 40-minute game.”
Stanford would go up 19-2 with 8:18 to go in the 2nd quarter after Lexie Hull hit a triple. Oregon State quickly called for time, hoping to regroup. This was not the start that they were looking to have.
That timeout worked as Oregon State finished the quarter on a 16-8 run to make it a 27-18 Stanford lead at halftime. Wilson’s 11 points was leading Stanford while Codding’s 7 points led Oregon State.
Stanford would lead 40-29 with 4:37 to go in the 3rd quarter. Jones was up to 10 points for Stanford while Codding was leading the way for Oregon State with 13 points. Stanford was in front, but Oregon State was battling.
“I think about the third quarter,” Jones said of when she started to feel it. “Tara said at halftime that the shots I was taking the first half were good shots. So I just kind of had to have confidence in that. And my teammates instilled a lot of confidence in me that those are shots that are makeable and within the flow of the offense. I think things just started getting going in the third quarter.”
At the end of the 3rd quarter, Stanford led 47-31. Stanford outscored Oregon State 20-13 in the 3rd. Stanford was starting to pull away. Haley Jones was going to work with 14 points.
With 4:55 to go in the game, Stanford was now up 55-35. Jones was up to 18 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 assists. It looked like with the lead Stanford had, she would be done for the day.
To Oregon State’s credit, they battled hard enough to force Jones to come back to the floor, but in the end, it was still a Stanford victory: 57-44. Stanford found another gear to kick things into and Oregon State simply wasn’t able to keep up. Haley Jones was obviously the top player for Stanford in this one, but it was an all-around team effort.
Hanging over this game was the loss of Stanford soccer player Katie Meyer. It was the first time the Cardinal took the court since her passing and there were a lot of emotions for head coach Tara VanDerveer to manage including her own.
“It has been a really difficult past couple of days, as you said,” VanDerveer admitted. “And I know our team, and I express our condolences to the Meyer family, to friends, and our team is really supportive of women's soccer. And they know all the women on the soccer team and they come and support us. But I think the best thing that we could do is come out and play really hard for and with each other today.
“I'm really proud of our team how we did that because it has been really rough. And it's just something that, again, I think our team really stepped up, the leadership of on your team, both Anna and Haley are captains. They honored Katie's life with their shirts and the things that they've done in the past few days. And they played hard for each other and knowing that it was tough. But I'm really proud of our team for how they came out. They're very resilient and they're a very, very close team.”
Up next for Stanford is a game against Colorado on Friday in the semifinals. That game will tip-off at 6:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks.
“I think Colorado, JR Payne and her staff have done a great job,” VanDerveer said looking ahead to Friday’s matchup. “And they hang their hat on defense too. And they're a very aggressive team. They're a very athletic team. I think the one thing that we did really well today we took care of the basketball. We only had three turnovers. When we played them in Colorado we had 13 in the first quarter.
“So number one thing is we will have to take care of the basketball. And we have to just play our game. I think that, again, when you play against top teams like we do in this conference I think it just makes us better. And I would like to say that our team has improved more than Colorado since the last time we played.”
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