On Sunday, #3 Stanford women’s basketball defeated Oregon 62-54. Stanford forward Cameron Brink had a monster performance for the Cardinal with 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 blocks, setting a school record for blocks en route to a triple-double while Hannah Jump (14 points) and Brooke Demetre (9 points) were the other top scorers. Oregon guard Chance Gray and center Phillipina Kyei each finished with 12 points for the Ducks. Stanford improves to 21-2 overall and 9-1 in the Pac-12 while Oregon falls to 14-7 overall and 5-5 in the Pac-12.
Video: Stanford WBB Oregon postgame press conference
“Well, I thought we played really well on defense,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said after the game. “Basically we held them to 51 points, they hit the three at the end, I know that. But it was pretty much inconsequential by then. But, we had different people step up. I’m really proud of Brooke how she came in the game. It’s challenging not to be always in the rotation, but she’s been practicing really hard, she is just a tremendous team player, and to see her come in and we needed her 3-point shot and she delivered. And her defense was great, she worked really hard, and I’m really proud of how she played.
“Cam with a triple-double, I don’t know that we’ve ever had a triple-double with 10 blocks. So, she’s got my trust. She got a quick foul, I thought it was kind of a cheap call, but she stayed in, ended up with two personal fouls, I think she’s really matured in that respect. Scoring, hit her free throws, we didn’t get very many of them, but she hit hers. Moving the ball, not turning it over, what a great game for Cam. I just, I don’t think there’s anybody on the block that’s any better in our league for sure, and I think she challenges anyone nationally. So, great to see her be patient, setting some great screens, playing defense, it was an exciting weekend for our team.”
Stanford got off to a strong start, leading 9-3 with 5:51 to go in the 1st quarter. Jump had 7 of those 9 points, really heating up early on. She had a 3-pointer and a couple of layups. At the end of the 1st quarter, Stanford would lead 14-7 as Haley Jones was up to 5 points of her own.
The 2nd quarter continued to go Stanford’s way as they led 22-10 with 5:33 to go until halftime. After a scoreless 1st quarter, Brink had 6 points so far in the quarter and was starting to get going inside. It looked like Stanford might run away with this game. However, the Ducks ended the 2nd quarter on a 9-0 run, doing a great job of getting themselves back in the game. This made it a 27-21 lead for Stanford as Jump’s 7 points was a team high.
It was rough shooting for both teams. Stanford was shooting 12-36 from the field and 2-14 from 3-point range while Oregon was shooting 7-40 from the field and 2-8 from 3-point range. The Ducks were lucky to be down by six points.
With 4:58 to go in the 3rd quarter, Stanford led 34-26. Jump was up to 9 points while Brink was nearing a double-double with 8 points and 8 rebounds. Stanford was in control, but Oregon was hanging tough.
At the end of the 3rd quarter, Stanford led 46-37. Brink was up to 12 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 blocks with a triple double suddenly in sight. Jump was up to 11 points while Demetre had 9 points on 3-3 shooting from 3-point range. As for Jones, she was making her presence felt on the glass with 5 points and 11 rebounds. Nice balance for the Cardinal.
“Yeah, I mean, you never know what the game’s gonna be like,” Demetre said of the key to staying ready. “If I’m getting a lot of playing time, not, so I’m always ready whenever Tara and the team needs from me. So, I knew if we needed to hit some shots to spread the floor and really get Cam those looks, so I just came in and did my thing and it ended up working out.”
With 7:31 to go, Stanford led 53-39. Brink was up to 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 blocks while Jump had 14 points. The Cardinal were starting to pull away. The real question now was whether or not Brink would get a triple-double or not.
With 2:52 to go, Stanford led 62-49. Jones was closing in a double-double that she ultimately would not get: 8 points, 16 rebounds, and 4 assists. As for Brink, she had her triple-double. History had been made at Maples.
“I kind of, whenever I’m standing out in time outs, I kinda look over the coaches’ shoulders and look at the sheet, I know I’m not supposed to do that,” Brink joked when asked if she was aware of her triple-double in action. “I was aware. And then I really wanted that last one. I think I got it off a jumper, so I was like running down the court doing, like I got a touch on it. But, I think just started out hot, they started driving in the paint and I just started blocking shots and started early. So yeah, it was a fun game…After the game [I found out]. I was waiting, because I was asking Erin, she’s on staff, and I was asking Erin if they counted it and she was like yeah. But was like I definitely touched that; I know I blocked it.”
In the end, Stanford walked out with a 62-54 victory. Oregon made the final score look a little better for them by making it a single digit game, but this one was all-Cardinal. The game wasn’t as close as the final score indicated.
“We made more threes than them and they’re a great 3-point shooting team,” VanDerveer said. “So, I think that was something that our defense again, really locked down. Talana, Indya, Agnes, they really worked hard. Hannah Jump, really worked hard.”
For Stanford, the big story from this game is Cameron Brink. She had one of her best statistical performances and was dominant on both ends of the floor. She showed why she’s one of the top players in the entire country.
While Brink led the way, it truly was a team effort. Jump and Demetre both brought a solid scoring punch while Jones had a more well-rounded game. It was a team effort to get this win.
One of the main challenges that this Stanford team has is having to roll with different lineups each game. They don’t have the luxury to have a fixed and consistent rotation. This is why Francesca Belibi didn’t even get in the game.
“You know what, I think some of it is again, just one of the changes we made a little bit is kinda moving Haley back to the 4, where she played for three years and maybe just how people are playing us that allows us to play smaller," VanDerveer explained. "So, that does impact all of our posts’ rotation time. So if Haley is at the 4, then that does take away, so Brooke came in and did well at the 4, Ashten played the 4 a little bit, now Kiki maybe didn’t have her best game today, but I think some of it is that, there’s a long post line and in the beginning of the season, there are games where we will play two posts, but I think we have to, we’ve made some adjustments with that and we’re playing smaller and faster. I think we’re running better and some of our young perimeter players were trying to play more posts early and we’ve kinda shifted gears with that.”
As an extension of this, Stanford has had to win games in different ways with different people stepping up on different nights. While Jones and Brink have been pretty consistent, every night it’s someone different stepping up to assist them and they’ve had to figure out ways to keep the train rolling when Hannah Jump went through a rough patch. VanDerveer admitted it’s been tough, but she feels it’s something that’s going to make them better come the NCAA tournament.
“I think it’s really hard for our players to be honest with you,” VanDerveer said. “I don’t think it’s easy. Again, Hannah Jump and Haley and Cam are pretty much playing 30 minutes a game. And then it’s trying to figure out who is around them. Talana has been playing a lot, but Indya’s playing a lot more, Agnes is playing a lot more. Brooke had a great game this game. But there could be Fran another night or, it really depends on what we need. We needed Fran defensively against Oregon State and she played a lot. So some of it is just based on what we need out there, who they can defend, and are they helping us on offense and are they rebounding. So, it is challenging, but that’s why I give Brooke a lot of credit in that she’s ready no matter what. And I think Indya is too.
“It’s hard not to know when you’re gonna play. It’s hard on me. It’s a lot easier to have a team that you got Lexie, Lacie, here’s your starting lineup and they’re gonna play 28 minutes a game or 30 minutes a game. But, I think it does keep things interesting, but it’s challenging. But I think people are responding really well, they’re trying really hard to do whatever our team needs and that’s what we need people to do. So, there’s gonna be games where down the road, Lauren Betts could be out there with Cam, ya know? But the way they’re playing us so soft on people, that’s why I thought Brooke came in and knocked down her shot, Elena hit her shot, Agnes hit her shot, Talana hit her shot, we have to go with what the other team is basically saying to us.
“But we always have to play defense and our defense was phenomenal. And our whole weekend, I thought our defense was really good. And our rebounding was not as good as we needed it, but it was pretty good.”
As for Oregon, they of course did not come to The Farm to lose, but they played Stanford decently well and can feel good about how they competed as the first team to out-rebound Stanford all season. They also walk out with a Bay Area road split, unlike their counterparts in Corvallis who fell to Cal in Berkeley by two points. Truly a rough weekend for the Beavers.
Up next for Stanford is a road game at Washington State on Friday. That will tip-off at 7:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Bay Area.
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