Recap: #4 Stanford WBB powers past Pacific
On Sunday, #4 Stanford women’s basketball defeated Pacific 91-62. Stanford sophomore forward Cameron Brink led the way for the Cardinal with 25 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 blocks while senior guard Lexie Hull finished with 16 points, 3 blocks, and 2 steals. Freshman guard Anaya James led the way for Pacific with 18 points and 6 rebounds. Stanford improves to 6-2 overall while Pacific falls to 2-7.
“I thought our team had a really good game coming off of dead week and finals,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said after the game. “We were able to play everyone that was available, I thought everyone contributed, and we’ve had a lot of tough games where we haven’t had the opportunity to play as many people and look at a lot of different combinations. But I’ve got two people next to me who really came out and got it going for us. Cam was unstoppable inside. She finished really well, ran the floor, rebounded, having a double-double. She had a great two weeks of practice. I think just playing great basketball for our team. And then Lexie accepted the challenge defensively, I thought she really had a great game, picked up her defense in the second half, really under control, knocking down shots, making some great plays for us, getting steals, blocks, forcing turnovers.
“So, this was our one-two punch right here with Lexie and Cam and then I think just going down the lineup, I was really excited about how well Kiki played. She came in and kinda picked up where Cam left off going inside and finishing. I thought Hannah Jump had some good looks and just some of her shots didn’t go down. But she’s played really well for us. Anna Wilson came off the bench and did a great job for us with five assists. I think Pacific, he does a really nice job. They have a very good team and I was happy with a lot of what we did and then we need to get better.”
Stanford got off to a 12-5 lead with 7:02 to go in the 1st quarter. Lexie Hull was off to a hot start for the Cardinal with 5 points on 2-2 shooting from the field and 1-1 shooting from 3-point range while Haley Jones was up to 4 points.
Stanford would finish the quarter strong to lead 30-18 at the end of the 1st quarter. Haley Jones and Hannah Jump each had 6 points to lead Stanford while James was up to 8 points for Pacific. Stanford was shooting 12-19 (63.2%) from the field and 4-7 from 3-point range while Pacific’s shooting numbers were pretty solid as well: 6-12 (50.0%) from the field and 3-4 from 3-point range. What was making the difference was Stanford’s 12-2 edge on the glass.
Stanford would lead 38-29 with 4:33 to go in the 2nd quarter. Brink was up to 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks for Stanford. She was making an impact early inside. James was up to 13 points for Pacific. Stanford needed to do a better job containing her.
At halftime, Stanford would lead 45-34. Brink was carrying Stanford with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks while James was leading Pacific with 15 points. Without Brink’s performance, Stanford wouldn’t have had the lead that they did and in turn, without James’ performance, Pacific wouldn’t be keeping the game as close as they were.
Stanford’s lead extended to 16 as they led 56-40 with 4:07 to go in the 3rd quarter. Jump was up to 12 points for the Cardinal. Stanford was still in a good spot, but they were letting Pacific hang around.
At the end of the 3rd quarter, Stanford would lead 70-45. Brink was doing her thing with 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 blocks while Hull (14 points), Jump (12 points), and Jones (11 points) were also in double figures.
“I think the coaches have held me really accountable and I’m really thankful for that,” Brink said of what’s been key to her increased production. “And I also think playing against Kiki and Fran and Ashten every day has really made me improve. They’re some of the best defenders in the country. Going against them every day, it’s hard and it’s not fun all the time, but it makes us better.”
Stanford continued to dominate as they led 81-54 with 4:08 to go. Cameron Brink (25 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 blocks) led the charge while Lexie Hull was up to 16 points of her own. In the end, Stanford walked out with a 91-62 win. During the final few minutes, Stanford freshman Kiki Iriafen did a nice job of padding her stats, finishing with 9 points and 4 rebounds on 4-5 shooting from the field. She brought a nice energy at the end that helped cap off what was overall a good game for the Cardinal.
“I think we’re really fortunate, we have a lot of really talented shooters and people that can score,” Hull said. “Tara always says if there’s a better shot, let’s get it and I think that’s if there’s someone more wide open than you are, then get them the ball and they’ll knock it down. We trust everyone that they’re going to knock it down. So, I think we’re really lucky in that way that we’re not only relying on one player. That everyone can contribute.”
For Stanford this went about as expected. They won by a little more than I thought they would, so in that vein they exceeded expectations a bit. If you look at the box score, it was really the first and third quarters where this game was won. Especially the third quarter in which Stanford outscored Pacific 25-11.
“I thought of it had to do with Lexie’s defense,” VanDerveer said of the key to the third quarter. “Her energy, we got out running, Cam finishing inside. I thought Anna Wilson helped us get going a little bit. I think some of it is we don’t have the luxury nor do I want it of just like you can have it in cruise control. I thought we jumped on them early and then we had it in cruise control and then we had to get it back again, which we did in the third quarter.”
Up next for Stanford is a home game against UC Davis. That game will tipoff on Wednesday, December 15th at 7:00 PM PT on Stanford Live Stream and Varsity Network radio.
Note: Haley Jones was honored pre-game for her participation in USA Basketball.
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