On Sunday, #4 Stanford women’s basketball defeated #24 Colorado 62-49 at home. It was Lunar New Year and to commemorate the Year of the Rabbit, Stanford gave out red shirts to fans to make it a “red out” atmosphere.
Stanford senior guard Hannah Jump led the way for the Cardinal with 21 points on 7-15 shooting from the field, 5-10 shooting from 3-point range, and 2-2 shooting from the foul line while senior guard Haley Jones had 11 points, 18 rebounds, and 3 assists. Stanford junior forward Cameron Brink also had a solid outing with 14 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 blocks. Colorado senior guard Jaylyn Sherrod was the top scorer for the Buffaloes with 16 points. Stanford improves to 19-2 overall and 7-1 in the Pac-12 while Colorado falls to 15-4 overall and 6-2 in the Pac-12.
“This is a great weekend for us to bounce back from a less than stellar performance last weekend,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said after the game. “This was really a tough game in that we really missed a lot of shots that usually go down for us. But, Wilder pointed out we had a school-record 14 blocks and Cam had six of them, Hannah Jump got two of them, and Lauren Betts had two of them.
“And I really want to point out just the, not just the offense that Hannah Jump had, hitting great shots, but also her defense. I thought she worked really hard. She was guarding number three Frida Formann who is a really talented player and I thought she did a really good job and also Jzaniya [Harriell]. Basically, a freshman coming into a big game like this, making some big free throws down the stretch, helping run our team out there, working hard, playing; this is probably the most in a big game Jznayia has played and did a really good job for us taking care of the ball, no turnovers, had an assist, knocking down a free throw, so without Talana this was a real challenge for us and I think our team stepped up.”
Stanford got off to a strong start, leading 11-4 with 4:50 to go in the 1st quarter. Jump was up to 5 points for the Cardinal, already having a 3-pointer fall. She was in a nice flow early.
Stanford would lead 18-8 at the end of the 1st quarter as they were shooting 7-13 from the field and 2-4 from 3-point range. Colorado was not shooting well as they were 3-15 from the field and 1-4 from deep. Stanford’s defense was giving them real troubles.
With 7:10 to go in the 2nd quarter, Stanford led 23-10. Jump was up to 8 points while Brink had 6 points. After a stretch where she was out of sync offensively, Jump was definitely back to her usual form.
Stanford continued to lead, going up 30-16 with 3:38 to go until halftime. Jump was now up to 10 points while Jones was doing a little bit of everything with 4 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 assists.
Colorado would close the gap a bit as it was a 36-24 lead for Stanford at halftime. Sherrod nailed a 3-pointer for Colorado to beat the buzzer, giving them some good vibes heading into the locker room. Jump was up to 16 points on 6-10 shooting from the field and 4-7 shooting from 3-point range. She was feeling it. Quay Miller was leading Colorado with 8 points.
“I don’t know if anything’s really changed,” Jump said of her bounce back week. “I think I’ve just been trying to focus more on my defense. Coming out and playing with energy and just kinda letting the offense take care of itself.”
With 4:26 to go in the 3rd quarter, Stanford led 41-29. Brink was now in double figures for Stanford with 11 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 blocks. Miller was in double figures for Colorado with 13 points and 7 rebounds. After dominating Colorado in the opening quarter, Stanford was only outscoring them by two points since. The Buffaloes had definitely tightened things up.
At the end of the 3rd quarter, Stanford led 46-31. Jump’s 16 points still was leading the way for the Cardinal. Free throws were making a big difference, Stanford was shooting 10-12 from the foul line while Colorado was shooting 1-3.
With 4:14 to go, Stanford still had a double digit lead, up 57-44. Jump was up to 21 points. Having her getting buckets again was huge in a game where others were really struggling.
In the end, Stanford would walk out with a 62-49 victory. Things got choppy and sloppy at the end, but Stanford still won by double figures. Colorado was able to extend the game a bit at the foul line but wasn’t able to do so in a way that actually closed the gap.
For Colorado, this is a disappointing loss in that they’ve played Stanford well in the past and they had first place in the conference on the line. At this point, all they can do is make sure to take care of their business going forward and look to upend the Cardinal in Boulder. They’re still having a really good season and can’t lose sight of that.
As for Stanford, this was a choppy, ugly game in a lot of ways as they shot 33.9% from the field and especially went cold in the second half, shooting 21.4% from the field. Sometimes you gotta win ugly and that’s what they did today. In a way, tennis icon Brad Gilbert would be proud. Winning ugly is what he’s all about.
“I think what they really count on is forcing a lot of turnovers,” VanDerveer said of Colorado. “And we did have too many. But at halftime we had the same as them. They really wanna force turnovers and that’s where Jzaniya’s handle was really important, Indya; especially without Talana. So I’m really excited about how our young guards played. You know, Agnes making a three, Brooke coming in and making a three for us, spacing the floor a little bit. So, I think we’re just trying to really find a, kinda look at some different lineups and try to figure out what’s gonna work for us.
At the same time, it wasn’t a totally ugly win for Stanford. They had a school-record 14 blocks and really played gritty defense inside. When your shots aren’t falling, you gotta play defense and that’s exactly what Stanford did. On top of that, they’ve been needing Hannah Jump to get going again and she delivered the goods.
Finally, they won this game without their starting point guard Talana Lepolo (ankle). To find a way to win without her speaks to their ability to adapt and adjust. Knowing they can navigate and win against a ranked opponent without her is something that should give them a lot of confidence. Especially redshirt freshman Jzaniya Harriel, who played 10+ minutes to help fill the void.
“I think it’s a huge opportunity,” VanDerveer said of Harriel getting more minutes at the point. “I know you can ask Jzaniya what she felt like out there, but I’m really proud of how they just have worked hard every day in practice and I’ve just seen improvement all along and just to have this opportunity to step up when we needed her to and she did a great job.”
“Yeah, so we have a really great team and Tara always says just be ready,” Harriel added. “Stay ready and that’s what I do. I continue to work hard. I’m happy for my teammates and whenever they need me I’m ready to play.”
Up next for Stanford is a home game against Oregon State on Friday. That will tip-off at 8:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks and Varsity Network radio.
Note: Tara VanDerveer said after the game she hopes Lepolo will be back next week.
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