On Friday, #8 Stanford women’s basketball defeated #19 Utah 66-64 on the road in Salt Lake City. Stanford junior forward Kiki Iriafen led the way for the Cardinal with 25 points, 16 rebounds, and four assists while fifth year guard Hannah Jump had 12 points. Utah senior forward Alissa Pili was the top performer for the Utes with 16 points and seven rebounds while junior forward Jenna Johnson had 15 points and four rebounds. Stanford improves to 15-1 overall and 4-0 in the Pac-12 while Utah falls to 11-5 overall and 1-3 in the Pac-12.
BOX SCORE: Stanford at Utah-Friday, January 12th
“This is huge,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said after the game. “I mean obviously we’ve had some great wins already; I think honestly playing at Cal and playing away and being successful there helped us here. We played great teams. We played Florida State, we played Belmont, we played them in the Las Vegas tournament, and playing great competition got us ready for this. We have played a tremendous schedule and I think people have really stepped up big for us.”
The game was tied 11-11 with 4:34 to go in the 1st quarter. Iriafen was leading the way for the Cardinal with six points and two rebounds while Alissa Pili had six points for Utah. It was a battle from the very beginning.
Utah would pull ahead slightly to lead 19-17 at the end of the 1st quarter. Pili was leading Utah with her six points while Iriafen was up to 10 points for Stanford. Cameron Brink was in early foul trouble for Stanford with two personal fouls, so VanDerveer was being careful about her playing time.
“That was hard,” VanDerveer said of Brink’s early foul trouble. “Credit Cam, she played with great discipline, did not foul in the whole second half, I just think that the officiating, they’re doing the best they can, but we need to look at some of the things that happened and make some corrections.”
Stanford would jump ahead to lead 25-22 with 7:11 to go in the 2nd quarter. Jzaniya Harriel was up to six points for the Cardinal after draining back-to-back threes. She was providing nice production off the bench.
“Yes, I thought Jzaniya did a great job,” VanDerveer said. “Came in and hit two big baskets for us. It was huge. Her baskets were huge. You know, we’ve got a lot of young players. Jzaniya is really a sophomore and didn’t play a lot as a freshman so I thought she responded really well. I thought Nunu went in and it’s loud out there. It’s hard. I thought all of our team did really well. There was no one that didn’t play really hard and we’re gonna need everybody where we wanna go.”
Stanford would finish out the 2nd quarter strong to lead 40-33 at halftime. Iriafen was up to 14 points and eight rebounds while Jump and Harriel each had their six points. Pili was doing her part for Utah with 10 points while Ines Vieira had eight points. Stanford had the advantage, but Utah was right in this game. What was a bit crazy was that Brink had only two points for Stanford. For them to have the lead at all on the road with her having such little production was pretty amazing.
With 4:41 to go in the 3rd quarter, Stanford led 46-44. Iriafen was leading the Cardinal with 18 points and 10 rebounds. For all the struggles Brink was having, Iriafen was balling out. They needed her to step up and she did so as well as they could have asked. As for Utah, Jenna Johnson had 15 points as the Utes were on an 8-0 run.
Stanford would lead 55-49 at the end of the 3rd quarter. Iriafen was up to 20 points and 13 rebounds, continuing to do her thing. As for Jump, she was up to 12 points. Johnson’s 15 points was leading Utah.
“Yep, she took the ball to the basket really well,” VanDerveer said of Jump. “She had four assists, one turnover, she’s great out there and obviously I have a lot of confidence in her.”
During the timeout at the end of the quarter, Utah was called for a shot clock violation on one of their buckets upon review. A huge break for the Cardinal that in the end proved to be very significant.
Stanford got off to a hot start in the 4th quarter, leading 61-52 with 7:44 to go. Iriafen was going wild with 24 points and 14 rebounds. Utah didn’t appear to have an answer for her.
To Utah’s credit, they started to creep back into the game as they would not give up. With 4:53 to go, it was a 61-57 lead for Stanford. Stanford had possession but had not scored in the last 2:59 while Utah was on a 5-0 run. Stanford needed to end the scoring drought.
With 1:10 to go, Stanford led 65-62. Stanford got back on the board thanks to a 3-pointer by Brink and Iriafen going 1-2 at the foul line. Utah had the ball. This one was going down to the wire.
Stanford would then commit a turnover upon which Pili scored a driving layup to make it a 65-64 game. On their next possession, Stanford would call for time with 33.7 to go and eight seconds on the shot clock.
The next few sequences were rather strange. Out of the timeout, Iriafen missed a jump shot that was rebounded by Nunu Agara, keeping the possession with the Cardinal. Utah freaked out, screaming that there was a shot clock violation. Utah head coach Lynne Roberts pounded the scoring table in disbelief. Utah fouled Agara, forcing Stanford to inbound the ball as they had a foul to give.
On the inbound, Brink got the ball and Utah was able to force a really quick held ball, giving the ball back to Utah with 13 seconds to go. Utah now had a chance to win the game with a go ahead bucket. Pili got the rock and attacked the basket only for another held ball to be called with 4.4 to go. From my vantage point, it looked like Pili straight up turned it over, but held ball was the call. Stanford still led 65-64 with 4.4 to go.
“I think those were just television rating calls,” VanDerveer quipped. “Let’s keep people watching the game, I mean they were mysteries as you said. And everyone is trying to do the best job they can but I didn’t agree with some of the things that were happening, but I’m sure Lynne didn’t either. But I think more importantly a great job for Kiki. She really stepped up big and made big baskets. Cam hitting a three. That was a big basket. We took care of the ball I think pretty well. They’re a great team and playing here with their crowd, they’re gonna give a lot of people a headache.”
Talana Lepolo then got fouled for Stanford, sending her to the foul line for two shots. Lepolo made the first foul shot and missed the second. Utah rebounded the ball and called for time, giving themselves the ability to advance the ball to half court. It was now a 66-64 lead for Stanford with 1.9 to go.
On their first inbound attempt, Utah was unable to get it in as Iriafen blocked the pass, taking 0.3 seconds off the clock. There was now 1.6 to go. As for their second crack at getting the ball in, Utah was able to get it in to Pili for a desperation heave from 3-point range. It looked like Pili was unaware of how little time was left as she wasn’t able to get a clean look at the basket. With her shot falling short, Stanford escaped with a 66-64 victory.
“Jump as high as I can,” Iriafen said of how she was trying to defend the inbounds. “I knew they were going to try to lob it to Pili. Something around the basket. So, jump as high as I can to make it a hard pass…I was like thank you, God. Thank you, God the game is over. Again, it was a great great matchup. I had a lot of fun playing even though it was very difficult to play. So, I’m just really happy that my team and I, we won. I’m happy that Tara got another win under her belt and we’re getting closer to that historic milestone. So, all in all just a very great night.”
For Stanford, this is a huge win. The road trip to Utah and Colorado is always tough and so to pull this one out feels really good for them. They bended, but they did not break. That’s the sign of an elite team.
“Yeah, it was a battle,” Iriafen said with relief. “We battled for forty minutes, I’m really proud of my teammates and I think we stuck together no matter what. We played really great defense, offensively we did what we needed to do, so it was a grind and I think this really helped prepare us for Colorado on Sunday… Yeah, it’s huge, it’s great. Playing on the road is always tough and I think this is just, again, gonna help us for playing on Sunday against Colorado. A very physical team. Utah gave us a great battle again. So, I think if anything just really helped prepare us for Sunday’s matchup.”
With Cameron Brink in foul trouble and limited to nine points, Kiki Iriafen came up with one of her best performances of the season if not THE best performance she’s had all season. While Brink gets the attention as the top player on this Stanford team, I think it’s better to say that Stanford has two superstars in the post in Iriafen and Brink. Iriafen was a superstar in this one and Stanford needed every single bucket she got.
“I knew I had to do what I needed to do,” Iriafen said with confidence. “Cam being on the bench I knew I had to step up a little bit more. This team is really good at taking charges, so I look for my shot a little bit more than driving to the basket, but it’s something that we prepared for in practice.
“I think the offseason, working on my mental, working on my confidence throughout the season, working on my shot, getting more confident and consistent with that, and then just remaining steady. Sometimes I don’t have great shooting days but seeing other things I can do on the floor defensively, rebounding, so just finding other ways I can help my teammates out, but just remaining steady.”
As for Utah, this loss obviously is a bummer. Given that their second highest scorer Gianna Kneepkens is out for the season, they had an uphill battle coming into this one. To play Stanford as tough as they did speaks to the kind of team that they are. That said, they would have won this game had Pili been able to knock down a couple more threes. She shot 2-8 from 3-point range and came in shooting 50%. There were some clean looks she got that she normally knocks down.
“Alissa Pili is a tremendous player,” VanDerveer said. “She really is very tough to guard. She scores, she shoot threes, she’s a great passer, we tried to mix it up. We tried to, you know, we have two great bigs with Cam and Kiki and we just tried to keep them in the game. Keep one of them on her, double her sometimes, not do anything over consistently. So, she didn’t know what was coming. Sometimes she was one-on-one, sometimes she was doubled, sometimes she was tripled, but she’s a fabulous player and Lynne and their whole team, it was a great game. It was a game that honestly it would be hard for either team to lose.”
“Yeah, you know we started off trying to double her,” Iriafen said of Pili. “And then towards the end we kinda did one-on-one. But she’s so good. She’s super good. It was physical. She’s a very tough person to guard. But it was nice that Cameron and I tag teamed on her so we got to split up guarding her.”
Up next for Stanford is a road game at #5 Colorado on Sunday. That will tip off at 11:00 AM PT on Pac-12 Networks and Varsity Network radio.
“Colorado’s always very tough,” Iriafen said. “They have fast guards, they have shooters, they have physical posts, so I think they’re a well-rounded team and it’s also harder environment to play in altitude, but again we’ll be very prepared. We’ve been preparing all week. We’ll go over there and play tomorrow. So, I’m excited for Sunday.”
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