On Wednesday, #2 Stanford women’s basketball defeated Cal Poly 80-43 at home. Stanford senior guard Hannah Jump led the way for the Cardinal with 24 points on 8-15 shooting from the field, all of which were 3-point attempts while freshman center Lauren Betts chipped in 13 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Cal Poly graduate student guard Niki Kovacikova was the top performer for the Mustangs with 11 points. Stanford improves to 5-0 overall while Cal Poly falls to 1-2.
“This was a game that I thought Hannah Jump really got us going and got us the lead,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said after the game. “I just want to compliment Cal Poly. I thought they did a really nice job. Their new staff and coaches, their players played really hard, and I think our team can get better from playing them.
“Then Lauren came in. Lauren was unstoppable on the block. I mean going five for six, did what we asked her to do, just posted up big, scored, got in the two feet in the paint, she’s unstoppable and changed some shots, had some really nice passes. Too bad you didn’t get a couple more assists, but really nice passes. She was triple teamed and just did a great job for us. So, now we’ve gotta build on the good things and we gotta learn from our mistakes and get ready for South Carolina.”
Early on, the game was tight as it was a tie game 8-8 with 5:03 to go in the 1st quarter. Kiki Iriafen had 6 points for Stanford with three buckets inside while Annika Shah had a pair of 3-pointers for Cal Poly. Both players were off to strong starts.
After this point, Stanford started to get others going, finishing the quarter on a 15-0 run to lead 23-8. They really turned on the jets on both ends of the floor. Hannah Jump and Elena Bosgana each made a 3-pointer. Stanford shot 9-17 from the field.
Stanford would continue to dominate, leading 36-14 with 2:04 to go until halftime. Betts was making her presence felt inside with 4 points, 1 rebounds, 1 steal, and 2 blocks in 4 minutes.
“I mean honestly, each game has definitely built up my confidence,” Betts said. “But it honestly just starts in practice. Just building those good habits and playing against my amazing teammates every day. Honestly, they give me the confidence to go in every game and just do what I need to do and yeah, I definitely have seen a difference. But, going in Sunday, honestly, I’m just gonna do what Tara needs me to do and whether that’s just rebound or block shots or score, whatever I just need to do. So, I’m just really excited and can’t wait to get back to work so we can get ready for Sunday.”
At halftime, it was a 42-17 lead for Stanford. Jump was leading the way for the Cardinal with 9 points on 3-8 shooting from deep. Cameron Brink was up to 7 points and 2 rebounds, doing her thing inside as well.
Stanford would lead 52-26 with 4:50 to go in the 3rd. Cal Poly was playing a competitive quarter, trailing 10-9. Jump was up to 15 points for the Cardinal.
“Honestly, what really got me going was the confidence in my teammates,” Jump said. “I missed the first three or four and I had Fran in my ear, Cam in my ear, everyone just telling me keep shooting the ball, we’re looking for you. Keep shooting the ball. So that confidence in my teammates really just kinda gets me in the groove and then once I hit one, once I hit two, I feel good.”
Stanford would lead 62-33 at the end of the 3rd quarter. Jump was up to 24 points, really having a hot quarter. She was the only Cardinal in double figures, really making her presence felt from beyond the arc.
“Yeah, this is offense is fun to play with and my teammates are fun to play with,” Jump said. “I mean, they move the ball well and we have so many offensive weapons on the court that you can’t take away everything. So, teams can do that, we can do the best to limit what we have, but I think it’s super fun to play, super-fast pace and I think once we continue to play within our offense we’re gonna be in really good shape.”
With 4:44 to go, it was a 71-39 lead for Stanford. The Mustangs were playing hard. Taking charges and fighting. Even though they were going to lose, they were not rolling over. Kovacikova was up to her 11 points, doing a nice job of leading her team.
In the end, Stanford walked out with an 80-43 victory. Stanford came in and did what they were supposed to do, which is cruise to a comfortable victory. At the same time, Cal Poly can hold their heads high knowing they really battled, only losing by 12 points in the second half.
Up next for Stanford is a home game on Sunday against #1 South Carolina. That will tipoff at 12:00 PM PT on ABC and Varsity Network radio.
“You know, we played very well there,” VanDerveer said reflecting on last year’s game at South Carolina. “But we had a whole different team, really. I mean Lexie, Lacie, Anna Wilson, but I think just having played them and having played them last year and the year before, a lot of their same players, I mean basically they have their same starting lineup come back with a new point guard. I think it should give some people confidence. We did very well there. But we’re gonna have to play better than we played tonight.”
“Yeah, I think, like Tara said, we did play well there, but ultimately we didn’t come away with the win like we wanted to and I think that game’s kinda been in the back of our mind for a while,” Jump added. “And then we really wanted to play them in the tournament, but we didn’t get there. So I think this game is something that a lot of us had been thinking about and working for for a long time and I think we’re gonna be ready to go.”
To connect with CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook and Twitter, click here.
To connect with Ben Parker on Facebook and Twitter, click here.
