On Friday, No. 2 Stanford women’s basketball defeated No. 15 Norfolk State in the first round of the NCAA tournament at home by a final score of 79-50. Stanford junior guard Elena Bosgana led the way for the Cardinal on the perimeter with a career-high 18 points to go along with four rebounds while senior forward Cameron Brink (17 points, 15 rebounds, & 6 blocks) and junior forward Kiki Iriafen (17 points & 9 rebounds) led the way inside. Iriafen reached 1,00 points for her career. Norfolk State junior point guard Diamond Johnson was the top scorer for the Spartans with 19 points.
BOX SCORE: Norfolk State at Stanford-Friday, March 22nd
VIDEO: Stanford WBB Postgame Press Conference | Norfolk State
“First, I want to congratulate Norfolk State on the great season that they had and how hard they played, and Diamond Johnson was really -- she's a really terrific player,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said after the game. “I thought we worked -- we had to work really hard to get this win. Elena really stepped up big for us. Knocking down her shot, I thought working really hard on defense, made some big plays.
“And Kiki, I thought we had really good balance with Elena, Cam, Kiki, Hannah. So it's good to get somebody else in double figures. So great job, Elena. And I thought we had some really good looks and people didn't maybe knock down some shots, but we are going to need them on Sunday.”
Stanford led 10-6 with 4:21 to go in the 1st quarter. Cameron Brink was up to four points and three rebounds for Stanford while Diamond Johnson had four points for Norfolk State. Stanford was shooting 4-8 from the field while Norfolk State was shooting 3-9.
Stanford would lead 15-12 at the end of the 1st quarter. Norfolk State’s ball pressure was making an impact as Stanford was getting sped up. Stanford needed to slow things down. Stanford was shooting 6-13 from the field and 2-3 from 3-point range while Norfolk State was shooting 6-15 shooting from the field.
Stanford then went on a 9-0 run to lead 24-12 with 7:21 to go in the 2nd quarter. Kiki Iriafen was up to nine points and six rebounds. Norfolk State called for time, hoping to get things going in the right direction.
At halftime, Stanford led 32-19. Iriafen was up to 15 points and seven rebounds for the Cardinal after a bucket inside to beat the buzzer. Johnson was leading the Spartans with nine points. Stanford was in control, but Norfolk State was hanging around. They were playing scrappy and with a lot of heart.
Stanford got off to a strong start in the 3rd quarter as they led 40-21 with 8:51 to go in the quarter. Jump (10 points) and Brink (10 points & 11 rebounds) had joined Iriafen (17 points & 7 rebounds) in double figures. The Cardinal were on a 6-0 run with a good amount of momentum.
Stanford continued to stay in front 50-33 with 4:13 to go in the 3rd quarter. Jump (13 points) and Bosgana (6 points) had a couple of big threes to give the Cardinal some breathing room. Norfolk State however was not going away as they continued to fight and play with a lot of energy.
At the end of the 3rd quarter, Stanford was in front 58-37. Bosgana was really coming alive for the Cardinal as she was up to 11 points. She was really stepping up. As for the Spartans, Johnson was up to 15 points.
“I think my teammates do a great job finding me, and I feel personally, I was working during the season, and I feel good right now,” Bosgana said with a smile. “So yeah, I hope it stays… It feels great [to score a career high] but honestly I don't think about it. I'm happy about Kiki's 1,000 points. I know it wasn't easy to get here but I'm very proud of her and I'm very proud of Cam and Hannah and Brook and everyone, Jzaniya, in my class, I love them. It's been a long way but here we are.”
With 5:29 to go in the game, Stanford led 65-42 as Norfolk State was running out of gas. Diamond Johnson had cramped up, having played almost the entire game while having to play a very aggressive pressing style. That is very taxing on the body. Cameron Brink was up 17 points after a transition bucket to go along with her 15 rebounds and six blocks. She almost fumbled the pass, but she gathered and finished.
“I thought our team honestly played a little tight tonight,” VanDerveer said. “They know the pressure. They kind of feel like, okay, we're supposed to win this game and you know we've got to play well. The other team came out a little looser, and really at halftime, maybe we loosened up a little bit but at halftime, I said, hey, let's have fun and play. Don't put pressure on yourselves. It's going to be the same thing on Sunday. Let's come out and play hard and just move the ball, run good offense, work hard defensively, and we're going to have to play very well.”
From there, Stanford would win by a final score of 79-50. Norfolk State played with a lot of fire and passion, doing a great job of making Stanford play the entire game to win comfortably. I thought they would play Stanford tough and they did. It’s just that Stanford has far superior talent and that’s what won out in the end.
One thing I do want to do is acknowledge how excellent Norfolk State’s entire spirit squad was. The band was rocking all night long and stole the show along with their mascot, whose dance moves dazzled the crowd at Maples. When he did the splits the crowd roared. Their entire spirit squad and band really brought the house down. If this were battle of bands and spirit groups, Norfolk State would have won by at least 40 points. That’s not meant as any disrespect to the Stanford spirit groups and band. They were fine. It’s just that Norfolk State took things to another level.
Up next for Stanford is the second round of the NCAA tournament against No. 7 Iowa State. They’ll play on Sunday at Maples Pavilion at 7:00 PM PT on ESPN. Stanford will look for some redemption as they got bounced from the tournament in the second round last year. VanDerveer is confident that this year things will be different:
“This is a totally different team. This team, there are some players obviously that played last year's team, and they have learned and we have learned. From the time that we lost last year, it was very painful. And people took it very personally and committed themselves to hard work in the gym and hard work on being better connected as a team including coaches, and we've had -- we have put in the work.
“Regardless of the outcome of the game, I think that – I know that I will be proud of this team because of how well we have done. You know, there's not anyone sitting here that thought we would win the Pac-12 regular season or be in a championship game or even be a top seed.
“So we just need to continue to play hard and play for each other and have -- we have a lot of confidence in our team and at this point now, anyone, they are all really good teams. But we are in a new year and we've got a good vibe going and we are really having fun. So we'll see everybody on Sunday and thank you all for coming.”
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