On Monday, Stanford women’s basketball defeated Le Moyne College at home by a final score of 107-43. Stanford guard Jzaniya Harriel led the way for the Cardinal with 24 points and five rebounds on 6-7 shooting from 3-point range while guard Elena Bosgana (19 points & 7 rebounds) and forward Nunu Agara (18 points) were right behind her. Le Moyne forward Haedyn Roberts was the leading scorer for the Dolphins with 15 points. Stanford improves to 1-0 on the season while Le Moyne falls to 0-1.
VIDEO: Stanford WBB Postgame Press Conference: Le Moyne
BOX SCORE: Le Moyne at Stanford-Monday, November 4th
“That was a great start,” Stanford head coach Kate Paye said after the game. “That was a great start. First, I want to compliment Le Moyne. We know that they’re a very good team. They had an excellent season last year. We appreciate them coming out here. But I think our team really made a statement. What I’m most excited about is how much our team improved from our exhibition game against Cal State LA. We really focused a lot on our defense.
“Obviously, we got our three-point shot going tonight and I’ll be really honest, I’m not surprised. We have excellent shooters on our team. That is something we talk about a lot. I think this is a career night for Jzaniya and I just told her I’m not surprised at all. This is the way she’s been playing all summer, all fall. It’s really exciting to see her out there doing it.
“Obviously 25 assists, a school record with 18 threes, but our team knows that we’re not going to count on that every single night and I love the way that we got out and ran. We got it going with our rebounding a little bit and got to the free throw line because we’re an excellent free throw shooting team. We have a saying, it’s not the start of the race, but the finish, but it sure is good to get off to a good start.”
Stanford rolled with a starting five of Talana Lepolo, Elena Bosgana, Brooke Demetre, Jzaniya Harriel, and Nunu Agara. Lepolo did not play in the exhibition, so having her back in the lineup to start at point guard was nice for the Cardinal.
Early on, it was a bit of a rough start for Stanford as they led 7-6 with 4:26 to go in the 1st quarter. Stanford was shooting 2-10 from the field, needing to get some shots to fall.
Stanford would lead 16-10 at the end of the 1st quarter. Stanford was now 5-16 from the field and 5-11 from 3-point range. Harriel was up to six points on 2-2 shooting from 3-point range. The Cardinal were starting to wake up.
With 5:14 to go in the 2nd quarter, Stanford led 30-15. Harriel was up to nine points for the Cardinal. Stanford was outscoring Le Moyne 14-5 so far in the quarter.
At halftime, Stanford led 50-22, outscoring Le Moyne 34-12 in the 2nd quarter. Jzaniya Harriel’s 15 points led the way for the Cardinal while Elena Bosgana and Chloe Clardy each had 11 points.
“I think our defense really got us going int the second quarter,” Paye said. “And to be honest, after our game, our exhibition game, we were totally focused on improving our defense. We felt like that was the biggest area for improvement. So, we really focused on that the three days leading up to the game and I think that that’s what really got us going. Elena got some steals, Jay got in transition, we really want to push the ball and that certainly is a hallmark of Tara style of play. We want to get out and run. The best Stanford teams have always been really up tempo running teams and I think that should be a strength of ours.”
The Cardinal continued to dominate the Dolphins as they led 63-28 with 4:19 to go in the 3rd quarter. Clardy was up to 13 points for the Cardinal while Harriel (15 points) and Bosgana (14 points) were leading the pack.
At the end of the 3rd quarter, Stanford led 78-34. Harriel was up to 21 points on a perfect 5-5 shooting from 3-point range and 6-8 shooting from the foul line. Agara was up to 16 points. Off the bench, Stanford freshman Shay Ijiwoye was bringing energy with her defense. Just all around, the Cardinal were in control.
“I feel great,” Harriel said. “This season, there’s been a lot of change, obviously, coaching change. We lost our three leading scorers. But it’s really about everyone stepping into these new roles and really just owning them and tonight was a good night because my teammates were finding me and I was knocking down that three, but it could honestly be anyone’s night.”
In the end, Stanford would win by a final score of 107-43. They just kept their foot down on Le Moyne and didn’t stop. Freshman Harper Peterson made a couple of threes and got in on the action down the stretch.
“She shot it with confidence, I was like woah!” Paye said with a smile about Peterson’s threes. “I think it’s maybe kind of a lesson to our team. I think this happened versus Cal State LA. Like, we kind of let them get going and the basket got kind of big. I think the basket got kind of big for our team. So, but we know we’re not gonna shoot, you know, make eighteen threes every single game, but that’s what was working tonight and I didn’t see very many bad shots out there. We are very focused on playing unselfish basketball, so I’m really excited about the twenty five assists, attacking the paint, and then pitching out for open threes.”
Overall, this was a nice win for Stanford to start the Kate Paye era. They played good on both ends of the floor and showed off their shooting prowess in the process. That’s definitely a weapon that Stanford hopes to have all season long.
“I think that is a strength of our team, we have excellent shooters on our team,” Paye reiterated. “I also think we have a great post game. Nunu can score on the block, Brooke can score on the block, MA, Kennedy, but the way they were playing tonight, they were in in in in, they were leaving us wide open for really nice looks from the perimeter.
“Early in the game they weren’t dropping, but I think our team stayed really patient and stayed confident and kind of, then the basket got really big for us. We want to run and I do think hopefully our nice three point shooters can spread the floor and that’ll open up things in the paint.”
Up next for Stanford is a home game against Washington State on Thursday. That will begin at 7:00 PM PT on ACCNX.
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