On Thursday, Stanford women’s basketball defeated Florida State by a final score of 89-84 in their ACC home opener. Stanford forward Brooke Demetre (24 points & 4 rebounds) and guard Elena Bosgana (21 points, 15 rebounds, & 6 rebounds) led the way for the Cardinal while forward Nunu Agara (17 points & 9 rebounds) and guard Tess Heal (14 points) also scored in double figures. Florida State guard Ta’Niya Latson (24 points & 7 rebounds) and guard O’Mariah Gordon (23 points, 5 rebounds, & 4 assists) were the top scorers for the Seminoles. Stanford improves to 9-6 overall and 1-3 in the ACC while Florida State falls to 13-3 overall and 3-1 in the ACC.

VIDEO: Stanford WBB Postgame Press Conference: Florida State

BOX SCORE: Florida State at Stanford-Thursday, January 9th

“Extremely proud of our team,” Stanford head coach Kate Paye said after the game. “This is a huge win for us. Obviously our first ACC win. We’ve been in kind of a tough stretch. Florida State is an excellent team. I don’t know how they’re not a top-25 team. Their guards are as good as any guards in the country. We’ve been talking about, when the going gets tough, the tough get going, and we have not liked the outcome and kind of the way we’ve been playing recently, a lot of teams could fold, but you know, our team has stuck with things. They’ve stuck together, they’ve worked extremely hard, we had great days of practice this week.

“You know, the two women on my right, my left, put this team on their back and that’s what great senior leaders do. Monster game from Elena, Big Shot Brooke is back. But it’s a great team win. I thought Tess Heal gave us great minutes, MA [Mary Ashley Stevenson] gave us great minutes, Nunu is becoming really steady out there. But how about Shay Ijiwoye? I mean, the energy that she gives us both offensively and defensively, it was really really exciting. We just have to build on it and I couldn’t be more proud of our team.”

Stanford would lead 10-9 with 4:45 to go in the 1st quarter. Nunu Agara was up to four points for Stanford while O’Mariah Gordon had 4 points for Florida State. Stanford was shooting 4-8 from the field while Florida State was shooting 4-12.

At the end of the 1st quarter, Stanford led 23-17. Elena Bosgana was on fire for the Cardinal with nine points, seven rebounds, and four assists while Agara had seven points. The Cardinal were playing with great energy.

With 5:34 to go in the 2nd quarter, Stanford led 34-23. Bosgana almost had a double-double for the Cardinal with 11 points, nine rebounds, and four assists. The Cardinal were in a good flow, shooting 50% from the field.

At halftime, Stanford led 44-37. Bosgana was up to 14 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists for the Cardinal while Tess Heal had 10 points. Ta’Niya Latson was leading Florida State with 12 points. Stanford was playing well, going a great job on the glass with a +10 advantage.

“I thought rebounding was a huge key in the game,” Paye said. “We outrebounded them. Elena was huge on the boards.”

“I think I’m pretty tall and I’m just going for the rebound,” Bosgana said of her rebounding. “I think the past years I haven’t been a good rebounder, but I’ve worked for it and I don’t know, I think Kate does a great job coaching us. I think my four years here she has been so influential to me and yeah, I’m very grateful for her.”

With 4:59 to go in the 3rd quarter, Stanford led 54-50. Heal was up to 13 points for Stanford after a huge 3-pointer. Gordon’s 16 points led Florida State.

At the end of the 3rd quarter, Stanford led 66-62. Bosgana was flirting with a triple double with 18 points, 13 rebounds, and six assists while Demetre was up to 15 points. Gordon was leading Florida State with 18 points. Florida State kept making a push and every time Stanford found a way to keep them at least an arm’s length away from taking the lead.

“I think what you see from Elena is and from Brooke, is how much it means to them,” Paye said of Bosgana and Demetre. “Your senior year means something different and you will do whatever it takes to help your team be successful and I see that with the way Elena is getting on the glass and I knew you had a double-double at halftime and asked the coaches if I should say anything and they said no, don’t take her out of her zone.”

Stanford would lead 73-66 with 6:46 to go in the 4th quarter as Demetre was up to 18 points while Bosgana had 20 points, 14 rebounds, and six assists. Stanford was outscoring Florida State 7-4 in the 4th quarter. They couldn’t allow the Seminoles to get back in the game.

Stanford would lead 75-73 with 4:41 to go. Florida State was on a 7-0 run after Mary Ashley Stevenson had a huge bucket to put Stanford up nine.

Over the next couple of minutes, Stanford would gain more separation to lead 84-76 with 1:47 to go. Demetre was up to 23 points for Stanford as she was in a good flow. Florida State had zero field goals in the last 3:04, going cold at a really bad time.

From there, Stanford would win 89-84 though things did get a little dicey thanks to some missed from throws and a tough time inbounding the ball. Florida State missed a layup that would have cut Stanford’s lead to one, but Stanford got the rebound and from there pulled it out.

For Stanford, this is a huge win. Florida State came in as a borderline top-25 team, receiving more votes in the AP Top 25 poll than any non-ranked team, making them in effect ranked 26th in the nation. This win shows that Stanford can beat good teams and that they are capable of playing better than they have been. This should give them a lot of confidence. The big thing for Stanford is to build on this and finish stronger in their next game.

“Yeah, I think the main thing for us was focusing on ourselves,” Demetre said. “All week in practice we’ve been focusing on moving the ball around, getting five at minimum passes, and I think when we use the shot clock and be patient on offense, we have the ball in our hands and they don’t. So it’s really capitalizing on that, executing, and then they had a great plan on scout. So, really digging in, being aggressive on defense and all playing together.”

Up next for Stanford is a home game against No. 21 NC State on Sunday, January 12th. Tipoff is set for 12:00 PM PT on ESPN.

“NC State is excellent,” Paye said of the Wolfpack. “Obviously they ended our season last year. They have excellent guards, they’re very well coached, so we’ll be ready.”

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