On Thursday, Stanford women’s basketball defeated Syracuse at home by a final score of 79-58. Stanford guard Elena Bosgana (18 points & 11 rebounds), guard Chloe Clardy (14 points, 12 assists, & 4 steals), forward Brooke Demetre (14 points & 9 rebounds), and forward Mary Ashley Stevenson (12 points & 4 rebounds) all scored in double figures for the Cardinal while Syracuse guard Georgia Woolley (18 points & 5 rebounds) was the top scorer for the Orange. Stanford improves to 12-12 overall and 4-9 in the ACC while Syracuse falls to 10-14 overall and 4-9 in the ACC.
VIDEO: Stanford WBB Postgame Press Conference: Syracuse
BOX SCORE: Syracuse at Stanford-Thursday, February 13th
“That was a great team win for our program,” Stanford head coach Kate Paye said after the game. “We needed it. Syracuse is a very good team. They’ve been on a streak. Felisha is a great coach. We have tremendous respect for their staff. They have very good players. Our team worked really hard to get this. Syracuse is very long, they’re big, they’re one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the conference and our team really focused. We were prepared for their 3-2 zone. I was pretty shocked when they didn’t open up in it and they opened up in player, but we’ve been working on our player offense. To have five players in double figures, to out-rebound them, 21 assists, only 12 turnovers, which had really been something that kind of been a bugaboo for us lately.”
Despite Nunu Agara still being out after taking her fall at Notre Dame, Stanford jumped out to a 27-13 lead at the end of the 1st quarter. Brooke Demetre in particular caught fire as she was up to 11 points and four rebounds on 4-6 shooting from the field and 3-4 shooting from 3-point range. Elena Bosgana was also nearing double figures with 9 points and 3 rebounds on 4-7 shooting from the field.
“Defense, rebounding, and taking care of the ball,” Paye said of the key to their strong opening quarter. “I was really excited to see our team get out and run. Run, run, run and really push the pace. Chloe getting high outlets, I thought MA (Mary Ashley Stevenson) ran the floor very well. Elena got out, got some easy baskets, Shay helps with her pace and her energy. We wanna run. We wanna play uptempo basketball. I shared with them, that’s what Stanford basketball was built on. You go back to Jennifer Azzi, Sonja Henning, you know, Jeanette Pohlen. Get out and push it and we did that today and we need to more of it moving forward.”
Stanford would win the 2nd quarter 14-13 to lead 41-26 at halftime as Chloe Clardy (9 points & 8 assists) was in a nice flow, doing a great job of finding her teammates for easy baskets. The Cardinal were in control.
With 4:51 to go in the 3rd quarter, Stanford led 50-36 as they were shooting 20-40 (50.0%) from the field. Bosgana and Demetre each had 13 points. Syracuse was not able to cut into Stanford’s lead at all.
“I mean, I think we know we’re great shooters, so just getting back to that, being confident in our shot,” Clardy said. “Taking the shots that are there. So, just being confident in it, really.”
“As Chloe said, we know we have excellent shooters on our team,” Paye added. “When we take care of the ball, run offense with pace, and move the basketball and take really god shots, we know that they’re gonna go in.”
At the end of the 3rd quarter, Stanford led 60-46. Bosgana (16 points & 8 rebounds), Demetre (13 points & 7 rebounds), and Clardy (12 points & 10 assists) were leading the Cardinal.
In the 4th quarter, Stanford didn’t let up, outscoring Syracuse 19-12 to make it a 79-58 final score. Stanford won this game wire to wire as they had a really balanced scoring attack from both the perimeter and inside.
Considering that they were without Nunu Agara, this is a nice win for Stanford. Others stepped up and did their part to help fill the void that was left by her absence. Everyone chipped in and did was needed for them. This was probably the best all-around team victory Stanford has had all season long.
Of course, a major reason for Stanford’s great scoring distribution was the performance from Chloe Clardy, who walked out with 14 points and 12 assists to go along with four steals. She’s really blossomed into a terrific floor general for Stanford, something they’ve really needed with Talana Lepolo missing the vast majority of the season.
“I can’t say enough about Chloe Clardy and the job that she did at the point guard,” Paye said. “A double-double with 14 points and 12 assists and zero turnovers. I mean, it’s just awesome. Playing point guard is not easy; playing point guard at Stanford is not easy. Chloe has not shied away from it from one second. There can be some ups and downs, but she works extremely hard.
“She works with former All-American point guard and assistant coach Jeanette Pohlen every day. They watch a lot of video. Chloe watches a lot of video on her own. She takes a lot of pride in really wanting to be a great player and when she came to Stanford, she got it going with her defense and now she’s playing on both sides of the ball and I couldn’t be more proud of her.”
“I think like she said, I came in defense, defense, defense, so just getting back to that and then also doing whatever my team needs me to do on the offensive end as well,” Clardy added. “I think just when one person does it, we all do it. So just having that intensity on both ends of the court. “I think the coaches do a great job like you said. I work with Jeanette a lot. I work with Kate a lot. Just people that have done it before. So I think just talking to them, watching a lot of film, practice, all those things just go into it.”
Up next for Stanford is a home game against Boston College on Sunday. Tipoff is set for 2:00 PM PT on ACCNX.
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