On Wednesday, Stanford women’s basketball fell to Clemson in the first round of the ACC tournament by a final score of 63-46. Clemson guard Loyal McQueen led the way for the Tigers with 17 points, eight rebounds, and six assists while guard Mia Moore (14 points) and forward Anya Poole (12 points) also finished in double figures. Stanford wing/forward Courtney Ogden was the lone Cardinal to score in double figures with 13 points on an efficient 6-10 shooting from the field.
BOX SCORE: Stanford vs. Clemson-Wednesday, March 5th
“Credit to Clemson. I thought they came out and played extremely hard,” Stanford head coach Kate Paye said after the game. “They have a lot of really experienced players. I thought they really just kind of punched us in the mouth. We really struggled to get anything going offensively. I think credit to them.
“At the same time, this was our first ACC Tournament experience. Our team came in playing well with a lot of confidence, and it just was not our day. I'm really proud of Courtney Ogden. I thought she really battled out there. We're not going to let this one game define us or who we are. We're hopeful we get to continue to play, and we're grateful for the opportunity to be here today.”
Early on this game was tight as Clemson led 11-10 at the end of the 1st quarter. Loyal McQueen had nine points for the Tigers on 4-6 shooting from the field and 1-2 shooting from the foul line while Mary Ashley Stevenson and Chloe Clardy each had four points for the Cardinal.
In the 2nd quarter, the wheels came off for Stanford as Clemson outscored them 16-6 to lead 27-16 at halftime. Stanford shot an abysmal 3-13 from the field in the quarter. Only Courtney Ogden could get going at all as she scored four points in the quarter on 2-3 shooting from the field.
In the 3rd quarter, Clemson outscored Stanford 21-14 to lead 48-30. Mia Moore really came alive for the Tigers in the quarter as she scored 11 of her 14 points. At this point, it was beyond clear that Stanford’s ACC tournament fate was sealed.
“Basketball is a game of runs we always we think we can win the game every moment,” Ogden said. “Unfortunately this one did not go our way in the end, but we were telling ourselves the whole time, we've still got it, we've still got it. They want to go on a run; we can go on a run. Unfortunately it didn't happen, but our mindset was there.”
In the end, Clemson would win 63-46 as Stanford outscored them 16-15 in the 4th quarter. Stanford forward Nunu Agara was back in the lineup and found a way to score eight points in the 4th quarter, but it was too little too late. Clemson was simply the better team from start to finish. Clemson would go on to lose their next game to Louisville by a score of 70-68, so their stay in Greensboro was short-lived as well.
While there were many frustrating aspects of this game for Stanford, their inability to shoot was without a doubt the most frustrating: 17-54 (31.5%) from the field and 3-11 (27.3%) from 3-point range just ain’t gonna cut it. And then also, it didn’t help to have this be Agara’s first game back from injury. Ideally, you’d like her to get a game or two in before tourney time, but alas there wasn’t much Stanford could do about that.
“I thought we just really struggled offensively, and that caused us to get tight and maybe press on both ends of the floor a little bit,” Paye said. “Again, I thought they were playing really hard, but we just weren't moving the ball the way I feel like we've been moving the ball the past couple weeks. We tried a lot of different combinations of people. It just wasn't our day.
“Again, credit to Clemson. I thought they played very hard. In a lot of situations I don't think we really helped ourselves.”
Up next for Stanford is either the NCAA tournament or WNIT. Odds are low they make the NCAA tournament after the way the ACC tourney went and so it’s likely going to be the WNIT for them. When asked about playing in another postseason tournament should they miss the NCAA tourney, Paye said they are open to playing in one. So, it does sound like should the WNIT come calling, Stanford will accept an invite.
Personally, I think playing in the WNIT would be good for Stanford given the youth they have on their team and also their hopes of making some noise in the NCAA tournament next year. A good showing in the WNIT could prove to be a nice little springboard into next season and also help them end the season on a bit of a high note.
“Like you said, we're playing with a lot of confidence,” Ogden said. “I think that's really good. We're a very young team, so even though we weren't able to show the confidence that we've worked for here, we can bring that into any games that we have left and also into the future.”
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