On Thursday, March 20th, Stanford women’s basketball fell to Portland in the first round of the WBIT at Maples Pavilion by a final score of 69-68 in a game that went into overtime. Portland guard Emme Shearer was the top performer for the Pilots, finishing with 28 points and five rebounds while guard Maisie Burnham had 14 points and eight rebounds. Stanford forward Nunu Agara led the way for the Cardinal with 21 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out while guard Elena Bosgana had 19 points and eight rebounds. Stanford finishes the season with a 16-15 overall record in which they went 8-10 in the ACC.
VIDEO: Stanford WBB Postgame Press Conference: Portland State
BOX SCORE: Portland at Stanford-Thursday, March 20th
“Obviously, we’re very disappointed with the outcome,” Stanford head coach Kate Paye said after the game. “Portland is an excellent team. We knew that coming in. They’re very well coached, they have very experienced players and they’re very aggressive and I thought we played a decent first half. But we knew that they would not give up. They came out in the second half. They were extremely aggressive and really kind of took it to us. We struggled to score in the second half. Obviously it’s really painful any time your season ends and if you do it right and you pour everything you have into it, you have tears at the end. And that’s what you see here from Elena and Brooke.
“I just wanna thank all of our seniors: Elena, Brooke, and Jzaniya for all of their contributions to our team, to our program for the past four years, I’ve loved coaching them. They have so much to be proud of and will alway be just loved as being great teammates and always have a home back here at Stanford.
“I think for our returners, this was a very challenging season. There was a lot of change, a lot of challenge; what I’m most proud of with our team as I’ve told them every step of the way is that no matter what adversity that we faced and things not going our way, our team stuck together. They did not come apart at the seams. They never pointed fingers at each other, at their coaches; they placed an incredible amount of trust and faith in me in my first year in this role and I’m very grateful for that. There are a lot of positives that we can build on.
“But obviously we have high expectations here at Stanford and this time next year, you know, we hope to be sitting in a very different position. But if we want something different, we’re gonna have to work extremely hard, get in the gym, get in the weight room, really improve things. I’m really excited to see that in the offseason.”
At the end of the 1st quarter, the game was tied 18-18. Nunu Agara led Stanford with 7 points while Emme Shearer has 6 points for Portland. Both teams went cold at the end. Stanford had made one of their last eight field goals while Portland had made one of their last nine.
Stanford would lead 32-25 with 4:17 to go in the 2nd quarter. Elena Bosgana had really heated up for Stanford with 12 points. Stanford was on a 14-3 run over the last 4:11.
At halftime, Stanford led 40-29. Elena Bosgana (13 points & 4 rebounds) & Nunu Agara (11 points & 7 rebounds) were leading the way for the Cardinal while Emme Shearer had 11 points to lead the Pilots.
In the 3rd quarter, the Pilots started to show signs of life as it was a 42-34 game with 6:52 to go in the quarter. Stanford hadn’t scored in the last 2:29. With 3:46 to go in the quarter, it was now a 42-36 lead for Stanford as Portland was on a 7-0 run over the last 5:33.
At the end of the 3rd quarter, Stanford led 48-42. The Pilots were hanging around despite shooting 30.6% from the field. Stanford had a sleepy 3rd quarter scoring 8 points on 2-15 shooting from the field.
With 1:09 to go in regulation, Stanford’s lead had been trimmed to just two points as it was 60-58. Chloe Clardy got a steal and made a pair of free throws to give the Cardinal the lead, making up for when she got pick pocketed a couple possessions earlier. Portland would respond to tie it up 60-60 thanks to a tough reverse layup by Shearer. From there, the game would go into overtime at 60-60.
In overtime, Stanford struck first as Brooke Demetre and Elena Bosgana each made layups to give the Cardinal a 64-60 lead. Portland would respond with a 5-0 run by Shearer to make it a 65-64 game as Shearer made a 3-pointer followed by a layup. Agara then responded with four quick points for Stanford to make it a 68-65 game with 1:40 to go.
Shearer would then go to the foul line and make 1-2, making it a 68-66 game with 1:24 to go. Shearer found the back of the net once more as she made a layup, tying the game 68-68 with 54 seconds to go. Shearer would later get fouled with one second left on the clock, sending her to the foul line. Shearer missed the first free throw, but made the second, making it a 69-68 game. Demetre would attempt a 3-point shot out of a timeout to win the game, but it wouldn’t fall. The Pilots escaped with the victory.
For Stanford, this is very disappointing end to the season. They were expected to be an NCAA tournament team at the start of the season and instead lost in the first round of the WBIT. Had they been able to make a run to the quarterfinals of the WBIT or something, they could have at least ended the season with a bit of momentum. Instead, they go out with a whimper.
As for Portland, this was a big time win. They went on the road to defeat a storied program in a postseason game. Even though Stanford had a down year, that’s still a huge win for them. The Pilots’ season is still going as they defeated Seton Hall 61-55 in the second round of the WBIT, improving to 31-4 on the season. They really do look like a team that arguably should have made the NCAA tournament despite not winning the WCC tournament. Portland will play at Villanova on Thursday with a trip to Hinkle Fieldhouse on the line.
“We knew they weren’t going to give up,” Paye said of Portland. “We watched a lot of their game film. We know they are a very experienced, poised team. They’ve been in a lot of close games. You know, throughout their WCC play, obviously they were down to Washington State and had a big third quarter. So we talked about that.”
Going back to Stanford to wrap this up, all they can do now is look ahead to the 2025-26 season. They have a talented recruiting class coming in headlined by three McDonald’s All-Americans (Alex Eschmeyer, Lara Somfai, & Hailee Swain). The Cardinal are hoping with that infusion of talent added to their team, they’ll be back in the NCAA tournament.
“I’m very excited for Hailee and Lara and Alex,” Paye said. “McDonald’s All-American is a great honor. We’ve had a lot of McDonald’s All-Americans before. I’m excited for our entire incoming freshman class. Obviously Carly [Amborn] and Nora [Ezike]. All five of them are great fits for Stanford. They’re phenomenal student-athletes. They’re very excited. They can’t wait to get here and I think they’re gonna bring a lot to our program, but we’re gonna need everybody on our team to really step up and we can’t wait until they get here.”
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