On Thursday, Stanford women’s basketball defeated Pittsburgh at home by a final score of 58-46. Stanford guards Chloe Clardy and Elena Bosgana led the way for the Cardinal with 14 points each while Pittsburgh center Khadija Faye was the top performer for the Panthers with 21 points, 15 rebounds, and five blocks. Stanford improves to 11-9 overall and 3-6 in the ACC while Pittsburgh falls to 9-13 overall and 1-8 in the ACC.
VIDEO: Stanford WBB Postgame Press Conference: Pittsburgh
BOX SCORE: Pittsburgh at Stanford-Thursday, January 30th
“First I just want to compliment Pittsburgh,” Stanford head coach Kate Paye said after the game. “I talked to their coach before the game. I know maybe their ACC record isn’t reflective of this. They’re a very good team. They have been very competitive in all the games that they played. Obviously everybody’s seen the comeback against SMU. They’re very talented. Number 15 [Khadija Faye] is an excellent player and we worked as hard as we could. She still had a double-double. But I thought we played great defense. She’s just that good.
“But, I’m very excited for our team. We needed this win. It wasn’t real pretty out there, but we found a way to win and I was really excited about our defense and our rebounding. That’s what we’ve been really focused on this past week and to hold them to 46 points and out-rebound them is excellent. Our offense kinda struggled at times, our shots weren’t dropping, we didn’t hit a three in the first half, but that just shows our team that if you play great defense and you rebound, you have an opportunity to be successful in games no matter what’s happening on the offensive end.
“I couldn’t be more proud of Chloe Clardy sitting right here next to me. I mean, her growth here kind of in the last four weeks, playing the point guard position as a sophomore, she’s just growing leaps and bounds, coming off the Cal game where she had a career-high, playing 40 minutes tonight, controlling the floor, She is just getting better and better and I’m really proud of her.”
This game got off to a slow start as Pittsburgh led 4-2 with 4:43 to go in the 1st quarter. Unless you long for the days of the four corners stall, this was not pretty. Pittsburgh was shooting 2-7 from the field while Stanford was shooting 1-8.
At the end of the 1st quarter, Stanford led 11-6. Elena Bosgana was up to five points for the Cardinal, doing her part to put the Cardinal in front. Both teams continued to struggle shooting as Stanford was shooting 4-18 from the field while Pittsburgh was shooting 3-13.
Stanford would lead 15-12 with 4:27 to go in the half. Bosgana was leading the Cardinal with seven points on 3-6 from the field while nobody else could hit the broad side of a barn. The rest of the Cardinal were shooting 3-20 from the field.
At halftime, Stanford led 19-14 after a layup by Bosgana in transition beat the buzzer. She was up to nine points and three rebounds on 4-9 shooting from the field. She was the only one on either side that was in any sort of rhythm.
“Yeah, that was huge play at the end of the second half,” Paye said of Bosgana’s buzzer beater. “And I think she’s had another play like that earlier before. I love Elena. This is really exciting for her. Her parents are here from Greece to visit Stanford for the first time and to see her play in person wearing her Stanford uniform. So I know she wanted to play really well for them. Elena plays hard and she is an offensive player, she’s very instinctive, I think she’s working harder on defense; we need her playing really well and she’s high energy and I think she’ll have an even better game on Sunday.”
With 5:35 to go in the 3rd quarter, Stanford led 29-24. Chloe Clardy was up to seven points for the Cardinal, hitting a nice 3-pointer to open the quarter. Stanford would then lead 34-26 with 3:50 to go in the 3rd. Bosgana was up to 11 points and four rebounds for the Cardinal while Courtney Ogden was starting to find her groove with eight points on 3-6 shooting from the field and 2-2 shooting from the 3-point range.
“I was really excited for Courtney Ogden,” Paye said. “I think this is one of her best games in ACC play. She got her three going, going two for three. She almost had a double-double. 10 points and nine rebounds.”
At the end of the 3rd quarter, Stanford led 41-34. Bosgana was up to 14 points and four rebounds for Stanford while Khadija Faye was up to 16 points, 11 rebounds, and five blocks for Pittsburgh, scoring 12 points in the quarter. Stanford had the edge, but Pittsburgh was still in it.
Stanford got off to a solid start in the 4th quarter, leading 46-36 with 7:39 to go. Clardy was up to 10 points for the Cardinal after hitting a 3-pointer to set the tone for the quarter. That gave Stanford a bit of daylight.
“I mean, I think just putting in the work off the court, like people don’t see everything, just putting in work to my shot,” Clardy said of the key to her success. “Taking what the defense gives me, doing whatever the team needs me to do, my teammates find me, so just doing whatever they need me to do. Whether that’s scoring or playing defense, doing all the above. Just doing what it takes.”
From there, Stanford would win by a final score of 58-46 as Pittsburgh was never able to really close the gap any further. A pair of foul shots by Nunu Agara gave her 10 points and helped to put the Panthers away for good.
For Stanford, this was kind of an ugly game, but a win is a win. Especially by double digits. Stanford never allowed Pittsburgh to make it too interesting, which shows some growth. Stanford is hoping that this win can propel them towards a better February.
Up next for Stanford is a home game against No. 15 North Carolina on Sunday. Tipoff is set for 12:00 PM PT on The CW.
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