On Friday, #8 Stanford women’s basketball defeated Oregon 88-63. Stanford forward Kiki Iriafen led the way for the Cardinal with 21 points and 15 rebounds while guard Talana Lepolo (13 points & 8 assists), forward Nunu Agara (12 points & 3 rebounds), guard Elena Bosgana (11 points & 3 assists), and guard/forward Brooke Demetre (10 points) all finished in double figures. Oregon guard Chance Gray was the top performer for the Ducks with 19 points & 3 rebounds. Stanford head coach Tara VanDeveer tied Mike Krzyzewski for the most wins of any Division I head basketball coach with 1,202. Stanford improves to 16-2 overall and 5-1 in the Pac-12 while Oregon falls to 11-8 overall and 2-4 in the Pac-12.
VIDEO: Stanford WBB Press Conference | Oregon
BOX SCORE: Oregon at Stanford-Friday, January 19th
“I thought this is a great team win,” VanDerveer said after the game. “I thought Talana played both sides of the ball really really well. I thought eight assists, one turnover, thirteen points, knocking down her threes, played great defense I thought on number two. And Kiki kinda started out slow but finished really strong. I thought she was rushing a little bit in the beginning and she slowed down and I just call her a warrior. I mean, obviously we’re hoping that Cam will be okay, but Kiki in the meantime just picked it up. Nunu came in and did a great job. Brooke did a great job. I thought Elena had a great game. Her defense was excellent. Knocking down threes. Twenty-five assists, six turnovers, really doesn’t give me much to complain about.”
Stanford got off to a strong start, leading 12-0 with 6:23 to go in the 1st quarter. Elena Bosgana and Cameron Brink each had six points for the Cardinal. Oregon was in need of getting something going.
Stanford would end up leading 20-0 before Oregon finally got on the board. Unfortunately for Stanford, Brink went down with a lower body injury (ankle or knee) right around this time. She would not return to the game. Right after that, Oregon would close the quarter on a 15-5 run, making it a 25-15 lead for Stanford at the end of the 1st quarter. Bosgana was leading Stanford with eight points on perfect shooting from the field and foul line. Gray was pacing Oregon with her eight points.
“Our team is really close and when Kiki sees Cam go down and Talana and our team, it’s upsetting,” VanDerveer said. “And we know we have to keep playing, but basketball is a game of spurts. They practice and they’re a really good team. And so, we went on a big run, they went on a big run. That’s how basketball is. But I was really proud of how at the end of the second quarter, Brooke and Nunu together, because they are very big, really battled and did a great job. So, just our second half I think we played pretty well and just I thought everyone really contributed. They played really hard.”
With 3:44 to go in the 2nd quarter, Stanford led 34-26. Sofia Bell was up to nine points for the Ducks, who were still hanging around despite their early deficit. Oregon was shooting 5-7 from 3-point range while Stanford was shooting 5-11 from 3-point range.
At halftime, Stanford led 43-26. Jump and Bosgana each had eight points for Stanford. Iriafen had only three points, but she had 10 rebounds. Bell (9 points) & Gray (8 points) were leading Oregon. Stanford was in control.
Stanford continued to expand their lead 54-35 with 4:15 to go in the 3rd quarter. Iriafen is starting to get going with nine points and 11 rebounds. She was on pace for another double-double. The Cardinal continued to control the game.
At the end of the 3rd quarter, Stanford led 63-43. Iriafen had a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Stanford was now in a really firm position to win the game.
With 5:10 to go in the game, Stanford led 76-49 as Iriafen was up to 19 points and 14 rebounds. Lepolo was also nearing a double-double with 13 points and eight assists. Lepolo had an excellent game shooting 5-9 from the field and 3-6 from 3-point range while only having one turnover. Really an efficient night from her.
“Recently there’s been a big emphasis on me being offensively aggressive,” Lepolo said. “Tara tells me every day in practice. But I think motivation just comes from working myself into the offense and taking the pressure off Cam and Kiki inside. So, just preventing a double from going into them by me being a threat on the three-point line.”
In the end, Stanford would win by a final score of 88-63. Despite Brink only playing six minutes, the Cardinal cruised to victory. With five players scoring in double figures, they were able to navigate her absence just fine.
Obviously, the biggest storyline from this game is Tara VanDerveer tying Mike Krzyzewski for most wins of all-time with 1,202. VanDerveer’s legacy and impact on basketball can’t possibly be captured in a single post-game recap. She’s meant so much to the game of basketball and women’s athletics at large. She’s truly an icon and this milestone is a reminder of that.
“This weekend is alumni weekend, so a lot of the former Stanford women’s basketball players will be here, but I think the amount of people that come just shows the impact that she’s had on the game,” Iriafen said. “The impact that she’s had at Stanford and on this program. So, I think for us, we’re just soaking it in. How honored we are to be a part of her historic moment. Even though she won’t allow herself to celebrate it too big, we’ll celebrate for her. But, I think it’s just been an amazing experience being here, being coached under her, and just the opportunity to make history on Sunday is real exciting.”
“When I was a young girl, they didn’t have teams,” VanDerveer recalled. “There wasn’t basketball for girls. And so I took the best ball to the court so I could play with boys. And sometimes that didn’t even work. And I was good then. Like, I don’t try to play now with our team. But, I got a text from a guy that I went to junior high with and in my ninth grade year book, the boys basketball coach and gym teacher wrote ‘to the best basketball player in the 9th grade', but I couldn’t play on a team.
“So, I think that I was very frustrated. It was very painful to be honest with you. Not to be able to play and it’s like a dream come true. I mean to have a dream and watch it play out. I would sit with my college teammates. Like we would practice at 7:30 at night because the boys went from 2 to 7 and hopefully we got on at 7:30. We had hamburger helper when we got home at 9:30 or 10:00 at night. And like we washed our own uniforms, we bought our own shoes, we drove vans, like college students. It was nothing. My coach was a graduate student.
“And just to see what Kiki has and Talana. The experience that they get now, I’m jealous in a way because I didn’t have that experience. But I would talk with my college teammates. We’d be sitting around and say someday there’s gonna be scholarships for girls. Haha, that will never happen. And we would go through like all the things that are happening. It is so exciting and I just hope that the young girls that get the opportunities and people like Kiki and Talana really appreciate all the things that they get: an education, an opportunity to travel, a career in something that, like I planned to go to law school because there were no coaches. That was not a job for women.
“But my timing was horrible for playing, but it was very good for coaching. So I was a head coach when I was twenty four years old and I’m just really thankful that I get to have a job that is not a J-O-B job. That I love coming to the gym, it was just fun at practice today, and I mean, just to experience this is more than I ever could have dreamed of.”
Up next for Stanford is a home game against Oregon State on Sunday. That will tip-off at 2:00 PM PT on Pac-12 Networks and Varsity Network radio. Cameron Brink’s status for the game is up-in-the-air at the moment.
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