Stanford defeated its closest rivals 64-44 in the semi-final game of the 2010 Pac-10 Tournament to go through to its ninth straight final appearance.
In the history of this tournament the Cardinal (30-1, 18-0 Pac-10) has won six of the eight championship games, and is now 5-0 in contests against California (18-13, 11-7).
However, this comfortable victory against the Golden Bears was unfortunately overshadowed by a head injury to senior California guard Alexis Gray-Lawson that saw her carried form the hardwood on a stretcher.
Throughout the contest the Card had kept the Pac-10’s second leading scorer, and All-Pac-10 and All-Defensive team member to just four points, but this accomplishment was soured by seeing her late injury. With five minutes remaining Gray-Lawson fell to the floor and hit her head after going up for a jumper which was contested by several Stanford players.
Having already posted solid wins against Cal in the conference, by the break Stanford had opened up its biggest halftime gap to the Bears this season. In cruel symmetry the Card tied its largest halftime score against Cal in the regular season (35 points on January 2) while the Bears equaled their lowest against Stanford (19 points on March 6).
This lead was pushed further out after the break, allowing Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer the luxury of resting her star players with a quarter of the contest still to play.
The first of these to be taken out of the game was senior center Jayne Appel, who was recently named the Pac-10 Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. As she is still recovering from a sprained ankle, she was not in the starting lineup, but was sent out in the seventh minute when the game was still close. Any lingering doubts about her fitness were brushed away as she dived over a photographer to save a wayward pass, but once the game was safe there really was no more need to take risks and she was replaced with freshman forward Joslyn Tinkle.
Stanford’s leading performer in this contest was sophomore forward Nnemkadi Ogwumike, who lived up to her Pac-10 Player of the Year status by posting a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. She linked up well with her teammates, scoring the last points of the first half, and the first points of the second.
With less than four seconds remaining on the clock before the break, Ogwumike drew a foul from freshman center Talia Caldwell, and on the restart redshirt junior guard JJ Hones fired the ball straight to her for a perfectly taken jumper. Then, after Gray-Lawson missed a jumper at the beginning of the second period, junior guard Jeanette Pohlen passed the ball forward for Ogwumike to take both a fast-break layup and draw the foul.
Aggressive defense was a key part of this game, with three of the Pac-10 All-Defensive team starting (Gray-Lawson and freshman guard Eliza Pierre for the Bears, and redshirt senior guard Rosalyn Gold-Onwude for the Cardinal). Early on California was efficiently kept outside by Stanford, running the clock out, unable to pass inside from the perimeter. In comparison the Bears attempted a full-court press on its opposition, but this proved ineffective as Ogwumike scored points the very first time it was deployed.
Keeping its opposition outside the arc proved to be a good tactic for Stanford, as California could not make long distance shots hit home. Both teams made exactly the same number of three-point attempts but the Card showed far higher accuracy with 50 percent compared to just 7.1 percent. Both Tinkle and Gold-Onwude, who finished in double figures, made two of these each.
Tomorrow at 3 p.m. Stanford will face UCLA, who defeated USC tonight, for the Pac-10 title. With a victory the team would further cement its place in history as the only Cardinal team to go 18-0 in the conference and win the Pac-10 Tournament.