The No. 3 Stanford women’s basketball team dominated on the road this Saturday, defeating Boston College 83-71 in the Cardinal’s season opener.
Senior Chiney Ogwumike had her third 30 point career game and 59th career double double, while junior point guard Amber Orrange came alive after an average exhibition game scoring 19 points, passed out 10 assists and had a career high 9 rebounds to narrowly miss out on a triple double.
In addition, junior Bonnie Samuelson returned to play action after missing the Vanguard due to injury. She scored 15 points in only 21 minutes of play. This was the first game that the Samuelson sisters took the court together. Freshman Karlie Samuelson hit a three point shot in her collegiate debut.
Also kicking off their college basketball careers were freshmen Kailee Johnson (starter), Erica McCall and Lili Thompson. After standout performances against Vanguard, the newcomers didn’t contribute quite as much in this win, however they did not receive nearly the same amount of playing time as in the exhibition. Sophomore Alex Green had her first career start and scored her first basket after missing two seasons to injury.
With the return of Bonnie Samuelson and returning starter junior Sara James to the lineup after being out with an injury, head coach Tara VanDerveer didn’t need to sub as much as last Sunday. As the freshmen gain confidence and more experience in practice their roles on the team will increase—they’ll have to if Stanford is to avoid dependency on Ogwumike and Orrange as it did last year.
“Obviously, Chiney is a great player and we need what she does, but we need other people to do more,” VanDerveer told GoStanford. “Our returners really kind of led the way and they did a good job.”
The Card came out strong in the first half, heading into halftime with a 44-24 lead. Boston College was able to make adjustments at halftime and ended up outscoring the Card by eight in the second half but the twenty-point deficit was too much to overcome. They’re improvement in shooting percentage was what kept them in the game, improving from .294 to .520 between halves. The Card dominated on the boards, though, pulling down 44 rebounds to the Eagles’ 26. Ogwumike led with 14 rebounds while redshirt senior Mikaela Ruef grabbed 10.
“I think it was a ‘first game’ by all means,” Ogwumike told GoStanford. “When we started running the ball, things found a place. But we have a lot of things to work on. We’re a young team. We’re just trying to work our chemistry out.”
The Card will have one day to work out some of the kinks before it takes on No.1 UConn Monday on the road.
Contact Ashley Westhem at awesthem’at’stanford.edu.