No. 17 Stanford women’s basketball (18-8, 12-2 Pac-12) won its sixth-consecutive game in Maples on Sunday as it defeated Colorado (12-13 , 3-11) during senior night. Senior Brittany McPhee had 25 points in what was a very slow-paced game.
“I want to say that was an A+ game from our team, but it’s nice when sometimes you have a C game and you can still win the game,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said. “Congratulations to our seniors. A real nice send off for them.”
With the win, the Cardinal is still tied with No. 9 Oregon and No. 8 UCLA for first in the Pac-12, with only four games remaining in the regular season.
The game was marked with many whistles, with both teams combining for 46 fouls. In particular, Colorado had 28 fouls as three Buffs — Kennedy Leonard, Mya Hollingshed and Aubrey Knight — fouled out of the game. On the other end of the floor, junior Alanna Smith also got in foul trouble, picking up four personal fouls and a technical.
Throughout the night, Stanford attempted a season-high 35 free throws, ten more than the previous mark of 25 that the team established on Dec. 2 at home against UCLA. Nonetheless, the Cardinal only converted 19 of those attempts from the charity stripe. Their 54.3 free throw percentage is eight points below their already-low season average of 62 percent.
While the Cardinal held the Buffs to 33 percent shooting, the team wasn’t that hot from the field either, making a combined 38 percent of its attempts, including only three makes on 13 attempts from downtown.
Both teams played sloppy basketball early on, but the Cardinal were able to pull away with an 18-2 run to end the first half. During that span, Colorado committed six of its 21 turnovers and missed six of seven shot attempts. The Cardinal also finished with 21 turnovers, allowing the Buffs to earn 18 points off turnovers.
The Cardinal were once again dominant in the paint, grabbing 46 rebounds to Colorado’s 37, including 16 offensive boards. McPhee was the team leader in rebounds with 12 as she notched her third career double-double, while fellow senior Kayle Johnson finished with 10 boards.
“[McPhee] really came to play,” VanDerveer said of the senior. “She is so competitive.”
Although McPhee was the team’s only double-digit scorer, DiJonai Carrington was the next leading scorer with seven. The sophomore earned a couple of steals and was assisted by junior Marta Sniezek and McPhee on a couple of running layups.
While Stanford outscored Colorado 22-11 in the second frame, the Buffs attempted to chip away the Cardinal lead in the fourth. Colorado was able to reduce Stanford’s 19 point lead late in the third to only nine at the end of the fourth, but was unable to come closer as the Cardinal secured the win.
After the game, the two seniors were honored in a short ceremony. While this was the last regular-season weekend game in Maples for McPhee and Johnson under a Stanford jersey, the team will return to action at home on Thursday for the first of two games against California.
Contact Alexandre Bucquet at bucqueta ‘at’ stanford.edu.