The No. 15 Stanford women’s basketball team (22-6, 12-4 Pac-12) returns back to The Farm after this past weekend’s successful road trip in which the team marked wins against Utah Utes (15-12, 7-9) and last-place Colorado (6-20, 1-14).
The Cardinal’s strong offense was on full display against the Buffs this past Friday when Stanford demolished Colorado 80-49. In the game, four Stanford players scored double-digit points while shooting nearly 50 percent from the field as a team, while eight Cardinal athletes played double-digit minutes throughout the game.
Coming off the bench, sophomore guard Brittany McPhee had 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting with just 24 minutes on the court. Her performance, including 7 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 assists, exemplified a Cardinal team that clicked into place against a struggling Buffs defense that had no answer for the streaky Cardinal.
Stanford was able to repeat its dominance against Utah, demolishing the Utes 72-54 on Sunday. Unexpected hero freshman guard Marta Sniezek tied her season-high with 6 assists on the night and scored 8 points on 29 minutes on the court. With that win, the Cardinal clinched a top-four seed in the Pac-12 Tournament and a first-round bye in the upcoming bracket that begins on March 3.
“These are two great road wins,” said junior forward Erica McCall after recording a career-high 7 blocks against Utah. “This will be really good motivation as far as going to the Pac-12 Tournament and just knowing that we can do well and win big games.”
While the scoreline is lopsided, Stanford was actually forced to fight much harder in the second half against the Buffs before eventually putting the game away. Up by only 8 points, the Cardinal started the third quarter on a 17-1 run to take a significant lead. On the other side, the Buffs missed 12 consecutive field goals during the third quarter until a late three with 24 seconds left.
For the Buffs, the biggest bright spot from their game against the Cardinal was senior forward Jamee Swan, who scored 25 points in the game. Swan is averaging 14.1 points per game, but against Stanford, Swann went 9-for-10 from the field and 7-for-10 from the stripe to lead Colorado on the night.
On Sunday, however, the Cardinal were much better in stopping Utes star forward Emily Potter. Stanford held the Utes’ leading scorer to only 10 points on the night on 3-of-7 shooting from the field. Against Potter and the Utes, Stanford showed why it is second in the nation in field-goal percentage allowed, keeping the Utes to just 26.1 percent shooting from the field and 15.8 percent from beyond the arc.
Next up for the Cardinal is a West Coast battle against No. 7 Oregon State and the University of Oregon on Feb. 26 and Feb. 28. These matchups will be especially important as the team looks to enter the Pac-12 Tournament on a high note. Both games will be broadcast on Pac-12 Networks.
Contact Lorenzo Rosas at enzor9 ‘at’ stanford.edu.