[81alum]

Atmosphere

Supposedly there were only 4700 tonight, compared with 5500 on Sunday.  But this crowd was much louder, the band played better, and there simply seemed to be much more energy, even before the game started.  During warm ups I watched Sara hit 11 threes in a row, and everyone else seemed to have a good practice too. 

No messing around

The team seemed determined not to have a sluggish, lackluster first half like last game.  Joslyn hit her first three, then she hit a layup on a pass from Chiney, then Chiney hit a layup, then Mikayla hit a layup, and we were up 9-3 just three minutes in, and never really looked back.

Michigan doubled Chiney in the first half front and back, and this succeeded in holding her offensive production way down.  But they left the perimeter open and we had the greatest outpouring of three pointers in many a year.  We made 12 of them in the game, and were 8/14 at 57% in the first half.

Simply put, our three point shooters entered a mental zone where they were feeding off of each other, and each made three helped the next shooter to visualize the shot.  It was a wonder to behold–and if only we could summon that up at will!

Stifling Michigan

From the very beginning Sara was assigned to guard Kate Thompson, one of the nation’s best three point shooters, and a guard with a whopping 6'4" height.  Sara literally kept one hand on Kate the entire game–she was that close.  She managed to recover from screens promptly and Thompson never once got an easy, uncontested shot.  She was 0/6 from three.  Later in the game Taylor guarded her some.

After so much frustration with Thompson, Michigan simply began to ignore her and tried to get the ball to others.  It was not very successful.  Stanford was ahead 41-16 at the half and Stanford fans were actually beginning to feel sorry for our opponent.  In the second half the lead ballooned to as much as 33 before subs began coming in.

Individual Performances

Joslyn’s story is particularly sweet, playing in her last game in Maples and in front of her dad.  Joslyn was 5/5 from three point range, to go with 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks.  21 total points in her Maples swan song.  I tried to get a “we love Jos” chant started but the crowd was too busy admiring the rest of the game when she came out with 2:30 left.

Sara deserves special mention.  While she may not be quick enough to keep up with some perimeter players, she pulled off her assignment on Thompson beautifully.  Thompson is normally accurate and shifty, but she did not have the moves to get away from Sara, who really looked as if she was affixed to her.  Tara said in her press conference that “Some teams in Michigan’s league left number 12 open.  I don’t think I’ll do that.”  No, she didn't.  But that was not all that Sara did tonight.  She was 3/5 from three point range and also had 3 assists.  Normally when a Stanford player is asked to closely guard the opponent’s best perimeter player, not a lot of offense is expected.  But Sara contributed on both ends.

Bonnie only played 13 minutes but was 3/6 from three to further pummel Michigan.  Ruef played better than Sunday, with 9 points and 6 rebounds and some important defense.  Taylor also defended Thompson for part of the game, and had a good workmanlike performance, although she was just about the only player not to join the rain of threes.

Amber had 6 assists to 2 turnovers, and chipped in 11 points.  She seemed collected--although there were a couple of shot clock issues along the way, when they cropped up it usually seemed the fault of another player not shooting when she was momentarily open.  Overall, we had only 11 turnovers for the game, helping us to remain one of the better teams in the nation this year in avoiding turnovers.

Which brings us to Chiney.  Michigan did absolutely everything it could to stop her, but she was still an efficient 5/8 for 12 points and 15 rebounds.  So she gets a double double and vacuums the backboard while pulling half the Michigan team away from her teammates.  While the offensive boards were more or less even, we had a whopping 35 to 22 advantage overall on rebounds.

Triumph, Melancholy, and Grief

So many memorable moments tonight.  The crowd heartily cheered when the big screen showed Toni–who looked quite embarrassed to be the center of attention.  Joslyn Tinkle and her Dad, with tears of bittersweet happiness that she leaves Maples with perhaps her best performance.  Kate Thompson, the 4.0 premed student who went from a non starter to a renowned shooter in her senior year, leaving a college basketball court for the last time–in tears. 

I do not believe that there is any team in the country that can score 73 points against our defense.  If we were able to hit threes like we did tonight in every game, we would win out the season and have the third national champtionship.  Of course, Michigan's scheme, its personnel, and our own hot streak made tonight's bombing wildly successful--but we may not be able to count on it continuuing.  On to Georgia in Spokane! 

[81alum]

Atmosphere

Supposedly there were only 4700 tonight, compared with 5500 on Sunday.  But this crowd was much louder, the band played better, and there simply seemed to be much more energy, even before the game started.  During warm ups I watched Sara hit 11 threes in a row, and everyone else seemed to have a good practice too. 

No messing around

The team seemed determined not to have a sluggish, lackluster first half like last game.  Joslyn hit her first three, then she hit a layup on a pass from Chiney, then Chiney hit a layup, then Mikayla hit a layup, and we were up 9-3 just three minutes in, and never really looked back.

Michigan doubled Chiney in the first half front and back, and this succeeded in holding her offensive production way down.  But they left the perimeter open and we had the greatest outpouring of three pointers in many a year.  We made 12 of them in the game, and were 8/14 at 57% in the first half.

Simply put, our three point shooters entered a mental zone where they were feeding off of each other, and each made three helped the next shooter to visualize the shot.  It was a wonder to behold–and if only we could summon that up at will!

Stifling Michigan

From the very beginning Sara was assigned to guard Kate Thompson, one of the nation’s best three point shooters, and a guard with a whopping 6'4" height.  Sara literally kept one hand on Kate the entire game–she was that close.  She managed to recover from screens promptly and Thompson never once got an easy, uncontested shot.  She was 0/6 from three.  Later in the game Taylor guarded her some.

After so much frustration with Thompson, Michigan simply began to ignore her and tried to get the ball to others.  It was not very successful.  Stanford was ahead 41-16 at the half and Stanford fans were actually beginning to feel sorry for our opponent.  In the second half the lead ballooned to as much as 33 before subs began coming in.

Individual Performances

Joslyn’s story is particularly sweet, playing in her last game in Maples and in front of her dad.  Joslyn was 5/5 from three point range, to go with 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks.  21 total points in her Maples swan song.  I tried to get a “we love Jos” chant started but the crowd was too busy admiring the rest of the game when she came out with 2:30 left.

Sara deserves special mention.  While she may not be quick enough to keep up with some perimeter players, she pulled off her assignment on Thompson beautifully.  Thompson is normally accurate and shifty, but she did not have the moves to get away from Sara, who really looked as if she was affixed to her.  Tara said in her press conference that “Some teams in Michigan’s league left number 12 open.  I don’t think I’ll do that.”  No, she didn't.  But that was not all that Sara did tonight.  She was 3/5 from three point range and also had 3 assists.  Normally when a Stanford player is asked to closely guard the opponent’s best perimeter player, not a lot of offense is expected.  But Sara contributed on both ends.

Bonnie only played 13 minutes but was 3/6 from three to further pummel Michigan.  Ruef played better than Sunday, with 9 points and 6 rebounds and some important defense.  Taylor also defended Thompson for part of the game, and had a good workmanlike performance, although she was just about the only player not to join the rain of threes.

Amber had 6 assists to 2 turnovers, and chipped in 11 points.  She seemed collected--although there were a couple of shot clock issues along the way, when they cropped up it usually seemed the fault of another player not shooting when she was momentarily open.  Overall, we had only 11 turnovers for the game, helping us to remain one of the better teams in the nation this year in avoiding turnovers.

Which brings us to Chiney.  Michigan did absolutely everything it could to stop her, but she was still an efficient 5/8 for 12 points and 15 rebounds.  So she gets a double double and vacuums the backboard while pulling half the Michigan team away from her teammates.  While the offensive boards were more or less even, we had a whopping 35 to 22 advantage overall on rebounds.

Triumph, Melancholy, and Grief

So many memorable moments tonight.  The crowd heartily cheered when the big screen showed Toni–who looked quite embarrassed to be the center of attention.  Joslyn Tinkle and her Dad, with tears of bittersweet happiness that she leaves Maples with perhaps her best performance.  Kate Thompson, the 4.0 premed student who went from a non starter to a renowned shooter in her senior year, leaving a college basketball court for the last time–in tears. 

I do not believe that there is any team in the country that can score 73 points against our defense.  If we were able to hit threes like we did tonight in every game, we would win out the season and have the third national champtionship.  Of course, Michigan's scheme, its personnel, and our own hot streak made tonight's bombing wildly successful--but we may not be able to count on it continuuing.  On to Georgia in Spokane!