The competition took a significant step up for the Stanford Cardinal and Tara VanDerveer's team responded with a 71-59 win that at times seemed more dominant than the score indicated. The Cardinal pulled away to build a comfortable lead in the fourth quarter and overcame some shaky moments early on against a young, but quick and talented Texas squad.
The victory snapped a two game losing streak to the Longhorns. And the home win avenged a loss to Texas at Maples Pavilion two years ago that ended the emotional high of snapping UConn's winning streak three days prior.
The star of the night was easily Brittany McPhee with 28 points, including three old-school, three-point plays on hard drives that she finished through contact. McPhee has always approached the physical part of the game with an "I don't care" attitude and it was put to good effect Monday night. The Cardinal routinely found her on backdoor cuts, and when those weren't available she put the defender on her hip and forced the defender to foul or watch her dribble past.
McPhee was so dominant that her performance led to a great moment when Alanna Smith's family was interviewed during a break for all of Maples Pavilion to hear. Smith's family traveled from Australia (and I hope they're staying the week and not one game) to watch Alanna play. Her mother said some nice things about Stanford, but when her father, Darren, was asked if he had anything he wanted to say to Alanna or the team. His response:
"Get the ball to Brittany McPhee."
McPhee credited her early rhythm to designed plays and aware teammates helping her get behind the overly aggressive Longhorns. She said the team's practice players -- who are men so that the team has to move the ball faster and be more physical -- helped prepare them for what to expect from Texas' defense.
Senior leader Erica McCall had 17 points and earned a few finger wag moments with six blocks.
"I love blocking shots. I wish I got more rebounds. But I think my other post players helped me out a lot on the rebounds. I just like to contribute to the game. If I can get blocked shots, rebounds, whatever helps the team."
McPhee added: "I'm used to it (seeing McCall block shots) because she does it in practice all the time to me. But it helps us put a little extra pressure on them and gives us comfort to go for steals or something you normally wouldn't be able to do if you thought if they blew by you they'd get a layup."
The Cardinal were out-rebounded in the game 38-32. But Texas head coach Karen Aston said that number was inflated because of how many offensive rebounds the Longhorns grabbed off of bad shots. Stanford was much more efficient on offense, with a 54.9% shooting percentage compared to 35.3% for Texas.
Stanford also committed 20 turnovers, including an uncharacteristic night for sophomore point guard Marta Sniezek, who had five. But Sniezek also had five assists and the team had 18 total compared to only nine by Texas.
Aston praised the ball movement of the Cardinal. But it speaks to VanDerveer's high expectations for that aspect of the offense that she gave it a "C" grade for the game. She said the ball is moving even better in practice and eventually it will be matched in games.
"This is how we want to play," she said. "We want to play with a lot of assists, moving the ball on offense."
"They are very aggressive," VanDerveer said of Texas. "A game like this can hopefully help both teams. I know it will help us. It will help peoples' confidence and understand how aggressive you have to be. I'm going to focus on the positives of all the good things we got.
"For Brit it's a career high. Her hard work -- she and Bird (McCall) are in that gym. Her passing ... she had two assists but her passing -- it wasn't just scoring. It was passing. Her defense, she was guarding (Ariel) Atkins, that's a tough matchup. So, you're also asking your top scorer to be your top defender."
What will help rebounding in the future, VanDerveer said, will be the development of freshmen Nadia Fingall and DiJonai Carrington. Fingall got into the game in relief of McCall and Kaylee Johnson. In a two-possession sequence she grabbed a tough rebound and then assisted Karlie Samuelson for a layup.
VanDerveer on McPhee's progress: "What I love about Brit is she's a worker. She's in that gym. She improves. She's very competitive. She wants to get better. She and Kate (Paye) spend every practice, 15-20 minutes after practice, working on things -- a lot of players want to work on things they're good at. Brit has worked on her ball handling and passing, which has really helped her, and her defense. It's really exciting to see someone who works really hard have a breakout game. I think tonight was Brit's night and I'm happy for her."
On Karlie Samuelson and Briana Roberson: Karl (Karlie) had been out for six weeks. I thought she did a great job for us out there. She puts pressure on herself but she has to give herself time and be patient. She played 30 minutes. She has to get her timing back. She took a big charge out there, which I was not excited about."
"I'm really excited with how Bri did running the point. I thought she did a really good job for us. Her defense was huge. She comes off a game when she goes 6-for-7 (shooting), but she didn't force things."
Developing depth: "What I'm excited about is building on the success we had and getting other people in the mix. We don't want to be a team where Bird has to play 39 minutes (which she did) all season. Or Brit has to play 39 minutes. We want Nadia to step up. Alanna to play more. Get a four or five-plus rotation."
The victory snapped a two game losing streak to the Longhorns. And the home win avenged a loss to Texas at Maples Pavilion two years ago that ended the emotional high of snapping UConn's winning streak three days prior.
The star of the night was easily Brittany McPhee with 28 points, including three old-school, three-point plays on hard drives that she finished through contact. McPhee has always approached the physical part of the game with an "I don't care" attitude and it was put to good effect Monday night. The Cardinal routinely found her on backdoor cuts, and when those weren't available she put the defender on her hip and forced the defender to foul or watch her dribble past.
McPhee was so dominant that her performance led to a great moment when Alanna Smith's family was interviewed during a break for all of Maples Pavilion to hear. Smith's family traveled from Australia (and I hope they're staying the week and not one game) to watch Alanna play. Her mother said some nice things about Stanford, but when her father, Darren, was asked if he had anything he wanted to say to Alanna or the team. His response:
"Get the ball to Brittany McPhee."
McPhee credited her early rhythm to designed plays and aware teammates helping her get behind the overly aggressive Longhorns. She said the team's practice players -- who are men so that the team has to move the ball faster and be more physical -- helped prepare them for what to expect from Texas' defense.
Senior leader Erica McCall had 17 points and earned a few finger wag moments with six blocks.
"I love blocking shots. I wish I got more rebounds. But I think my other post players helped me out a lot on the rebounds. I just like to contribute to the game. If I can get blocked shots, rebounds, whatever helps the team."
McPhee added: "I'm used to it (seeing McCall block shots) because she does it in practice all the time to me. But it helps us put a little extra pressure on them and gives us comfort to go for steals or something you normally wouldn't be able to do if you thought if they blew by you they'd get a layup."
The Cardinal were out-rebounded in the game 38-32. But Texas head coach Karen Aston said that number was inflated because of how many offensive rebounds the Longhorns grabbed off of bad shots. Stanford was much more efficient on offense, with a 54.9% shooting percentage compared to 35.3% for Texas.
Stanford also committed 20 turnovers, including an uncharacteristic night for sophomore point guard Marta Sniezek, who had five. But Sniezek also had five assists and the team had 18 total compared to only nine by Texas.
Aston praised the ball movement of the Cardinal. But it speaks to VanDerveer's high expectations for that aspect of the offense that she gave it a "C" grade for the game. She said the ball is moving even better in practice and eventually it will be matched in games.
"This is how we want to play," she said. "We want to play with a lot of assists, moving the ball on offense."
"They are very aggressive," VanDerveer said of Texas. "A game like this can hopefully help both teams. I know it will help us. It will help peoples' confidence and understand how aggressive you have to be. I'm going to focus on the positives of all the good things we got.
"For Brit it's a career high. Her hard work -- she and Bird (McCall) are in that gym. Her passing ... she had two assists but her passing -- it wasn't just scoring. It was passing. Her defense, she was guarding (Ariel) Atkins, that's a tough matchup. So, you're also asking your top scorer to be your top defender."
What will help rebounding in the future, VanDerveer said, will be the development of freshmen Nadia Fingall and DiJonai Carrington. Fingall got into the game in relief of McCall and Kaylee Johnson. In a two-possession sequence she grabbed a tough rebound and then assisted Karlie Samuelson for a layup.
VanDerveer on McPhee's progress: "What I love about Brit is she's a worker. She's in that gym. She improves. She's very competitive. She wants to get better. She and Kate (Paye) spend every practice, 15-20 minutes after practice, working on things -- a lot of players want to work on things they're good at. Brit has worked on her ball handling and passing, which has really helped her, and her defense. It's really exciting to see someone who works really hard have a breakout game. I think tonight was Brit's night and I'm happy for her."
On Karlie Samuelson and Briana Roberson: Karl (Karlie) had been out for six weeks. I thought she did a great job for us out there. She puts pressure on herself but she has to give herself time and be patient. She played 30 minutes. She has to get her timing back. She took a big charge out there, which I was not excited about."
"I'm really excited with how Bri did running the point. I thought she did a really good job for us. Her defense was huge. She comes off a game when she goes 6-for-7 (shooting), but she didn't force things."
Developing depth: "What I'm excited about is building on the success we had and getting other people in the mix. We don't want to be a team where Bird has to play 39 minutes (which she did) all season. Or Brit has to play 39 minutes. We want Nadia to step up. Alanna to play more. Get a four or five-plus rotation."
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