Stanford rallied to stun Colorado 76-68 Friday night and it was an exhausting game for a suddenly undermanned Cardinal trying to adjust to life with a shrinking bench.
Lexie Hull scored a career high 29 points and Ashten Prechtel scored the tying basket in the final seconds of regulation and ultimately the game-winning shot in overtime. The score at the end of regulation was a textbook execution of a play that head coach Tara VanDerveer said after the game that the team drills in every practice.
How the Cardinal finished the game will give them a major boost as they learn to play without Haley Jones (who was not on the bench), and they also were missing forward Alyssa Jerome (with a lower back injury and not her ankle, as previously reported).
The Cardinal played like a unit missing key members and were slow to react to how Colorado started the game, which was with the same energy as Ralphie running amok. The Buffaloes looked a lot like how Texas appeared when I watched that game: aggressive to the point of losing control. I think Colorado was an even more extreme case of what happened in Austin.
Is it really a surprise at this point that the Cardinal player who didn't need time to get into a rhythm against that pressure and responded in kind was Lexie Hull? She scored six of Stanford's 13 points in the first quarter and had five rebounds in the game.
A defining characteristic of the Hulls is tenacity and Lexie showed it throughout the game. She was unflappable and if not for a miraculous three-pointer by Colorado's Mya Hollingshed (she made two in the game and had five all season) then it would have been Lexie with the game-winning shot in regulation.
Stanford trailed 59-52 with 3:27 left in the game and the Cardinal looked like they were dragging themselves up and down the court. Two free throws by Lexie and a clutch three by a struggling but determined Kiana Williams got Stanford within two. A Sherrod jumper put the lead back at four with 1:39 remaining when what VanDerveer called the play of the game occurred.
Jenna Brown chased down a missed three-pointer by Nadia Fingall that had already bounced off a Colorado player to grab the precious offensive rebound. Brown passed it to Prechtel, who made the three to cut the margin to one.
Brown provided arguably her best 13 minutes as a Cardinal given the circumstances. She was a steadying force in the second quarter and was effective driving and finding teammates. She had four assists, two points and a steal to go with that rebound. Brown is a limited offensive player but will need to give the Cardinal everything she has for the rest of the season because the number of injured players is going to make everything harder for Stanford.
The Cardinal's rough night started almost right away.
There were flying Buffaloes in Maples Pavilion crashing into Cardinal to grab rebounds -- at one point leading the second chance-points category 16-4 in the fourth quarter before Stanford closed to 16-13. The offensive rebound margin (20-17) in favor of Colorado was also worse for the Cardinal for most of the game and it was really stunning to see how often the Cardinal were losing those battles.
Colorado was heavily reliant on three-pointers (10-26) and putbacks off misses. They also were carried by freshman sensation Jaylyn Sherrod. She was too fast for Stanford and scored 21 points.
But Colorado's hyper-aggressive approach had drawbacks too: 21 turnovers and 24 fouls to only 14 and 13 by Stanford. The Cardinal defense shut down the Buffaloes in the second quarter and held them without a field goal for the entire period. Stanford accomplished the same in overtime.
Williams played all but one minute of the game and was operating on willpower and adrenaline at the end. Her defense on Sherrod in overtime was critical. She picked the freshman's pocket once and the resulting offensive possession ended with Prechtel's layup to put Stanford ahead for good.
Williams forced another turnover by Sherrod on the next possession. The junior captain known as Skippy is feeling pressure to pick up her scoring and it says something about the toughness of the Cardinal that they beat a quality opponent despite her providing almost nothing to the offense for most of the game.
Lexie Hull scored a career high 29 points and Ashten Prechtel scored the tying basket in the final seconds of regulation and ultimately the game-winning shot in overtime. The score at the end of regulation was a textbook execution of a play that head coach Tara VanDerveer said after the game that the team drills in every practice.
How the Cardinal finished the game will give them a major boost as they learn to play without Haley Jones (who was not on the bench), and they also were missing forward Alyssa Jerome (with a lower back injury and not her ankle, as previously reported).
The Cardinal played like a unit missing key members and were slow to react to how Colorado started the game, which was with the same energy as Ralphie running amok. The Buffaloes looked a lot like how Texas appeared when I watched that game: aggressive to the point of losing control. I think Colorado was an even more extreme case of what happened in Austin.
Is it really a surprise at this point that the Cardinal player who didn't need time to get into a rhythm against that pressure and responded in kind was Lexie Hull? She scored six of Stanford's 13 points in the first quarter and had five rebounds in the game.
A defining characteristic of the Hulls is tenacity and Lexie showed it throughout the game. She was unflappable and if not for a miraculous three-pointer by Colorado's Mya Hollingshed (she made two in the game and had five all season) then it would have been Lexie with the game-winning shot in regulation.
Stanford trailed 59-52 with 3:27 left in the game and the Cardinal looked like they were dragging themselves up and down the court. Two free throws by Lexie and a clutch three by a struggling but determined Kiana Williams got Stanford within two. A Sherrod jumper put the lead back at four with 1:39 remaining when what VanDerveer called the play of the game occurred.
Jenna Brown chased down a missed three-pointer by Nadia Fingall that had already bounced off a Colorado player to grab the precious offensive rebound. Brown passed it to Prechtel, who made the three to cut the margin to one.
Brown provided arguably her best 13 minutes as a Cardinal given the circumstances. She was a steadying force in the second quarter and was effective driving and finding teammates. She had four assists, two points and a steal to go with that rebound. Brown is a limited offensive player but will need to give the Cardinal everything she has for the rest of the season because the number of injured players is going to make everything harder for Stanford.
The Cardinal's rough night started almost right away.
There were flying Buffaloes in Maples Pavilion crashing into Cardinal to grab rebounds -- at one point leading the second chance-points category 16-4 in the fourth quarter before Stanford closed to 16-13. The offensive rebound margin (20-17) in favor of Colorado was also worse for the Cardinal for most of the game and it was really stunning to see how often the Cardinal were losing those battles.
Colorado was heavily reliant on three-pointers (10-26) and putbacks off misses. They also were carried by freshman sensation Jaylyn Sherrod. She was too fast for Stanford and scored 21 points.
But Colorado's hyper-aggressive approach had drawbacks too: 21 turnovers and 24 fouls to only 14 and 13 by Stanford. The Cardinal defense shut down the Buffaloes in the second quarter and held them without a field goal for the entire period. Stanford accomplished the same in overtime.
Williams played all but one minute of the game and was operating on willpower and adrenaline at the end. Her defense on Sherrod in overtime was critical. She picked the freshman's pocket once and the resulting offensive possession ended with Prechtel's layup to put Stanford ahead for good.
Williams forced another turnover by Sherrod on the next possession. The junior captain known as Skippy is feeling pressure to pick up her scoring and it says something about the toughness of the Cardinal that they beat a quality opponent despite her providing almost nothing to the offense for most of the game.
