Washington Women’s basketball lost to Stanford 67-62 Friday night.
They headed out for a northern California road stand this week with their first stop at Stanford. Stanford’s longtime coach, Tara Vanderveer,
retired two seasons ago, and last year was a rebuilding year for them, missing the NCAA tournament for the first time in a very long time. This year they came into the game 9-2, having only lost those two games by seven points total. They were also missing their leading scorer, Sunaja Agara, who is out with a leg injury. She warmed up with the team but elected not to play.
UW women stayed ranked at #22 after hanging on to beat Greenbay last week. They started Sayvia Sellers, Elle Ladine, Julia Grabovskaia, Hannah Stines, and Avery Howell. Brynn McGaughy, freshman extraordinaire, subbed into the game after three minutes.
The first quarter was brutally slow, with both teams feeling each other out. For example, Stanford made a two pointer with four minutes left, after a three minute scoring drought, to make the score 8-6.
UW won the quarter 16-13 54% FG shooting.
Sayvia Sellers got two fouls and only played seven minutes of the half, so her teammates had to adjust. McGaughy was up to the challenge and had seven points, the most in the half for UW after Hannah Stines’ eight points.
With eight minutes left in the half, Stanford tied the game and then got the go-ahead easy bucket. Tina Langley called a timeout. Shortly after, after being scoreless for three minutes, Stine got the ball beyond the arc and nailed a three with three seconds left on the shot clock. This helped UW get organized and they went on a 6-0 run and went up by five points. Stanford kept up the intensity and came back to tie the game at 27 just as the half ended.
To start the second half, UW went on a 7-0 run, led by Sellers’ and Howell’s 3PT shooting. UW kept trying to crack it open but Stanford stayed close. Sellers played like a woman on a mission because she’d missed so much of the first half. She scored ten points in the quarter as the Huskies rebuilt their lead time and time again and ended the third quarter 50-42.
Slowly but surely, Stanford chipped away at the lead, exploiting small (and big) mistakes by the Huskies – a turnover here, an offensive foul there.
With 4:50 left, the Cardinal lost control of the ball and Ladine got control of the ball, pushed upcourt and sent a behind-the-back pass to Sellers under the basket. Sellers missed the shot and UW bobbled the pass and Stanford came away with it, pushed it up court and went up for the layin. Sellers came from behind and hacked the shooter across the head, hard. The play went under review and was upgraded to a flagrant foul. This did two things – gave Sellers 4 fouls and put the Cardinal up by two after making the free throws.
Stanford got themselves up by 4 and Howell responded by hitting a three to bring them within one point.
Stanford hit an 18 footer and Ladine responded by hitting a three to tie the game.
Stanford scrambled and got a layin and a foul to put Stanford up by three. UW ran a beautiful play to Howell who got a great look at the three point line and missed.
UW was down 4 points with 16 seconds left. UW got the ball and ran a play to Howell who got a layin, putting them down by 2. UW had to foul and Stanford went to the line, going up by 4 again. Stanford missed their foul shot and got an offensive rebound and UW fouled again. Stanford made one of the free throws to put them up by five. Howell did get a final shot off, but missed. The Cardinal beat the Huskies 67-62.
Stats:
- Sellers only had 13 points in 25 minutes because of her four fouls. I’ve mentioned her foul trouble before and it really hurt UW tonight. She’s been averaging 20 points this season, which means if she had played the whole game they would have won by two.
- Hannah Stines, Elle Ladine, Avery Howell, and Brynn McGaughy all picked up the slack, scoring in double digits.
Takeaways:
- Langley made offense/defense substitutions at the end of the game. She pulled Ladine out after a made three and put in Devin Coppinger, their sophomore defensive specialist. She then put Ladine back in and made similar offensive/defensive substitutions on the next play.
- Langley has been putting freshman Brynn McGaughy in earlier and earlier. It seems that she wants her to be starter later in the season and is building her up.
- This was such a disappointing loss. UW has so much potential but doesn’t seem to have spark yet that will make them fierce and hard to beat.
Next Up:
Pacific on the road – the last non-conference game before conference play begins.
