Cardinal upset by Western Illinois

In the past 11 years, the Stanford women had lost 10 home games. On Monday night, they played a mid-major team that used just eight players, none of them taller than 6-foot-1. And lost. Western Illinois (10-2) played strong defense and burned the No. 18 Cardinal with layups at the other end. The visitors lived up to their nickname, the Leathernecks, and shocked Stanford 71-64 at Maples Pavilion.

The Cardinal (6-5) were playing without two of their best players, Brittany McPhee and DiJonai Carrington, because of injuries. But, as head coach Tara VanDerveer said, they had no excuses.

The defending Summit League champions simply had too much scrap against a team that played in the Final Four just nine months ago.

“They were aggressive, they were more physical, they were scrappy — I give them a lot of credit,” VanDerveer said. “And they didn’t even do what they’re good at.”

That’s shooting three-pointers. The Leathernecks came into Monday ranked fifth in the country in threes with 119 (10.8 per game). They went 5-for-29 at Maples, but they still found a way to win.

Emily Clemens, a 5-6 point guard with the hands of a card shark, scored 26 points and had four assists, giving her a school record of 545 for her career. She also had five steals.

Western head coach JD Gravina called it the biggest win of his seven years at the school, notwithstanding a thrilling victory that sent the team to the NCAA Tournament last season. It was the first win over a ranked team in the program’s 38-year history.

Taylor Higginbotham, a 5-10 guard, had 17 points and outhustled the Cardinal to 10 rebounds. Olivia Braun and Morgan Blumer had 12 points each. The Leathernecks had a big advantage at the foul line, hitting 20 of 26. Stanford went 8-for-19.

The Leathernecks were up 20-12 during the first quarter but went cold in the second, going 1-for-15 from the floor. They trailed 33-24 at the break but regained their shooting touch in the third quarter.

They took the lead for good at 53-52 with seven minutes left. Braun sank a pivotal layup as Western beat a Stanford press with 49 seconds left.

Alanna Smith led the Cardinal with 18 points, but she had to take 24 shots to get them. Visibly frustrated, she missed open layups as well as contested ones. She made just 2 of 7 freethrow tries.

The rest of the Stanford players were off their games as well. VanDerveer didn’t think they were looking ahead to Thursday’s matchup against No. 7 Tennessee, but the Leathernecks thought they might have been.

“I think they thought they’d beat us by 15,” Higginbotham said. “It was going to be nothing. We talked about it and thought it would be our advantage, that they’d overlook us and think we were small. We came out firing with nothing to lose.”

Kiana Williams had 17 points and Anna Wilson 13, and Kaylee Johnson had 18 rebounds, but the Cardinal need to play much better against the Lady Vols.

Said VanDerveer: “We’re not going to beat anybody playing like this.”