Stanford women: Early struggles leave Cardinal in unusual spot
Unranked but undaunted, the Stanford women nevertheless might creep into the Pac-12 season on little cat feet. Tara VanDerveer hopes that by March, they’ll roar like lions.
The Cardinal (6-6) dropped out of the Top 25 this week for the first time since 2001 after being upset by Western Illinois and losing to seventh-ranked Tennessee last week.
They don’t get a chance to start slowly in conference play. They open against No. 11 UCLA (9-2) on Friday at Maples Pavilion, followed by USC (10-1) on Sunday.
“We might not be ready,” VanDerveer said, “but this is a great tournament team. If you’re playing three games in three days, this is a great
team.”
The good news is they finally got senior Brittany McPhee back for the Tennessee game after she had been out since the second game of the season with an ankle injury. She pumped in 27 points in 28 minutes and is expected to be Stanford’s top scorer, along with junior forward Alanna Smith, the only other returning starter from last season.
Smith hasn’t been as consistent as she was last season. Against No. 9 Ohio State, she posted a 33-point, 16-rebound effort; against Western Illinois, she struggled through an 8-for-24 shooting night.
When guard DiJonai Carrington returns from the ankle/foot injury, she probably will join McPhee, Smith, senior forward Kaylee Johnson and freshman point guard Kiana Williams in a potentially strong starting lineup.
“Di gives you another dimension of aggressiveness and rebounds,” VanDerveer said.
Williams has been Stanford’s most reliable three-point shooter (34.6 percent) in nonconference play. With her quickness, she has the makings of one of the best point guards in Stanford history.
Stanford has depth in guards Alexa Romano, Anna Wilson and Marta Sniezek, who started nine games last season at the point, and forwards Nadia Fingall and Maya Dodson, a freshman.
But at this point, the whole isn’t as good as the sum of its parts. Playing the toughest nonconference schedule of any Pac-12 team might have toughened the Cardinal, but it has also exposed their lack of execution on offense, a problem that goes back to last year.
“Quite honestly, I don’t think we executed worth a damn last year,” VanDerveer said. “We’d just find” Karlie Samuelson.
That team came alive in the Pac-12 tournament and the NCAA Tournament, reaching the Final Four. For that to happen again, the league’s lowestscoring team (67.8 points) will have to continue to play strong defense; its field-goal defense (35 percent) and three-point defense (26.5) are both second in the conference.
It will have to improve its foul shooting. Its percentage has dropped from 69 last season to 63.5, worst in the conference. Neither Smith nor Johnson is hitting even 60 percent from the line.
The biggest issue of all might be who will provide the leadership of this team after it lost Samuelson, Erica McCall and Briana Roberson to graduation.