No. 2 Stanford routs Cal Poly
Santa Cruz’s Jones plays well in her first game in 10 months
STANFORD >> Haley Jones felt all the nerves as if it were her first game as a freshman again last fall. It only took a few minutes and she found a nice groove.
The Santa Cruz native scored on a layin 14 seconds into the game and wound up with 16 points and 10 rebounds playing for the first time in more than 10 months since a knee injury ended her freshman season early, leading No. 2 Stanford past Cal Poly 108- 40 in the teams’ season opener Wednesday.
“We’ve really missed Haley. When she went out last year it was devastating for our team,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said.
The Hall of Fame coach began her 35th season on The Farm by moving to 1,095 career wins — four from passing the late Pat Summitt’s 1,098 victories to become the all-time winningest NCAA Division-I women’s basketball coach.
Stanford (1- 0), one of four Pac12 teams in the preseason Top-10 rankings and five among the top 18, used a 26-2 run to end the first half and build a 51-18 lead then kept pushing as the entire roster gained valuable minutes.
Stanford senior and returning leading scorer Kiana Williams scored 13 points after she averaged 15 points per game as a junior before the Cardinal missed out on the NCAA Tournament — they had been set to host the first two rounds — because of the coronavirus pandemic. Cameron Brink, a 6-foot- 4 freshman, con
tributed 17 points and nine rebounds in her collegiate debut while Lexie Hull had 21 points with four 3-pointers.
VanDerveer expressed her gratitude to the Mustangs for staying healthy so the game could be played.
“It was really fun to see everybody out there. I’m just so thankful we can play,” VanDerveer said.
VanDerveer used a red plastic bullhorn to make herself better heard given the social distancing and manufactured crowd noise in empty Maples Pavilion — Williams had told her it was hard to understand and hear with the coach wearing a mask. The bullhorn is allowed but not VanDerveer’s microphone she typically uses during practice.
Jones shot 6 for 10 in her first game since sustaining the right knee injury Jan. 19 at Oregon State in her 18th career game. She averaged 11.4 points and 4.2 re
bounds to start the season before getting hurt, earning 13 starts.
“I definitely had more pregame jitters than I expected to have. I haven’t suited up for a while, I was always sweats or leggings on the sideline,” Jones said. “So really putting on the uniform gave me those jitters just like freshman year. Coming out and getting that first layup was a big confidence booster. It helped me kind of relax into the game.”
Cal Poly senior forward
Sierra Campisano was the lone player to score in double figures for the Mustangs (0-1) with 13 points. She is a big reason Cal Poly won its first two games in the Big West Conference tournament.
The teams hadn’t played since Stanford’s 83-55 victory on Nov. 11, 2016, and Stanford WOULD have a seven-game winning streak in the series since its lone loss — 66- 60 on Feb. 14, 1978. The Cardinal are 7- 0 against Cal Poly at Maples Pavilion.