Cardinal withstands late run, tops Lady Vols
STANFORD — The changing landscape of women’s basketball was evident Wednesday night in the annual showdown between perennial powers Stanford and Tennessee.
Neither school was ranked in the top 10 for the first time in the 27-year history of the series.
No. 15 Stanford has a chance rejoin the Connecticuts and Notre Dames sometime this season after a commanding performance in a 69-55 victory in front of 3,768 fans at Maples Pavilion. If not for a fourth-quarter collapse in the face of a fierce Tennessee press, the Cardinal (7-2) might have swayed pollsters a bit more.
Not that coach Tara VanDerveer cares a whit.
“I don’t pay any attention to polls,” she said.
Neither does Tennessee coach Holly Warlick. But she was paying attention to Stanford’s potential.
“What I saw from Stanford, I don’t know how they lost two games,” Warlick said. “They really played at the rim, and we didn’t. It’s not too often our team gets out-rebounded.”
Stanford out-rebounded the Lady Vols 42-31 despite facing 6-foot-6 center Mercedes Russell. Controlling the boards propelled Stanford to a 21-point thirdquarter lead before No. 14 Tennessee roared back in the final quarter.
The Cardinal’s Erica McCall, who had 10 rebounds along with 14 points, was the primary reason the Lady Vols struggled with rebounding.
“Look what Erica McCall did,” Warlick said. “It’s just all out. It’s a desire. We got to get that.”
The Lady Vols (7-3) — not Stanford — started the season in the top 10 on the heels of last season’s 30-6 record. But they’re not moving up anytime soon after dropping three of five.
Tennessee looked completely outclassed, trailing by 21 points with 2:05 left in the third quarter.
Then the game got interesting.
Stanford, which plays host to Cornell on Saturday, showed potential in withstanding everything Tennessee threw at it in the fourth quarter.
“We knew they were going to make a run, because that is what Tennessee does,” said McCall.
The Lady Vols opened the fourth quarter outscoring Stanford 17-6 behind Bashaara Graves’ seven points.
Stanford held a 58-51 lead with 3:17 left, the outcome very much in doubt.
“The fourth quarter we laid it out there and played the way we should for four quarters,” Tennessee’s Jaime Nared said.
Marta Sniezek answered with a layup that launched the Cardinal on an 11-4 run to end the game.
Stanford survived despite making only 2 of 11 3-pointers and committing 20 turnovers because the Cardinal never stopped believing.
No one showed more confidence than junior guard Lili Thompson, who reached her season average of 19 points to lead all scorers. She also had seven rebounds and four assists.
Sophomore Kaylee Johnson came off the bench to add 10 points and five rebounds, and Sniezek scored nine points.
“The bigness of the game did not affect her at all,” VanDerveer said of Sniezek, a freshman.
Stanford didn’t look like the same team that lost its last home game Nov. 23 to South Bay rival Santa Clara.
“Santa Clara left a bad taste in our mouth,” McCall said. “Right now, we’re tasting candy.”