Start off slow, but finish fast
In terms of a prize fight, the Stanford women got a bloody nose in the first round Saturday before dazzling their opponent with their speed.
The No. 15 Cardinal weathered an early storm by George Washington star Jonquel Jones, then got their transition game in high gear on their way to an impressive 84-63 rout of the No. 22 Colonials on Saturday at Maples Pavilion.
Jones, a 6-foot-4 senior forward from the Bahamas, had 20 of her 27 points in the first half. Then Karlie Samuelson and other Cardinal players helped shut her down. But she finished with 17 rebounds and three blocks.
“She’s one of the top players in the country,” Stanford head coach Tara Van Derveer said. “She single-handedly took it at us in the first half.”
In the early going, the defending Atlantic 10 champions showed why they led the nation in rebounding margin last season. The Colonials (2-1) overpowered Stanford 19-8 on the boards in the first quarter, grabbing 11 offensive rebounds. They had seven more offensive boards in the second quarter before Stanford (3-0) started blocking out better.
“They just pushed us under,” forward Erica McCall said. “We weren’t able to out-jump them. They’re huge. We just had to use our bodies and push them back.”
McCall looks much improved from last season, especially on offense. She had 18 points and 10 rebounds.
“We know how hard she worked during the summer, preseason and every day in practice,” guard Lili Thompson said. “We’re happy to see it; it’s her time.”
Thompson scored 21 points and had six assists with no turnovers as the leader of Stanford’s fast break, a dramatic departure from the team’s more deliberate high-post scheme of recent years.
“Our pace really helped us out,” McCall said. “We have guards that really push it for us. I think that really tired them out.”
Jones denied she ran out of gas in the third quarter, although she was late getting down the court several times. “By the time you turn around, there’s three people down the court, and you have to try to keep up with them,” she said.
She came to the U.S. as a teenager and attended Riverdale (Md.) Baptist High School, where she was Maryland’s 2012 Gatorade Player of the Year. She originally attended Clemson but transferred during her freshman year.
Last season she was both Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the Atlantic 10 after averaging 15.3 points and 12.5 rebounds. The Colonials won the league title but lost to Gonzaga in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Samuelson had 17 points, and freshman Alanna Smith added 10 off the bench. Samuelson hit a couple of threes to key Stanford’s 31-point flurry in the second quarter. It built a 46-30 lead at the break, and GW couldn’t come within 10 points in the second half.