No. 3 Stanford clinches share of Pac-12 title with 81-67 win over Arizona State
STANFORD, Calif. – With Senior Day as the backdrop, No. 3 Stanford (24-4, 13-3 Pac-12) recovered from a Friday loss against Arizona to beat Arizona State 81-67 Sunday afternoon at Maples Pavilion. With the victory, the Cardinal clinched a share of the Pac-12 regular season title.
Addressing fans postgame after receiving championship hats and t-shirts, head coach Tara VanDerveer exclaimed to the crowd, “We ain’t done yet!”
“I’m really proud of our team…at least we have a share of the Pac-12 championship. It’s a long season,” said VanDerveer later in the postgame presser. And while she expressed that Stanford didn’t play their best game “we did what we needed to do.”
Unlike Friday when they lost a lead and let unranked Arizona stay close, overtake them, and earn a win, today the Cardinal made sure to put some distance between them and the opponent.
“We let Arizona hang around too long and didn’t really take care of business,” said grad student guard Hannah Jump reflecting on Friday. “So, I think that was communicated as a team, we need to finish this. And I think that led to the final push that we were able to finish the second half.”
Senior forward Cameron Brink, Stanford’s top rebounder and shot blocker, was back in the lineup after missing the last game due to a non-Covid illness. However, starting point guard sophomore Talana Lepolo, sat out due to a knee issue.
Brink who averages 17.8 points per game, made an impression early with a block less than three minutes into the contest. However, Stanford trailed Arizona State for all of the first quarter, shooting just 31.3% from the floor. ASU’s shooting wasn’t much better at 36.8% percent. The Sun Devils led by two, 15-13 heading into the second quarter with six points from sophomore guard Trayanna Crisp.
The tables turned in the second period as Stanford went on a 16-2 run and in the process earned their first lead of the contest. The Cardinal had a balanced scoring effort on the way to taking over the game with junior forward Kiki Iriafen leading the way with eight points. Brink was active on the boards in the second period with four rebounds. The Cardinal had a 36-23 lead at halftime.
While Arizona State (11-17, 3-13) outscored Stanford 17-14 in the third quarter, spreading the scoring around the roster, it wasn’t enough to overcome Stanford’s lead. The Cardinal maintained a double-digit advantage at the onset of the last quarter, 50-40.
It was back and forth last ten minutes with multiple players from both teams reaching double figures in points. For ASU, sophomore guard Jalyn Brown and freshman forward Mallory Miller went to work putting up the bulk of the points for the Sun Devils. Miller and sophomore forward Journey Thomas fouled out for the Sun Devils in the last quarter halting any momentum ASU could’ve mustered down the stretch.
Stanford had four players reach double digits in the last frame, led by Iriafen who finished with a monster double-double of 22 points, 20 rebounds plus four assists. Brink flirted with a triple-double with 14 points nine rebounds, seven assists plus five blocks. Redshirt sophomore Jzaniya Harriel scored 12 points, freshman forward Nunu Agara had 11 points plus four rebounds and Jump contributed 11 points and four assists.
ASU’s Brown led her team with 18 points along with five rebounds. Crisp added 13 points and Miller put up 11 points and pulled down four rebounds.
After the game and before the Senior Day ceremony, Stanford players and coaches stood on the court to watch the end of the game between No. 18 Utah and No. 7 USC. Utah’s win gave Stanford the edge to garner a share of the Pac-12 regular season championship. The Cardinal remain in the top spot in the conference rankings with Oregon State and USC two games behind.
Stanford finishes the season with a road trip to the Pacific Northwest to face Oregon State on Feb. 29 and Oregon on March 2. Arizona State heads home to host UCLA and USC to cap their regular season.
The Pac-12 begins March 6 in Las Vegas.
