Stanford Bounces Back, Soars Past Morgan State in 91-49 Blowout Victory

STANFORD, Calif. – The Stanford Cardinal (5-1) responded to a loss in Indiana with a resounding blowout victory over the Morgan State Bears (4-4), 91-49, on a Friday Night inside Maples Pavilion.

“I think this was a great bounce-back win for our team,” Stanford head coach Kate Paye said. “You know, Morgan State, this is the third time that we’ve played them. We know they have a lot of California kids, so we appreciate them coming back. And I thought they competed very hard right up to the very end. What I’m most excited about our team is just how we responded.”

The Cardinal led from wire to wire and led by as much as 48 points during the 40-minute drubbing of the HBCU from Baltimore. Stanford also shot an impressive 58% from the floor and 42% from beyond the arc.

The Cardinal exemplified that they meant business right away, when Brooke Demetre recorded the game’s first points, on a three-pointer within the first minute of the game.

“I think we wanted to learn from our loss against Indiana and kind of focus on ourselves, know what we needed to do differently,” Demetre said. “It’s been a long week of practice, just really honing in on those details. We knew we wanted to spread the floor, work on our offense. So that’s what we did. And we got open shots within our offense.”

The Cardinal followed Demetre’s moment with an 11-0 run and led by as many as 20 points in the first quarter.

Not only was their offense explosive, but their defense was stellar. Stanford held the visitors to a pedestrian six points in the initial 10-minute stanza. They also made them shoot a dismal 18% from the field. After a quarter, the Cardinal led in commanding fashion, 26-6.

In the second period, Stanford equaled its offensive input (26) but allowed Morgan State to play much better on all fronts. The Bears from Maryland shot an impressive 50% from the field and were perfect from three-point land. However, they only took one shot from that distance.

Although Stanford led by a high of 34 in the second quarter, they only outscored Morgan State by nine before intermission. At the midway point, the Cardinal led 52-21.

Demetre led all players with 13 points and five rebounds after 20 minutes. Sophomore forward Nunu Agara contributed 11 points to the Cardinal’s cause.

“It’s always great when you can get everybody in the game and everybody can make positive contributions,” Paye said of her team’s balanced offense. “And we had that tonight. You know, almost everybody scored.”

As for Morgan State, no player eclipsed the 10 points, but junior guard Gabrielle Johnson was close, with 9 points. Johnson was perfect from the field, behind the 3-point line, and from the free-throw line.

In the second half, Stanford increased their overwhelming margin with 15 more points in the third quarter and 17 in the fourth. During the third period, the Cardinal went on a 13-0 run and put the clamps back on Morgan State.

MSU scored 10 points in the third, shooting 29% from two and 25% from three. Stanford remained consistent with its point production, with only one less point (25) from its previous two quarters.

In the final stanza, Morgan State actually outscored Stanford 18-14; however, the game’s outcome was already a long-gone conclusion of who would be the victor. The Cardinal reached their largest lead (48) early in the quarter but obviously let off the gas as the final minutes ticked off.

When the 40 minutes of regulation elapsed, Stanford was victorious by a 42-point margin, getting back into winning form and duly responding to their loss at Indiana.

Four players paced the Cardinal with at least 10 points to their credit. Demetre led the way with 15 points and 5 rebounds. Elena Bosgana was on pace for a triple-double but settled for 10 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. Junior guard Tess Heal added 14 points, while Nunu Agara added 11.

Morgan State had one lone player with double-digits for the game. Junior center Jael Butler scored 12 points, while Johnson remained at 9 points for her production.

The Cardinal are next in action on Monday, hosting Cal Poly at Maples at 7 p.m. PT on the ACC Network. On Sunday, Morgan State travels to the Silver State to take on Nevada.