January 22, 1999
PULLMAN, Wash. - Stanford spread the scoring wealth around while holding Washington State's Tricia Lamb, the league's leading scorer, to only her fourth single-digit total of the season en route to a 77-65 victory in Pacific-10 women's basketball action at Friel Court Thursday night.
Stanford (8-9 overall, 4-2 in Pac-10) was led by freshman Bethany Donaphin and sophomore Carolyn Moos, who managed 16 points and nine rebounds apiece. Freshman Lindsey Yamasaki finished with 13 points while junior guards Christina Batastini and Milena Flores scored 12 and 10 points, respectively.
WSU (7-8, 1-5) was powered by 17 points from Jennifer Stinson and 12 from Yvonne Volkman. Victoria Harrod pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds. The Cougars played without two starters, forwards Alke Dietel and Cathy McNeely, both sidelined with knee injuries. Dietel suffered a knee sprain in Wednesday's practice, while McNeely has been sidelined since the Washington game early in the month. WSU head coach Harold Rhodes said both players are questionable for next week's trip to Los Angeles.
In first half action, Stanford raced out to a 22-10 advantage over the first 11 minutes, then extended its lead to 35-17 with 4:08 left in the half. Two three-pointers by Stinson helped spark an 11-2 run for WSU, bringing the Cougars to within eight, 37-29, at halftime.
In the second half, the Cardinal held WSU without a field goal for the first five minutes of play to propel a 13-1 run that put Stanford up by 20 at 15:55. After two more Stinson treys and another by Volkman, the Coug offense was momentarily brought back to life and shortened the Cardinal advantage to just 10 points, 64-54, with 4:30 left in the game.
Flores immediately answered WSU's challenge with six unanswered points, followed by two more from Donaphin, and the Cardinal had their knockout punch.
"Defensively, I thought we played well," said Rhodes. "But I don't think it's defense that is hurting us right now, it's a lack of consistent offensive production."
Lamb, who averaged 18.1 points coming into the contest, was held scoreless until she nailed a free throw at the 5:34 mark of the second half. She then scored eight more points, including two treys, in the final five minutes.
Stanford returns to action Saturday at Washington, with a 5:00 p.m. start. Washington State closes out the weekend homestand by hosting the California Bears at 1:00 p.m. Saturday. The game will be shown live by FOX Sports Net, including Fox Sports Northwest.