Dec. 19, 2001
TUCSON, Ariz. - Freshman Kelley Suminski (Chester, NJ/Mendham HS) scored a career-high 24 points to lead Stanford University (9-1, 1-0) to an 81-57 victory over the University of Arizona (4-5, 0-1) on Friday night at the McKale Center in the Pacific-10 Conference opener for both teams. Stanford is now 13-3 all-time in Pac-10 openers.
Suminski was 9-of-12 from the floor, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range, to lead the Cardinal to its third straight win in Tucson. Suminski is now shooting an impressive 64.5 (20-of-31) from beyond the 3-point arc this season.
"Kelley played a fabulous game," Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said. "She was so poised, and just steeped up big time."
After the Wildcats took a 7-2 lead at the game's outset, Stanford responded with 13 consecutive points, and 18 of the next 20, to take control.
Sophomore Nicole Powell (Phoenix, AZ/Mountain Pointe HS) started the run with a 3-pointer, and after a Suminski jumper, hit another trey to put the Cardinal up for good at 10-7 just 4:07 into the game. The Cardinal then added a basket from senior Bethany Donaphin (New York, NY/Horace Mann HS) and a 3-pointer from Suminski to build the lead to 15-7. After Arizona broke its 4 minute, 17 second drought with a basket by LaKeisha Taylor, Suminski responded with a 3-pointer and jumper to build the lead to 20-9.
The Cardinal maintained the lead throughout the rest of the half, and took a 35-25 lead at intermission. Suminski finished with 12 points in just 13 minutes in the first half, while Powell had eight points in 11 minutes.
The Wildcats made a brief run in the second half when point guard Dee-Dee Wheeler hit back-to-back 3-pointers to trim the Cardinal advantage to 54-46 with 7:34 remaining. Powell, however, answered back with a 3-poiter of her own just 17 seconds later and Stanford never looked back. The Cardinal later broke the game wide open with a 16-5 run over the final 3 minutes, 57 seconds.
"This was a big win for us," VanDerveer said. "I was happy with our inside play, and thought we worked hard defensively."
Senior Lindsey Yamasaki (Oregon City, OR/Oregon City HS) had 18 points and a team-high eight boards for the Cardinal, while Powell finished with 11 points, six rebounds and six assists. The Cardinal finished 11-of-18 from 3-point range (61.1 percent), including 6-of-9 in the second half (66.7 percent). Stanford also held the Wildcats to 36.2 (21-of-58) percent shooting from the floor and 28.0 (7-of-25) percent.
Stanford sophomore point guard Susan King (Richfield, MN/Academy of Holy Angels), who missed the first eight games of the season after having a scope on her right knee, re-injured the same knee with 22.7 seconds remaining in the first half and did not return. The extent of the injury is not known.
Stanford concludes the two-game road trip on Friday night when it visits Arizona State University (9-2, 0-0) at 7:00 p.m. (MT) at Wells Fargo Arena. Stanford, Arizona State and Washington tied for the Pac-10 title last season with 12-6 records.